Weight lifting

[Lucio]

Ok, so I had my first weight gain this week, admitedly part of it was down to being off work last week and thus skipping breakfast, plus eating more as a result, but I'd like to try and step up my exercise a bit more and thought maybe some weight lifting might be something I can do at home without feeling silly.

So the question is, would this actually help with my general goal of weight loss, and if so, what kind of weights should I be looking at and where do I get them from?

[kalniel]

Nope. Get that Rosemary Conley DVD out instead

[Lucio]

Nope. Get that Rosemary Conley DVD out instead

Darn I was hoping never to have to watch that (they give them to all the members as some form of torture)

[mrt9888]

If you haven't done weights in a while its better to start with less weight and do more reps, you body will build up more strength and then you could increase the weight and lower the reps.

[TheAnimus]

thing is I think Lucio is worried he will put on more weight.

mussel weighs more than fat. Using weights to cut fat is quite difficult on your own, much easier with a trainer or mate to spot you, otherwise you get little bursts of cardio that don't get your pulse high enough for weight loss.

[rover214]

+1 at what The Animus said

You will not lose weight by lifting weight, any exercise lifting weight has to be accompanied by another exercise to offer any benefit to losing weight then, you will gain weight as a result of the weight training/lifting as the density of muscle is roughly 20% that of fat, so, any exercise involving any additional weight lifting is not beneficial to weight loss,

To cut weight, it is a mixture of diet, cardio exercise (running/cycling, etc)and patience

[Theo]

Haven't posted on Hexus for a long while, not sure why. Started lurking again last month. This tickled me:

thing is I think Lucio is worried he will put on more weight.

mussel weighs more than fat. Using weights to cut fat is quite difficult on your own, much easier with a trainer or mate to spot you, otherwise you get little bursts of cardio that don't get your pulse high enough for weight loss.

5lbs muscle = 5lbs fat.

If you want to lose weight - i.e. decrease your BMI, and have no desire for muscles, then just do 40 minutes low intensity cardio before breakfast, control your carbohydrate intake, and eat in a slightly reduced caloric deficit.

I you want to improve your physique - work out your lean body mass and BMR, eat a protein rich diet with good fats and low gi carbs, eat 500 calories above your BMR. 40 minutes fasted cardio pre-breakfast. Find a weightlifting routine that suits you and covers all body parts. I know Rave does Stronglifts 5x5, which is an excellent routine for a beginner. You just have to stick to it to see the results.

[j1979]

Ok, so I had my first weight gain this week, admitedly part of it was down to being off work last week and thus skipping breakfast, plus eating more as a result, but I'd like to try and step up my exercise a bit more and thought maybe some weight lifting might be something I can do at home without feeling silly.

So the question is, would this actually help with my general goal of weight loss, and if so, what kind of weights should I be looking at and where do I get them from?

weight training is not for losing weight! burning fat and gaining muscle at the same time is impossible.

as any trainer will tell you there are 2 phases, Cut and bulk! most people think you can burn fat and turn it to muscle.. this is a big misconception as it is impossible.

BULK...lets start with building muscle.. you must lift heavy weights to exhaustion and eat lots of calories to help grow the muscle, you will gain weight in this phase.

CUT...To get the toned look you need to burn fat with lighter weighs at higher reps or cardio, and eat a lower amount of calories then your body needs.

The problem is that your body wants to keep stored fat as a valuable resource, your body will cannibalise muscle and try to save fat.. that is why you can't lose fat and gain muscle at the same time.. it's just not possible. In the cut phase the aim is to lose fat, but you WILL also lose muscle. the trick is to train well and keep using the muscles you gained in the bulk phase, so that your body does not cannibalise too much of this muscle for calories but instead burns the fat you don't want..

and it is extremely difficult to achieve, thats why sooooo many people use chemicals.

[Lucio]

Ok sounds like I'm better off sticking to the aerobics for now and maybe looking at jogging or long walks

[scaryjim]

Swimming is a good bet as well, better than jogging as it puts less strain on the joints - joint impact is bad enough for thin people jogging, let alone people of our size

40 mins of swimming is a great work out - ideally using several different strokes through the session to exercise different muscle groups. I also find I feel more alert after a swimming session: in fact I should probably go swimming before work each morning, but that would mean getting up early It's almost certainly worth asking if any of your local pools have a membership scheme for swimming only, as this will be much cheaper if you go several times a week.

Of course, if you can combine different cardio exercises (e.g. walk one day, swim one day, bike one day) that'd be ideal (IMNSHO opinion, and IANA personal trainer, of course... )

[M4DM4N]

Swimming infact is useless for weight loss, I've been dieting for about a year and found swimming does nothing, and even if you google can i lose weight swimming you would find most answers will say no. Swimming will help you tone your body as you use a lot of muscles and it is less strenuous. Though for weight loss its useless. If your wanting to lose weight its a pretty simple answer really, eat healthy do more exercise jogging walking riding. Don't forget though to keep an eye on your heart rate need to keep it in the fat burning zone. Jogging then sprinting for 30 seconds then jogging is exellent quick burst then recovery.

[Rave]

weight training is not for losing weight! burning fat and gaining muscle at the same time is impossible.

Sorry, but this is complete rubbish. You can gain muscle and lose overall weight- and by definition fat- very easily, just look at some of the success stories on the Stronglifts forum from people who started off being overweight.

I personally, aside from a scant few months in my early 20s when I did sod all and got fed square meals by my mum every day, have never been overweight. Doing stronglifts has cut my bodyfat by 1-2% while gaining me at least a stone of muscle. I was slim before I did stronglifts, I was only interested in gaining weight and strength.

as any trainer will tell you there are 2 phases, Cut and bulk! most people think you can burn fat and turn it to muscle.. this is a big misconception as it is impossible.

