I need to lose weight. Why should i lift?

[Grog]

I am about 50 lbs over my desired weight. Does it make sense to lift as well as cardio and diet? I am trying to get smaller after all.

 

[JOHNHOLMES]

Sure it makes sense, but lose the the heavy weights. More reps is what you need. And of course, Cardio and what you eat is the key for what you want

 

[STONER]

Lean muscle burns calories 24 hrs a day. Burning more calories than you take in results in weight loss. Maintaining the muscle is the hard part.

Top 3 factors to lose weight and keep lean muscle mass:

1. Diet

2. Weight Training

3. Cardio

In that order. If you dont want to work on your diet & practice good nutrition methods you are wasting your time & energy.

GL in your endeavor

Stoner

 

[jehims]

you will have to lower your cal/protein/carb intake and do a lotta cardio, a little weight lifting is not bad either, but focus on running and what you eat. These two will be the most important factor to lose weight.
or...you can just take dnp pills and just sit back and watch the games

 

[harman]

as stoner stated, lifting weights is as important if not more so than cardio. basically, the more muscle, the higher your metabolic rate. the higher your metabolic rate, the more calories your body burns when you are sitting on your ass, sleeping etc. Sure you can burn a shitload of calories in a short pd of time with some intense cardio but once you stop and your heart gets back to a normal rate, you don't burn anywhere near the calories.

 

[levistep]

Sure it makes sense, but lose the the heavy weights. More reps is what you need. And of course, Cardio and what you eat is the key for what you want

This advice is horrible and is one of the biggest myths in weightlifting. One of my friends is a painter and he's pretty jacked from doing it. There isn't any heavy weight involved, but all the ladder moving and brush strokes made his arms bigger just like the guy who does 5 sets of 5-8 reps in the weight room. I didn't think anyone but old laddies believed that myth.

 

[RobFunk]

Levistep is right.

You want the high weight - low rep work because this builds muscle which in turn boosts your metabolism as harman has pointed out.

When I first started to lift I did a bunch of high rep work and lost like crazy and got cut as hell but I also played a ton of hoops and went 6 days a week. When I got older, I learned that building muscle should be your sole focus.

 

[Presto]

Like most everyone has stated, muscle is the key element to increasing metabolism. Cardio is less important at this point.


Try alternating between heavy weights one day and moderate weights the next time.

And make sure you have some sort of protein food in the morning to get the metabolism up and running.

 

[donkeybucks]

Like most everyone has stated, muscle is the key element to increasing metabolism. Cardio is less important at this point.


Try alternating between heavy weights one day and moderate weights the next time.

And make sure you have some sort of protein food in the morning to get the metabolism up and running.

Nice advice.

I lift heavy Monday Tuesday and light Thursday Friday. Cardio proceeds after lifting on each day. Wednesday's are off totally.