Blind you with waffle? You mean I summarised several pubmed articles in the phrase "lifting weights burns more calories than running". Why bother with dedicated cardio if it doesn't burn more calories, and if fat loss is your goal, then it makes sense to do it the most efficient way. Its all about tailoring your workout to your goals, and if fat loss is it, Cardio wont help massively. Its a bit like eating Salad to lose weight.
Okay but do you honestly think that by doing no cardio, you are looking after that vital muscle, your heart, as best as you can? Now completely away from science and back to "feel" - I think weights are critical to keep all your muscles balanced and working properly. I think cardio (doesn't have to be running - infact unless it's trail running, your knees will thank you for doing something else) is also essentials to work supporting muscles that get missed by weights routines as well as helping keep the joints active and the lungs fit and healthy. I'd be very suprised if lifting weights burns more calories in reality, not in some lab. Plenty of fat weightlifters. Not many fat runners.
I know from doing leg work (squats etc) raises the heart rate and can leave you out of breath. There's a few guys I see at the gym who are a bit heavy and do nothing but cycling and running and it doesn't look like they have lost a KG whereas the weights guys are in much better shape. I thought the benefit of weights over cardio for weight loss is that the increased muscle mass burns more calories when you're resting. Speaking from experience I've lost more fat doing weights (and a circuits class) than when I took up running for a year.
Well, thats the thing, its a tailoring to your intended goals type of exercise. In the real world, weights uses more calories, lets take the 800 Calorie figure, you'd have to run for 4 hours to even come close to 1 hour of heavy lifting. So for efficiency, weights wins, but the thing is, runners do run often for more than an hour. Also, most people in gyms do isolation exercises, not proper, fat burning, muscle building routines that involve compound movements. So in that respect, those kind of weights aren't as efficient. There are a lot of variables, but if you can exploit those variable correctly, then you are onto a winner.
Gotta come out in support of you here Matt An hour of squats! How dull . At least if I was out running (hypothetical..) I could see a bit of the world outside.
No-one could actually do a full hour of quats, you'd be a bit dead and that. But if you only wanted to burn exactly the same calories as a hour run, you'd only need to do a couple of sets of heavy squats, and let the repair/muscle building process take care of the rest...so say ten minutes...
Cheers Pete - thought I was on my own again! From personal experience, I got my "fattest" when I was doing a lot of weights and almost no cardio. I've got my leanest (as in lowest bf%) doing a fair bit of cardio and I love being outside too. Gyms are all well and good but they are a pretty grotty place to spend too many hours a week.
I joined one hoping/expecting to be surrounded by lots of fit/toned women (don't tell the g/f) only to find that almost evry female there really needs to be there, oh well Point taken, elucidate, about not actually doing squats for a whole hour, I thought that was extreme!
See, thats why everyones opinion differs, 'personal experience'. No-ones personal experience is comparable, as we are all totally genetically different.
Aaaah, my gym is FULL of hot women, this is because of its physical location and the type of people that live around there. Try going to a less scummy gym you pikey
There are broad generalisations that work for everyone, like don't eat chips Also, squats and deadlifts should be in EVERYONES repertoire.
Same here. I started out as a runner/cyclist, ate loads of sh**e, and was never fat. Since switching to weights, my metabolism seems to have changed, and I sometimes OVER-eat. I don't live my life to purely burn calories and worry about percentage body fat, but on more 'cardio' based days, I'm concentrating more on getting my heart-rate up above 140bpm for extended periods, getting my lungs going like the clappers, and generally making myself more efficient and healthy. I've counted calories before, but it became obsessive.
personally if you like running, then run, if you like weights do weight, whatever you can keep to consistantly will be better in the long run and for fatloss, man it's 80% what you eat. I've been training a 39 yr old woman, and she squats deadlifts, rows, walks uphill on the treadmill on 7 and plays 3 hrs of racket sport a week. Her routine is great, really i'd struggle to make up anything better...... And she's still a fat cow, as she just overeats all the time. I have tried everything except hypnosis, but if you are eating more than you burn, no matter what you do you will not lose any fat drives me nuts I've lost 5 lbs of fat in 3 weeks with some minor diet changes, she notices and asks me how i've done it, yet when i mention she may have to eat differently it's like talking to a head gasket, pointless
Uh oh, here we go.....! Now I know this doesn't apply to Prof (yes yes, he is actually in decent shape) but I've many gym instructors and personal trainers who are actually not in very good shape at all. Always found that weird.
