Are weights important for weight-loss?

madma

Hey all

currently looking to drop weight, ive been in my current gym a bit over a year now. i did do a programme after getting an evaluation, was doing it for a few months, was doing 20min cardio at the start followed by different weights, diff days of chest shoulders,then biceps,then triceps then diff ab workouts.

found the programme good but i ddnt see much results, i toned in certain areas but struggle with upper body (chest) and midsection (stomach), thats where the weight is im trying to shift. i think that my diet effected it as i wasnt eating that healthy mainly weekends are the killer.

the past 6 weeks or so ive stopped using weights and just do cardio mixure of treadmill,bike and cross-trainer. since monday ive had a good diet and cut out crap and want to continue this as i feel i have to in order to achieve results.

im wondering should i keep up the cardio only workout or should i be back lifting weights? and also what weights are advised?

thanks

Deadly Combination

Are weights important for weight-loss? - 100% yes you burn kcals for hours after training, as for cardio training the minute you stop the kcals stop burning

Start hitting those weights again bro and get your blood pumping

P.S - be sure to take a protein shake after training even if you aint training hard you still need protein inside ya . Best protein to buy is USN

corkcomp

of course weights are important but you need to focus on compounds and lift heavy, light machine weights wont do much for you.. same goes for cardio, its important IMO but 20 minutes of light / fat burning zone wont be much benefit so use the 20 minutes wisely - either go flat out or do intervals.. and obviousy diet, diet and diet plays a big part

madma

cheers for the replies

yeah ill start hitting the weights hard, and mix it up with cardio. ill get that assesment done soon so he can tell me what weights/ weight machines are best

thats another thing bout the shakes, ive never used anything but want to.. usually after the workout id have lunch around half hr to an hour afterwards which is mainly 2 boiled eggs and brown bread.. or turkey sandwach. ill look into getting protein shakes as i dont use anything just drink water really. hav also cut out diet coke started this week, drink it probably too much and ive heard it can effect weightloss

Frogdog

madma wrote: »

cheers for the replies

yeah ill start hitting the weights hard, and mix it up with cardio. ill get that assesment done soon so he can tell me what weights/ weight machines are best

thats another thing bout the shakes, ive never used anything but want to.. usually after the workout id have lunch around half hr to an hour afterwards which is mainly 2 boiled eggs and brown bread.. or turkey sandwach. ill look into getting protein shakes as i dont use anything just drink water really. hav also cut out diet coke started this week, drink it probably too much and ive heard it can effect weightloss

Madma, as Corkcelt posted above - forget the machine weights. Do free weights and as heavy as you can manage. Light weights and machine weights do not give the benefits that heavy free weights do. Ask for the gym staff or a personal trainer to show you the big lifts/compound lifts.

As for the protein shakes, get your diet in order first. Read up on nutrition from the stickies on this forum and the Nutrition & Diet forum. Supplements, such as protein shakes, are exactly that - supplements. They are meant to supplement a good diet and are not meant to replace anything. They are used for convenience's sake more than anything.

madma

Frogdog wrote: »

Madma, as Corkcelt posted above - forget the machine weights. Do free weights and as heavy as you can manage. Light weights and machine weights do not give the benefits that heavy free weights do. Ask for the gym staff or a personal trainer to show you the big lifts/compound lifts.

As for the protein shakes, get your diet in order first. Read up on nutrition from the stickies on this forum and the Nutrition & Diet forum. Supplements, such as protein shakes, are exactly that - supplements. They are meant to supplement a good diet and are not meant to replace anything. They are used for convenience's sake more than anything.

Yeah cheers, i was doing a bit of free-weights, for biceps and triceps and was using the chest-press machine rather than the free one

ill ask the staff member for which is best and how to use them properly cheers.

Mellor

Deadly Combination wrote: »

P.S - be sure to take a protein shake after training even if you aint training hard you still need protein inside ya . Best protein to buy is USN

Protein is needed yes, but there is no benefit to getting if from a shake over whole food sources.
and in actual fact, taking shakes on top of a good weight loss diet is only going to reduce a deficit and therefore fat loss.
By all means use shakes, i do. But make sure you replace a snack or meal with it, depending on size/calories of the shake.

oh and best protein is the one you like the tase of.
Whey is whey.

Frogdog

madma wrote: »

Yeah cheers, i was doing a bit of free-weights, for biceps and triceps and was using the chest-press machine rather than the free one

ill ask the staff member for which is best and how to use them properly cheers.

Biceps and triceps are small muscles. You need to concentrate on the bigger muscles - chest, back, bum, quads and hamstrings. Ask an instructor to show you how to squat, bench press and deadlift for a start and you'll be on the right track with those.

Bottle_of_Smoke

More muscle mass you are burning more at all times.

Another thing, if you're losing weight to look good you'll find building muscle improves your body shape surprisingly quickly, so your excess fat doesn't look as bad.

If you haven't got someone to show you how to do the heavy compound lifts use the machines until you do. They're nowhere near as good as compound lifts but still infinitely better than doing no wights.

For protein I find casein is good but there's a lot of debate. once you're getting extra protein you will improve muscle growth.

The Davestator

The advice about squatting is good, however, most people don't have the flexibility and strength needed to squat.
You'll need to work up to squat with split squats, lunges etc as well as technique work.

The advice you've been given is good, however it's impossible for you to receive good advice without a full evaluation and that's what you had in the gym. Or at least should have!

ray jay

The Davestator wrote: »

The advice about squatting is good, however, most people don't have the flexibility and strength needed to squat.
You'll need to work up to squat with split squats, lunges etc as well as technique work.

no one lacks the strength to squat and it'll be hard to work on squat technique without squatting. The flexibility issue can be a problem for some people but it's something they can work on while practicing their technique with light weights

DARCHA22

lets be clear, you wanna lose fat, not weight, 2 diff things.

