I have 1/2 hour-do weights or cardio?

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23 May 2011, 12:19 pm

I am trying to loose weight and want to squeeze in an extra 1/2 hour workout in the evening, should i do half an hour of weights or half an hour of cardio?

CockneyRebel
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23 May 2011, 12:51 pm

Whatever you enjoy doing the most. I prefer weights, so I'd do weights for that half hour. You might be different, though. Whatever you enjoy doing the most.

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kx250rider
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23 May 2011, 1:28 pm

Please don't take this as judgmental or negative, but I'm concerned that "squeezing in a half hour" sounds like part of a program that is doomed to fail. Fitness is a lifestyle to live by, in which you "squeeze in" other things to fit the healthy daily activities. With that said, I personally would probably do 30 mins of cardio, but Cockney Rebel is also right; you can get a few good sets with weights in that time too.

Charles

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23 May 2011, 2:18 pm

The-Raven wrote:

I am trying to loose weight and want to squeeze in an extra 1/2 hour workout in the evening, should i do half an hour of weights or half an hour of cardio?

KX is right. Might I add my own suggestion though. 15 minutes high intensity cardio, 15 minutes weights. If you want real results though, you will make sure you make working out and eating good a lifestyle, something you do often.

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The-Raven
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23 May 2011, 2:21 pm

kx250rider wrote:

I do a long workout in the morning so was wanting to 'squeeze in' a short evening workout to boost my metabolism before bed (exercising around 6pm so plenty of time to wind down). In the morning I do step areobics or tai bo or running followed by abs and light weights.

The-Raven
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23 May 2011, 2:22 pm

CockneyRebel wrote:

Whatever you enjoy doing the most. I prefer weights, so I'd do weights for that half hour. You might be different, though. Whatever you enjoy doing the most.

I like both the same.

kx250rider
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24 May 2011, 1:20 pm

The-Raven wrote:

In that case, with the evening being the "extra" workout, I'd maybe suggest a mix of cardio & weights, or alternate days routine. If you've done weights that morning, it might be better to do cardio that night. Generally, I find that weightlifting is best for me at once a week per muscle group. My routine is set up for bodybuilding, and it would be different if I were toning and shaping/fat loss. lift every other day; Day A being shoulders/back(lats), day B being pecs & legs, and day C being triceps/biceps and heavy weighted abs. I don't actually do a cardio workout, because I have a lot of high-exertion outdoor activity daily for work (walking fast a half mile up & down a steep road, carrying heavy objects up hills, etc), and I ride dirt bikes, and basically am always on the run.

Charles

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24 May 2011, 2:18 pm

kx250rider wrote:

The-Raven wrote:

Thanks Charles! Thats a good idea, I will try doing weights one day and cardio the next. I used to do a 3 day split like you but I got very muscly, Im doing much lighter weights now which dont need the recovery time. Thanks again

sealion
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08 Jun 2011, 8:15 pm

cardio is a big no no. Look more into interval training. Cardio increases stress hormones. Interval training or sprinting increases the good hormones.

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Lahmacun
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17 Jun 2011, 9:51 am

Joyce Vedral has a lot of DVD's that combine weight training in an aerobic fashion. Her "Speedy, Non-Stop!" video kicked my butt so badly that I wrote to her, and she then told me to use a different one for bone-building instead, which works much better for my level and needs. However, that "Speedy, Non-Stop!" DVD keeps you moving every second and you're always using weights (except for the abs exercises), so I sweat like anything during that workout.

sluice
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17 Jun 2011, 5:27 pm

I usually do cardio in the morning and weights in the evening. 30 minutes is plenty of time if you do 2 body parts a night. Chest-triceps, shoulders-biceps, and legs-lower back.

psych
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17 Jun 2011, 6:11 pm

The-Raven wrote:

hypertrophy research ive seen advises against a 3-day split, as the growth stimulus fades quickly after 2 days. The advice on the HST site is to hit the full body 3 times a week (you dont kill yourself from overtraining as theres no need to push to failure, growth being triggered by the progressive (over)loading)

If you want to avoid getting 'too muscly' i suppose you want to take the research on hypertrophy efficiency and do the complete opposite - most importantly dont load progressively, although it actually might be best to hit areas frequently as if youve waited as long as one week then youll have deconditioned somewhat (meaning the previous sessions load has regained ability to promote growth again)

For efficient weight loss, HIIT - high intensity interval training sounds like what you should be aiming for. But imo thats quite an advanced thing, and any guide you come across is geared towards people people who are allready very athletic. There might be value to a beginner though if you adapted it (eg. if it says to alternate 30 second intervals of jogging at 50% intensity with sprinting flat out, maybe there would be benefit from keeping the intervals but instead alternating brisk walking with jogging, iyswim and work up gradually) I dont know whether it scales up this way or not; maybe at first plain jogging is enough. However, intervals do make exercise a lot more interesting IMO. Is there such a thing as LIIT? - that would be worth reading up on.

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17 Jun 2011, 7:00 pm

You should do 15 minutes of weights THEN cardio. The weights get rid of the calories and the cardio burns fat.

starryeyedvoyager
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18 Jun 2011, 9:52 am

I, personally, lost more weight due to weightlifting than with cardio. I do regular long distance running (usually every other day, atm every day, and I do it mainly for that: cardio, not losing weight), but before I feld that my joints would be up to that task, I lost about 30 pounds just by weightlifting (including the muscle I gained) over the course of about two years. I went well with high repetition exercises with comperatively low weight. That said, I second on what Charles said: acquiring fitness is something you have to put some kind of dedication into. Not that I devoted my life to it, but about two to three hours a day, I do some kind of exercising or sports.
If you have the gusto for it, you should, like he suggested, alter it. Has the that it does not get boring in the beginning where you still have to get used to it.

Jojoba
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18 Jun 2011, 3:05 pm

I personally enjoy weight lifting more than I do cardio. Both seem to have benefits, when done in moderation, but from what I've read weight lifting seems to provide greater benefits between the two choices.

Overall, I'm not sure that exercise is the best way to loose weight. I've read study articles on this, plus talked with a few exercise trainers, and it seems what one eats matters more for dropping the pounds than working out. For example:

"Some reasons why exercise may not translate into weight loss"
http://www.drbriffa.com/2010/09/30/some ... ight-loss/

Snippet:

Quote:

Earlier this month one of my posts focused on a study which tested the effect of exercise on weight loss in women. This year-long study found that, on average, the women needed to exercise for 77 hours to lose a kg of fat. Now, if I said I had pretty-much foolproof way of getting a couple of pounds of fat off you, but you’d have to do 77 hours of hours to achieve this, what would you say? I sometimes ask a similar question in real life and the answer is always the same.

Again, this is not to bash exercise. I believe exercise is good for all sorts of things, take exercise myself, and have literally just come home after my morning walk with my dog. But the fact remains that activity and aerobic exercises such as walking and running have generally little impact where weight loss is concerned. And as I pointed out in the post I’ve linked to above, I believe knowing this can actually help motivation for exercise. How? Because knowing it means some will be less likely to feel despondent when their new-found exercise habits do not register on the scales.

Here’s another thing – if exercise does not impact much on weight, then not exercising need not necessarily be a barrier to weight loss. Knowing this can help people who are regular exercisers who, for whatever reason, cease exercising for a period of time. You see when someone believes that exercise is a major component of weight control, they tend to believe that not exercising will inevitably cause them to pile on the pounds. This belief can cause many to ‘give up’ on all their healthy habits, including healthy eating.

The-Raven
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19 Jun 2011, 12:33 pm

Jojoba wrote:

Quote:

yep I am 'dieting' too.

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