Cardio vs. Resistance training for weight loss?

ClubDead

I am trying to understand how to efficiently use my time to lose fat. I’m trying to lose about 10 pounds and have been going to the gym for the last month or so. I’ve been receiving conflicting advice about the best use of my time. Some say to spend equal time on cardio (cross trainer, treadmill....) and weights/resistance but others say there is no point doing weights until I shed the fat I have around my belly/butt/tights...and so, spend all my time on cardio.

I’m really confused about this, could some please share their thoughts on this? I would ask the staff at the gym but I find them really intimidating

Stench Blossoms

It's more down to diet that anything else but I would go with weight training before cardio.

ClubDead

couponsmasti1 wrote: »

To reduce body fat one must try to reduce excessive fat then followed by cardio training....otherwise it may have negative impacts.

Thanks for the reply. When you say the above, do you mean in my diet? I have a pretty good handle on my diet, its not perfect but thanks to some tips I received on here a few months ago I carefully measure my food, Ive cut out junk and keep to lean fresh protein. Ive just have some residual fat hanging around from my carefree junk food days.

rubadub

ClubDead wrote: »

others say there is no point doing weights until I shed the fat

Ask them why? do they think it will do harm or not be efficient?

If you had 2 twins and one was overweight but otherwise they did the exact same activities, bar eating, then the heavier one should naturally have more muscle mass. They are naturally lifting more weight around all day. It would be a shame to let this go to waste while on a calorie deficit. If you lift weights you can try and prevent this muscle loss, if not put on some muscle.

Your title said "weight loss", then you talked of "fat loss", they are not necessarily the same. I remained 12 stone for around a year losing fat and putting on muscle at roughly the same rate. If you are a beginner you can be putting on muscle easily enough.

You will hear people say you cannot do both at once, but this is usually talking about already highly muscular people. For those out there who do believe its physically impossible, against the laws of physics, to put on muscle and lose fat at the same rate I would ask if it could be done over the course of a year, the answer will probably be yes, so the next question I have yet to hear an answer to is what time frame does it suddenly become impossible?

I am by no means claiming its the most efficient way to do it.

Transform

get stronger, do metcons, realise your diet is not as good as you think it is

Do this for at least a year =win, simples

ted1

over the years i've put on a few extra lbs.

i joined the gym in June, and have been lifting weights since then. with only a short cardio warm up and intervals at the end.

I've noticed that only now has my weight began to drop, however I've been taking photos of myself on a regual basis, and I have diffinetly lost a lot of mass. i've dropped a few inches around the belly, chest etc, but because i've developed muscle this countacts the fat lost.

some years ago I used to do cardio only in the gym and I can honestly say that the effects of lifting weights is better, i'm much more toned and healthy looking via the weights, as oppose to being "skinny" from the cardio

Diaz

Transform wrote: »

get stronger, do metcons, realise your diet is not as good as you think it is

Do this for at least a year =win, simples

What are metcons?

Transform

Diaz wrote: »

What are metcons?

conditioning work typically based around a combo of weighted movements, body weight exericses, rowing, skipping, running, kettlebells etc

e.g. 3 rounds for time of - run 400m, 15 kettlebell swings, 9 pull ups

The choice of metcon should depend on where you are in your training progress and what you are looking to get out of the workout i.e. different energy systems training

runawaybishop

metabolic conditioning

Diaz

Transform wrote: »

conditioning work typically based around a combo of weighted movements, body weight exericses, rowing, skipping, running, kettlebells etc

e.g. 3 rounds for time of - run 400m, 15 kettlebell swings, 9 pull ups

The choice of metcon should depend on where you are in your training progress and what you are looking to get out of the workout i.e. different energy systems training

Interesting - so are they typically used in cases where someone is looking to reduce body fat % and incrase lean mass %?

Transform

Diaz wrote: »

Interesting - so are they typically used in cases where someone is looking to reduce body fat % and incrase lean mass %?

There is no typically as it really depends on how the client feel that day, what injuries they are currently carrying etc

As a general outline i would do the following with clients - about 10mins warm up/prehab, 30-40mins strength work e.g.Squat/split squat/lunges and chin/pull ups/row, then Glute ham raises/deadlift/single leg DL and dips/press ups/push press etc and then finish with a metcon if the wheels were not coming off in the strength work.

Plenty of bodybuilders out there that are really tight on diet, strength work and long slow steady cardio as their best approach to looking their best

Just depends on what you are looking for and what you find works best for you.

Overall, the worst program in the world (training and nutrition program) designed with fat loss as the central goal WILL WORK when done with incredible consistency

Absor

I guess cardio is better i guess because i have done it personally for a while and its always been a useful thing for me,So i guess there is nothing bad about that so yeah .

elz10

I have been trying to lose body fat for months now and I am finding it really hard. Recently I have been doing a combination of spinning, kettlebells and kickboxing 5 times a week and still am not seeing any results... Any ideas?? (My diet is also very good)

runawaybishop

elz10 wrote: »

I have been trying to lose body fat for months now and I am finding it really hard. Recently I have been doing a combination of spinning, kettlebells and kickboxing 5 times a week and still am not seeing any results... Any ideas?? (My diet is also very good)

Post up your diet, but do it in a new thread

elz10

Im too new to do new threads Don't have enough posts up yet:(

Redrom

My brother was told that he couldn't lose weight and build muscle at the same time but he proved that theory wrong. He incorporated both cardio and weight training in his program but I must say his diet was very strict. He maintains that just running doesn't do a whole lot when your doing cardio training and interval training works best. Sometimes you hear a lot of different contradicting advise when it comes to this kind of thing but I have seen my brother transform his body so I'm going with that anyway. It take a long time though so stick at it.

WrigleysExtra

elz10 wrote: »

I have been trying to lose body fat for months now and I am finding it really hard. Recently I have been doing a combination of spinning, kettlebells and kickboxing 5 times a week and still am not seeing any results... Any ideas?? (My diet is also very good)

Weight loss is pretty simple. Expend more energy (calories) than you take in. My advice would be to write down everything you eat on an average day and work out how many calories you are eating. Work out how much protein, fats and carbs you are eating. Estimate your calorie intake for fatloss using a calculator on www.iifym.com. Monitor your weight for 3 to 4 weeks. If there is no fat loss drop the carbs by 20 grams and continue to monitor weight. Try lose 1 to 2 pounds per week. The leaner you get the harder it is to lose more.