Strength training results

Posts: 99
12/1/11 12:31 P

Thanks F.C. and Kelley. I'm one wk 1 and loving it. Trying to fill my brain w/ all the knowledge I can get. :-)

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12/1/11 10:11 A

Hey Heather, sure. I'm working out with the help of a personal coach, and this is the routine we use right now:

Monday and thursday: Chest and back (3 different exercises for each, with 4 sets of 6 to 12 reps max, maximum weight).

Tuesday and Friday: Arms and shoulders (same set combination)

Wednesday and saturday: Lower body (about 4 or 5 different exercises with max weight. 4 sets of 6 to 12 reps too).

The main secret, I've learned, is to exercise your larger muscles first, and finish with the shorter muscles. That way you can maximize your output.

Now, this is the "mid-advanced" routine. When we started out we started with upper body monday, wednesday, and friday and lower body tuesday, thursday, and saturday. You don't start with max weight from the very first, you need to take it gradually to avoid any injuries, or so I've been told by my coach (but he's learned that I'm quite stubborn : ) , so by the third week we were working with max weight).

Remember, every body reacts differently, so don't over-do it. It is normal to feel a little soreness, but serious pain or soreness is not a good sign, I've read. That old saying "no pain, no gain" is not necessarily accurate in strength training.

Hope this helps!

Posts: 86
12/1/11 9:14 A

Of course I'm not the OP, but I personally lift 3 days a week (full body) and do cardio on my "off" days. You may want to check out the program in "New Rules of Lifting for Women". I am about to start stage 2 of the program and I'm loving lifting heavy! It focuses on compound moves (squats, deadlifts, presses) rather than isolation moves to strengthen multiple muscle groups.

Posts: 99
11/30/11 11:34 P

Hey OP,
I was going to send you a private message but I'm not sure how.
I'm new to strength training. I have to work out 6-7 days a wk. I've been researching strength training and most say 3 days rest 4. I noticed you do 45 min 6 days a wk.
Can you give me some tips from your routine? I don't want to overwork any muscles but I need to do something everyday to feel sane.

Posts: 86
11/30/11 10:09 P

Pretty awesome that your doc has that type of equipment available. Thanks for the explanation and congrats on the progress!

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11/30/11 4:51 P

@KELLYM728: Her clinic has one of those high tech bio-impedance machines. While I have my own inexpensive version at home, I saw body fat percentage go down dramatically, but I don't trust my machine that much, even though it has proved to be quite accurate trend-wise. Her more complex equipment confirmed the trend.

Bio-impedance machines are not accurate enough, but the trend is what really counts. The negative slope of the body fat percentage time-line (a five month trend line) increased in these past three weeks...

And I'm a guy. We are unfairly "genetically blessed" for muscle building. But I've also seen the most toned women at my gym working out regularly at the strength area, not cardio.


Edited by: FITCHALLENGER at: 11/30/2011 (16:59)

Posts: 86
11/30/11 2:59 P

And how exactly did your doc assess your body fat level?

I'm not disagreeing that the strength training was not beneficial as I do lift 3 days a week myself. I'm just curious to know how your doc drew the conclusion that you gained 4 lbs of muscle mass.

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11/30/11 1:24 P

I do the same routine pretty much (although I go on a 2-3 week cardio shift, every 6weeks) and the scale doesn't say much but I'm shrinking! :)

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11/30/11 10:40 A

In the last 3 weeks I have just started doing 3 days of ST & 4 days of cardio, instead of all cardio. I, too, have noticed the scale not moving as much now...but I'm not changing anything in my routine because I know that I need to work these muscles and ST will eventually prove itself. It's helpful to hear about your experience! Thanks!

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11/30/11 9:21 A

Great topic! Thanks for sharing your story!

Posts: 208
11/30/11 8:25 A

Thanks for sharing. I know that strength training is important part of our exercise routine. I've not always got strength training in. This week I have done two days of st exercises. I'm at the point in my weight loss journey that ST would be very beneficial to me. I need more shape up instead of weight loss.

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11/29/11 10:25 P

When I got to the point in your story that you said your weight loss had slowed, I was bracing myself for you to say "so I'm going to stop weight training and just do cardio!" but thankfully that didn't happen.

I think in general it's easy for people to confuse weight loss and FAT loss. It's very much possible to lose fat without losing weight.

This is refreshing thing to hear around these boards. Keep up the awesome work!

Posts: 918
11/29/11 2:56 P

I realize I need to up my ST. I love my cardio but building muslce is very very important

Posts: 213
11/27/11 8:51 P

Excellent story and you are just one of the many that can attest to such amazing and inspiring results!

I personally just started once again doing this same exact thing because personally, I want to fit into smaller clothing; I could careless about the scale # at the end of the day. Strength Training is a powerful tool when it comes to combating fat. Congrats on working hard and obtaining those impressive numbers. It really does work!

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11/26/11 8:21 P

Thanks for contributing your experience.

And well done on sticking with things even if the scale was telling a misrepresenting story.

When starting/increasing an exercise program, it is pretty common for your muscles to retain water (it takes 3 water molecules to bond to each glycogen molecule, and this helps deliver energy to your muscles more efficiently, and helps them cope better with the new demands you are making of them).

This one-off increase isn't muscle tissue in the sense of the red fibery stuff, but rather water retained by your muscles. You are quite right to say that 6 lbs of muscle gain would be unusual, but strictly speaking, what you are almost certainly seeing is an increase in lean mass, rather than muscle tissue.

M@L

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11/26/11 1:13 P

Very good to see that although the 'weight' result wasn't what you expected, you were able to confirm that in fact you WERE losing more fat this way! :)

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11/26/11 12:59 P

I know many people have this question, just like I did. So here is my experience with strength training.

My question was, "should I begin doing strength training now that I still am in "obesity I" or should I wait and continue doing cardio until I get to "overweight"?"

So many people here recommended to go ahead with strength trainig... I did.

I reduced cardio from 60 minutes to just 15 per day, and began lifting with the highest weight possible for a maximum of 6 to 8 repetitions, for 45 minutes every day.

The first thing I noticed was that my weekly weight loss was cut down by 66%. But it was too early to make a judgement so I continued for three weeks with the same routine, 5 times a week.

Yesterday I went to see my doctor, and when she got my weight, her first reaction was "What happened?!" I had only lost 2 lbs in three weeks when the trend was 2 lbs per week... But then whe went "Oh wait.... what did you do? You´ve lost 6 lbs of fat and gained 4 lbs of muscle mass in three weeks." I had never lost that amount of only fat before... and a muscle gain of such an amount is unusual.

At first, about two months ago she told me to stick to running and leave weight trainig for the future, because she had seen the results before and that was the best way to go. Yesterday she said, "Whatever you are doing, just keep doing it. It is amazing to see how your charts have moved in time."

So, if you are wondering if strength training is the right thing to do.. give it a try, it might just be the best thing to do.