Most people want to lose fat when they talk about weight loss...not losing muscle or your organs I am guessing ;)
SO let me tell you what I have found to be most effective with me and my clients in terms of fat loss:
Do full body exercises 3x a week. Full body exercises burn the most amount of calories. Push Ups, Pull Ups, Squats with shoulder press, lunges with bicep curls, bent over rows, etc etc. If you have time, add some core movements but just doing abdominals are not going to burn enough calories in order to make a change in your body fat percentage. Just google full body exercises and a ton will come up...orrrr just get an exercise book and you'll find some ideas. Women's Health and Men's Health both put out some great books with all different exercises with their progressions.
Do cardio on your off days. Let's say your lifting days are MWF and your cardio days are T-TR and perhaps one day on the weekend.
Play with the sets and reps schemes. I started with 3 sets of 15 reps when I first started lifting. Then I did 4 sets of 12....then 3 sets of 10...basically switching it up every 4-8 weeks so that my body is constantly changing and not plateu-ing.
Push yourself during your lifting days...you should be exhausted after your session. Leave everything in the session...give it your all. On your cardio days, just get that heart rate up! Whatever you chose to do for cardio, make sure that you aren't able to carry on a conversation...called the Talk Test. If you can have a conversation or sing to your IPOD out loud, then you aren't working hard enough. :) Go for as long as you can, and then stop.
It's hard for me to explain everything in a blog...and again, I am a personal trainer so a program is quite different for each person...but here is the meat and potatoes of it.
Let me know if you have any questions or even if you just loved the info or needed more! :)
Thanks all!
6 comments:
I just took a class on Exercise Physiology with Jeff Timmer (luv him!). He said that the research shows that weight loss is mostly attributable to calorie reduction through diet rather than through exercise. What are your thoughts on this?
Hey Love and Light! Since you just mentioned Jeff Timmer, I am guessing you are from Keene State! Horrayyy! Perhaps I know you!?
Anyways, thanks for the fantastic comment!
People typically lose fat because they have done 1 of 3 things:
1) eat healthier and therefore most likely less (decreased calories)
2) start an exercise program or exercise more
3)DO BOTH!
Let's talk about weight loss. Calories in needs to be less than the calories out (or being used). Exercise will help to burn the calories (the calories out part of the equation) and then eating less will decrease the calories in part of the equation. SO to answer your question, BOTH exercise and diet (the food you eat) will help you to lose fat.
HOWEVER, let's talk about losing 1 pound. 1 pound=3500 calories. It takes A LOT of exercise to burn 3500 calories so clearly diet is a HUGE part of that.
Why I think that Timmer talked about the research showing that weight loss is mostly attributable to calorie reduction through diet rather than exercise...is because, and I see this ALL OF THE TIME, people will exercise and not lose weight and that is because, they are eating too much or eating unhealthy. SO YES, I agree with that, however, in looking at the equation of calories in and out, the in is talking about food, and the out is talking about exercising. If you increase the calories out by exercising AND decrease the calories in...You will lose weight in the healthiest way possible and will most likely keep it off!
I agree with him and the research but it is not to say that exercise will do nothing. I have seen people lose weight without changing their food intake, however, those clients ate healthy to begin with and just weren't exercising before working with me so the exercise created enough of a deficit for them to lose fat (and they were increasing their lean musle mass so the body is now in a higher demand of calories and will use more). I have also seen people work out with me 2-3 hours a week and see no weight change because their calories in and calories out equal eachother due to their eating, alcohol intake, etc etc.
Did that make sense?! :)
Thanks for the great comment and question!
Hey Caitlin, I found your blog through my sister-in-law Katie Brown. I joined a gym down the road from my house and I always feel a little lost when I go in there. I usually do about 15 minutes of cardio on a treadmill or elliptical and then half an hour or more of resistance and weight training. My son was born 6 months ago and I've lost all the weight but now I want to shape up, especially my belly, hips and thighs. Any suggestions?
Hey Lizzie! Thanks for posting! :)
GO YOU for losing your baby weight...as we all know, sometimes that weight never goes away...so congrats for you losing it in 6 months!
What do you usually do for weight training/resistance training? Like what exercises?
The bummer is that we cannot pick and choose a specific area to spot reduce...however, we can make you more toned!
Would you say that you have extra fat stored in your belly, hips, and thighs or would you say you just want to make those areas more defined?
Let me know so that I can further help you!
And also, if you want someone at the gym to show you around, feel free to ask the gym trainers/front desk people! That's what they are there for, and what better people to ask than those who work there! :)
Congrats on your baby! Must be a really exciting time in your life!
Thanks Caitlin! I actually lost the weight within two months of his birth, but I just haven't gotten my butt in gear to lose the inevitable baby pouch. I definitely have some fat stores around those areas, and I'm a healthy weight for my height (150 lbs. and I'm 5' 11") but I want to feel proud of my body like I did before Adam came along. I feel like if I could take 10 or 15 pounds of fat and turn it into 10 or 15 pounds of muscle I would be happy. I'm not looking to lose weight, just inches, I guess.
I don't know the names of the machines, but usually I do something like this, in 3 reps of 15:
ab squeeze/crunch
leg press
leg abduction/adduction
overhead lift
a press where you push the bar out in front of you, working the pecs and delts
and sometimes a leg lift that targets the quads
Okay Great! How long have you been doing this routine for? How many days a week do you perform this set of exercises? Are you tired each time you do a set of an exericse?
Most likely, You will need to play around with the sets and progress the movements to see a bigger change in your body. Perhaps for 4 weeks try 4 sets of 12...3x a week...I would also add in Lat Pull downs and also add in a row exercise (2 exercises that are missing for a balanced shoulder joint).
I would also try to add in some cardio to your workouts...meaning...burpees, high knees, squat jumps or just plain squats, medicine ball chops..etc etc. Just google those that I wrote down and I'm sure you'll find more. Just shock the body a little bit with a different set and rep scheme and also adding a little more will burn more calories and will make you stronger!
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