Cut and bulk is a bodybuilding technique. I'm not a bodybuilder. Your body will be more willing to gain muscle if it's not staved of calories. But if you're working out with a bodyfat ratio of 25% to start with, then by definition your body is not starved of calories, and it will be quite happy to sacrifice fat for muscle.

BULK...lets start with building muscle.. you must lift heavy weights to exhaustion and eat lots of calories to help grow the muscle, you will gain weight in this phase.

I'd rephrase that to 'eat lots of protein'. No protein = no muscle growth. After that it comes down to simple thermodynamics- if you consume more energy than you burn you will gain weight, and vice versa.

CUT...To get the toned look you need to burn fat with lighter weighs at higher reps or cardio, and eat a lower amount of calories then your body needs.

I have never ever done a cut at all, and I'm not so far from the physique of a Men's Health cover model now. BMI 25.5, waist 32" etc.....and a deadlift of 170kg, more than twice my bodyweight.

The problem is that your body wants to keep stored fat as a valuable resource, your body will cannibalise muscle and try to save fat.. that is why you can't lose fat and gain muscle at the same time.. it's just not possible.

Sorry to repeat myself, but that's just utterly wrong on so many levels. The human body gladly gains muscle while shedding fat if it's being worked. Muscles burn energy just existing, so gaining muscle through strength training is a superb way of losing fat.

TBH Lucio, all I have to say is <deleted - unnecessary comment> get lifting weights. I saw amazing gains last year, then flaked out for five months, then saw pretty impressive gains again. I've been proper lifting now for about 8 months in total and I can now deadlift 170KG (well over twice my own bodyweight) and squat 130kg.

In my experience most men don't want to be skinny- they want to be muscular. You can get muscular by being a hod carrier or a scaffolder, but I reckon most of us are better off lifting weights.

[TheAnimus]

I would just go in to say that what worked for Rave might work for you but....

Plenty of people find a sustained high cardo more effective, and more enjoyable, you need to be willing to do it as much as possible, so picking the way that you are most likely to keep routine is probably the best option.

I know some weight lifting nuts who do it two hours a day every day. Personally I get bored with two one hour sessions a week, which certainly isn't enough for me to loose weight or build up impressive mussels (thou it has really helped with my core)

[M4DM4N]

You must remember not to lift wights everyday also, muscle needs time to heal. When lifting weights your tearing and stretching muscle. By giving yourself atleat 48 hours untill you next lift your body gets time to "regrow muscle" and you repeat the process. Otherwise you could end up injuring yourself. So try lifting weights 1 day cardio the next and so on giving your body time to fix itself.

[j1979]

Sorry, but this is complete rubbish. You can gain muscle and lose overall weight- and by definition fat- very easily, just look at some of the success stories on the Stronglifts forum from people who started off being overweight.

I personally, aside from a scant few months in my early 20s when I did sod all and got fed square meals by my mum every day, have never been overweight. Doing stronglifts has cut my bodyfat by 1-2% while gaining me at least a stone of muscle. I was slim before I did stronglifts, I was only interested in gaining weight and strength.



Cut and bulk is a bodybuilding technique. I'm not a bodybuilder. Your body will be more willing to gain muscle if it's not staved of calories. But if you're working out with a bodyfat ratio of 25% to start with, then by definition your body is not starved of calories, and it will be quite happy to sacrifice fat for muscle.



I'd rephrase that to 'eat lots of protein'. No protein = no muscle growth. After that it comes down to simple thermodynamics- if you consume more energy than you burn you will gain weight, and vice versa.



I have never ever done a cut at all, and I'm not so far from the physique of a Men's Health cover model now. BMI 25.5, waist 32" etc.....and a deadlift of 170kg, more than twice my bodyweight.



Sorry to repeat myself, but that's just utterly wrong on so many levels. The human body gladly gains muscle while shedding fat if it's being worked. Muscles burn energy just existing, so gaining muscle through strength training is a superb way of losing fat.

TBH Lucio, all I have to say is <deleted - unnecessary comment> get lifting weights. I saw amazing gains last year, then flaked out for five months, then saw pretty impressive gains again. I've been proper lifting now for about 8 months in total and I can now deadlift 170KG (well over twice my own bodyweight) and squat 130kg.

In my experience most men don't want to be skinny- they want to be muscular. You can get muscular by being a hod carrier or a scaffolder, but I reckon most of us are better off lifting weights.

links please!

And i stand by what i said, it is impossible to lose weight and gain muscle at the same time. i suppose your gonna tell me next it's possible to spot burn fat . and don't even think of calling me a fool again

[peterb]

Sorry, but this is complete rubbish. You can gain muscle and lose overall weight- and by definition fat- very easily, just look at some of the success stories on the Stronglifts forum from people who started off being overweight. snip --->

Complete rubbish? A bit strong? (Pun intended!)

There is some loose terminolgy - fat is less dense than muscle (so whil pound for pound it weighs the same, muscle takes up less volume).

So if the OP wants to change body shape, then burning off fat by exercise will result in increased body densitry (less fat - more muscle) and may result in a weight gain but an overall decrease in body size. As for converting fat into muscle - well, I am not a physiologist, but while that might not be biologicaly or matabolically correct, that fairly accurately (IMO as a layman) describes the effect. Body fat reduces (increased activity) body muscle increases - increased activity.

Personally I found a mix af anerobic exercise and a little weight training improved my overall fitness and a weight loss while adding a little to my strength.

It is clearly an emotive subject, but can we just keep the thread language moderate please! Disagreement and opinion is fine - better still if claims can be substantiated by either personal experience or an authoratitive link!