Confused - Weight training.

J

joeisrad

0
Hello everyone,

I'm an overweight male (19 years old), my metabolism is mediocre at best, and my build is stocky. I'm currently a member of planet fitness, and am trying to get into shape, I've heard by several people the weight training is the best, so I have a few questions for some of you out there that have done this already!

FIrst off, I start with a few minutes of cardio just to get my heart pumping, then I alternate each day from upperbody/abs to lower body.


My question is, what should I be doing? I do several machines for my upper body, such as the row machine, the butterfly machine, a couple machines for triceps, And I bench press occasionally, but I'm not sure what reps/weights I should be doing.


And for lower body, I do the legpress, as well as certain machines designed to tone.

Abs, I do an ab crunch machine, as well as a slider type machine where I get on my knees, and push up on track in the shape of a U

I am overweight, highly overweight, pants size 40, I'm 5'7, My strength is, developing I suppose, for most of the bicep machines I usually set weights around 80 pounds, triceps around 80, and I bench pressed around 150. For legs, I can leg press up to 300 pounds, and for the machines I can usually do around 200 pounds, my legs are my strongest point.

Any help would be appreciated. Whether you prefer free weights, and if so which free weights should I use.

Or, is this not effective and should I stick with more cardio, I want the fat to be gone, I don't care about the number on the scale, I simply want to replace the fat with muscle, that's why I was recommended weight training by a number of people who say it's effective at getting rid of the fat and replacing with muscle rather quickly
 
Start with fat loss first. Go for moderate reps per set (6-8 reps), and go heavy.
Avoid machines for the most part...go for freeweights, including squats over leg press machine.
Stick to your upper/lower split, nothing wrong with that.
More cardio...cardio helps burn excess calories and stored fat. Weight training cannot burn fat directly like cardio.
 
The best way to lose weight is through weight training. If you are unfamiliar with free weight exercises, there is nothing wrong with sticking to machines for now. As you develop strength you can begin to move to free weight exercises.

For now the 6-8 repetitions is a good place to be like malkore said.

You lower body exercises will be important, squats, lunges, high-box step up, bulgarian split squats. (if you need demonstrations of these exercises let me know)

You can try to work in different interval training as well, for example,

Farmer walks with dumbells
lunges at one end
Farmer walks back
lunges again

This is a good interval that will help develop strength and help you lose weight.

I do not think more cardio will be better, but you should still keep it into your training sessions. 10-15 minutes is good, then move to your weight training.

If you have anymore questions please ask.
 
Danny, how is weight training 'the best' for fat loss? weight lifting is an anaerobic process, and they've proven that idle muscle mass doesn't burn significantly more calories per day.

So how is cardio, and aerobic exercise that CAN DIRECTLY BURN STORED FAT less effective for weight loss?
 
i would suggest you to go with cardio to reduce the fat percentage in your body and as you said the number of weight you use to do the weight training, its shows that you have a good muscular strength and that is really good. all the best..
 
Weight training is the best for fat loss. Maybe we are getting confused. When I mean weight training, I just do not mean doing individual exercises, I am talking about interval training, where you incorporate compound lifts into your training. The more muscle you use, the more energy will be needed.. With interval training/weight training, you can also experience the after burn, where your metabolism stays elevated for a period of time, continuing to burn fat.

Now, when someone says cardio, I think low intensity. Your body is not going to burn more fat during low intensity cardio training, it just does not make any sense. Your body will become efficient at low intensity exercises very quickly, and will require less energy to perform the exercise. You also will not get the after burn.

If you incorporate some cardio work into a interval, then that can be very beneficial. But low intensity cardio on its own is not better that weight training/ interval training for weight loss
 
malkore said:
Danny, how is weight training 'the best' for fat loss? weight lifting is an anaerobic process, and they've proven that idle muscle mass doesn't burn significantly more calories per day.

So how is cardio, and aerobic exercise that CAN DIRECTLY BURN STORED FAT less effective for weight loss?
Click to expand...

Neither's better for weight loss - eating less is better for weight loss.

For FAT loss, the advantage of weight training is primarily that it preserves fat-free mass. In a perfect world, weight training plus decent diet would mean you can't lose any lean body mass, so all weight lost has to be fat or water. It's not a perfect world, so it doesn't necessarily work that way, but it's still similar.

Cardio, however, just uses fat for energy, which really isn't a special feat - I'm using fat for energy right now. In the context of 24 hours, it's only a small factor. It doesn't do much to preserve fat-free mass, either, so the benefits (for weight/fat loss; not for health and fitness) really aren't a great deal better than just eating less. It's certainly still good to do cardio, but for body composition purposes it should take the role of assistance, rather than being the primary training mode, if quality resistance training is viable (which, in this case, I think it is).
 
Should be a combination of weight training to build muscle to speed up your bodies energy usage, cardio to burn calories for the short term, and a good diet, high protein, cut out carbs and sugar in the evening.

Foods like pasta, chips our high carb foods, and should be restricted.
 
Goldfish said:
Neither's better for weight loss - eating less is better for weight loss.
Click to expand...

There is not just one way to lose weight/burn fat, but there are better methods than others. As a nation we do eat to much and I would agree that on average individuals could be eating less. But I would argue that it is more important about the quality than quantity.

When it comes down to it, the best way to lose weight is just living a healthy lifestyle, which I think many people do not do.
 
Hi,
I would really recommend you to do mostly cardio and eat prober diet.
If you are up to loosing weight, beginning to run will help you alot, maybe start really small with running only 3 minutes and then walk 3 minutes and so on. Then build it up.
Eat a balanced diet, remove anything that is unhealthy and do not eat sugar.
You can do weight training, but I would surgest to do this to help you but get it in balance with the other parts.
Best regards
Michael Morales - Hard Gainer
 
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