Not gonna beat around the bush, gonna give it to you straight so you can acheive your goals.

you wanna lose fat, so forget about building muscle for a min, do one thing at a time mate


step one, calc your daily cals, reduce them by 400-500

step two, lift heavy weights with compound lifts, full body twice a week or do a split, up tp you. lifts to concentrate on. SQUAT, DEADLIFT, CLEANS, BENCH PRESS, OH PRESS, ROWS.

step three, do cardio twice a week max! if you gonna do it right, do HIIT. or example, 20mins cardio(running in a park, jog 5 mins, sprint 1 min and repeat, as you get more advanced, increase the sprint, decrease the jog)

note, shakes are not necessary usless you dont get enough, 1. cals, or 2. protein. at the end of the day its just extra calories.

step four, go and do it.

good luck

madma

cheers for all the comments and, ill get an evaluation a.s.a.p this week and ask the guy to show me the heavy weights.

never mentioned my stats, im 6'3 and weight is roughly 15.5-16st. when i sarted back at the gym over a year ago and got the evaluation i was 15st 13pounds so pretty much have stayed similar, what i have achieved though is my fitness levels are much better. im keen to get the correct workouts, and aiming to get down to at least 15st. 14 and half would be great but i think i will find it hard to get back to it.

DARCHA22 wrote: »

lets be clear, you wanna lose fat, not weight, 2 diff things.

Not gonna beat around the bush, gonna give it to you straight so you can acheive your goals.

you wanna lose fat, so forget about building muscle for a min, do one thing at a time mate


step one, calc your daily cals, reduce them by 400-500

step two, lift heavy weights with compound lifts, full body twice a week or do a split, up tp you. lifts to concentrate on. SQUAT, DEADLIFT, CLEANS, BENCH PRESS, OH PRESS, ROWS.

step three, do cardio twice a week max! if you gonna do it right, do HIIT. or example, 20mins cardio(running in a park, jog 5 mins, sprint 1 min and repeat, as you get more advanced, increase the sprint, decrease the jog)

note, shakes are not necessary usless you dont get enough, 1. cals, or 2. protein. at the end of the day its just extra calories.

step four, go and do it.

good luck

yeah thats it, its all about dicipline, i started this week eating less and more healty. ive had 3 sessions in the gym all cardio workout but starting back on the weights this week just want to make sure im doing everything correct as i didnt see much progress on the programme i did a while back. cheers

Roger Marbles

madma wrote: »

cheers for all the comments and, ill get an evaluation a.s.a.p this week and ask the guy to show me the heavy weights.

never mentioned my stats, im 6'3 and weight is roughly 15.5-16st. when i sarted back at the gym over a year ago and got the evaluation i was 15st 13pounds so pretty much have stayed similar, what i have achieved though is my fitness levels are much better. im keen to get the correct workouts, and aiming to get down to at least 15st. 14 and half would be great but i think i will find it hard to get back to it.


yeah thats it, its all about dicipline, i started this week eating less and more healty. ive had 3 sessions in the gym all cardio workout but starting back on the weights this week just want to make sure im doing everything correct as i didnt see much progress on the programme i did a while back. cheers

As an added note to the 400-500 cals less....concentrate on getting good quality fats and protein in your diet....curb the carbs to mostly around workout times.

Great advice above...just make sure you are shown compound lifts as the other poster said..not the machines and not the dumb-bells.

Lantus

In relation to your first post you cannot spot lose fat. i.e doing weights for a certain area like the chest will not produce a lean looking chest, while the rest of you is still the same. This is why you will never see anyone with a six pack and 'fat'. (So dont waste your time doing hundreds of situp's, it doesn't work like that.)

Oh, and the stomach is the last place for fat to be lost for a number of genetic reasons dating back thousands of years. (fascinating stuff.) but it can be shifted......eventually.

Firstly sort out your nutrition, and I dont mean just throw out the crisps and coke. trying to exercise on poor food lifestyle is like trying to build a house in wet sand, no matter how much time and money you invest the results will never match your expectations. There are lots of good books and resources out there. read, read, read.

Both cardio and weights are important! For your cardio 20 minutes sounds pretty lean. I would say do what you need to to lose weight based on a slight calorie defecit in your food intake. So, if 20 minutes doesn't get you results, do 30 minutes, or 40. Although you should not need to do any more than 1 hour or cardio a day. If your doing 3 days a week, then do 4, 5 or 6 even 7 to get te esults you want. I try to do 6 days a week because my heart is the most important muscle in my body.

For weights you need to be consistent and steady. Doing a range of exercises like you have been is great for a while but do develop definition and gains you need to sub divide muscle groups for different days to work them harder without training for more than 45-60 minutes (which is pointless.)

I would suggest doing a 2 or 3 day split routine which there are lots of example on line. Aim for 3 sets of each exercise and 8 to 12 reps of each. If you can do 12 then up the weight a bit. The last 3 reps should always be really tough and working towards failure. Ensure for all exercise you maintain good form and posture. Research it on you tube and the wonder web from different sources. Dont use gym buddies as a guide as often most guys are throwing heavy weights around badly just so they 'look' strong. Swinging their arms to do bicep curls for example. I can flick a 20kg dumbell so it looks like a bicep curl but a slow and steady curl with my elbows locked in and back straight I can lift 12kg and they scream when I reach 12 reps. ouch...

Free weights are good as they help build other muscles for balance and posture but as you get to lift heavier some machines become inevitable. Dont forget the simplest exercises are the best. Press ups, and pull ups. squats, calf raises, rows, military press, triceps kickbacks, bicep and hammer curls, upright row etc, can all be done with limited equipment and still give good results. But a good gym can be worth it in the long run.