Using weights to burn fat

Corholio

Currently looking to lose weight, i'm 23 looking to lose 2- 3 stone as i'm 14 1/2 stone right now. Had some good advice on here that lifting weights increases metabolism, and along with cardio helps burns fat faster. Currently doing 25 min of cardio every day on an exercise bike which burns an average of about 400 calories (too little ?). Not very educated about weights, i have a plain enough weights bench with a couple of weights, i usually use it for the routine where you lie down on the bench and lift the barbell up and down vertical to your chest (dont know proper name for that exercise), just wondering whats would be a recommended amount of time to spend on weights every day, how many times should i repeat the exercise? The reason i ask is i tend to find that i dont spend very long on weights at all, maybe 10 minutes, i know thats probably not enough.

I tend to do cardio on the bike because i cant run on hard ground for very long because of a problem with my knee, i know running would be better, would running (maybe on softer ground) be recommended rather than the exercise bike? Any advice on either the cardio or the weights would be very appreciated.

Smellyirishman

30-60 mins 3 times a week would do, just get some big exercises in.

The movement your doing is called a bench press. I would reccommend also trying;

Deadlifts
Military presses
Bent-over rows

And, one of these three if at all possible (You mention your knee is a bit of a problem, just try these very lightly at first);
Full Squat
Front Squat
Hack Squat

The reason there are three is because with the setup you have, it may be impossible to safely load the bar onto your back for a full squat. You should be able to manage a hack squat though. You should also be able to manage all of those movement with just your bar, although you may need more weight for the deadlift and squat. Doing those movements won't take long, and they are big compound movements that should bolster your strength and muscle mass quite quickly.

Do each exercise in a 5x3 rep range (Do the movement 5 times with no break, have a 30-90sec break, repeat 2 more times) and try to increase the weight weekly by 2.5 - 5kg (Should be possible for the first few weeks/months especially on deadlifts and squats).

Of course, to see any progress, diet (with plenty of protein) and rest will need to be kept in check.

Corholio

Thanks for all that information, some superb tips there. Just wondering about the 30-60 mins you said i should do, is the 30-60 made up of repeating the 5x3 reps on each exercise over and over again. Like doing the bench presss 5x3, then military presses then deadlifts etc until ive gone through all the exercises and then start all over again until i go about 30 min or so.

Also any advice on cardio, running, cycling? whats the needed calorie burn a day with these if you wanna lose weight?

Smellyirishman

Nope, just do each exercise 3x5 and then your done. The one thing I would suggest is to do a warm-up on squats and deadlifts. So do the movement with just the bar first, then slowly increment the weight and decrement the reps. So with the bar you do 5 reps, up the weight, 4 reps, up the weight, 3 reps... until you get to your desired weight then do your 3 sets of 5 repetitions (3x5).

Maybe even do;

Week 1;
Monday: squat, bench, deadlift
Wednesday: squat, military press, row
Friday: squat, bench, deadlift

Week2;
Monday: squat, military press, row
etc.....

The workout should not take too long to do, but you can be damn sure you will feel it! Also, while I am here, make sure your form is good on these movements, especially squats and deadlifts. Straight back, knees in-line with toes etc... do some searches.

I don't know much about cardio, hopefully someone else can help you with that but I would guess ~45mins 4-6 times a week. If your counting calories then once calories out > calories in then your on your way.

rubadub

The links in that post are great, good gifs. You mention "everyday", dont do them everyday or you will overtrain. your muscles grow and develop on the days you are NOT doing weights. I do a full body workout in about 30-40mins 3 days a week, tuesday, thursday, then saturday for maybe 60mins since I take a 2 day break then, and I have more time to do it on saturday. People talk of eating lots to grow muscle, I have read up a lot and if you are a beginner and overwieght it seems you can lower your usual calorie intake and put on muscle, i.e. the excess fat you carry goes towards those excess calories you need to build muscle. Do not focus to much on weight, you will add weight in muscle and loose fat, your weight may be stable, mine is, yet I am getting thinner. Muscle is denser (takes up less space) than fat so you are thinner yet weigh the same.

I do about 10-12 excercises, 8-12 reps and 2-4 sets of these. look up more excercises on that page. http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html
he only mentioned 6. do them all very slowly and focused, do not cheat yourself by swinging the weights, slow up and slow down.

be careful not to do too many that focus on the same muscle, e.g. some people have favourite muscles like the bicep, while ignoring the tricep.

If you do 8 reps of 3 different bicep excersices you can consider that 3 sets. it is easy to be too eager and overtrain. you should be using enough weight to be barely able to do 8 reps. as the time goes on you can do more reps and/or add more weight. i.e. you could add weight so you can always only do 8. I prefer to just do 8, next time I can hit 9, then aim for 10, 11, 12 as workouts go on. then I add weight so I am back to 8 again. means I dont have to keep unloading the bars each workout.