Here's my 2p on this subject, I'm not an expert so I probably won't be able to debate or counter any arguments but this is from my personal experience, from doing body building, weight lifting type exercises and going from 90kg to 77kg in 3 months from doing 1 hour of exercise 3 times a week.
Can you loose weight and bulk up, yes but its REALLY hard work. As many people have said the current wisdom is to bulk up and then cut. but it also depends on your make up, eg for me I spent a very sedate 2 years so lost of a lot of strength and fitness and put on a lot of fat, I also had virtually zero weight lifting experience even in my "fit days" I be running, cycling or playing football, no gyms and no weights. So when I started I was able to loose weight by moving more and eating less. But also as my muscles where in such terrible shape they also got bigger too. You need to be a reasonably good shape before the muscle gain starts to weigh more than the fat loss. I still haven't found that equilibrium point yet. Muscle growth has plateaued a little bit but still rising slowing so I'm lifting heavier weights but my weight is dropping and body shape is looking better. Currently at 75.2kg at 182 cm tall.
Can you eat less food to increase the eat less, move more ratio? Well clearly we need to know more about you and what you eat but as a general sweeping comment .. YES! I was amazed and how little food I really needed and was still able to increase performance (lift heavier weights) week on week, and that was with just eating normal food no replacing meals with some scientifically created supplement power to give you perfect balance of nutrients etc... Again I was clearly packing on quite a bit extra fat and no athlete at all so constantly reducing portion sizes as I got fitter worked in my situation. But if you are competing at national level in some sport then possibly the answer isn't as simple as yes you can eat less. Its so easy to eat a naughty snack or bit more pasta than you really need and add on few calories to your daily intake and a lot harder to burn it off.
Can you target a specific part of your body to loose weight? Again currently wisdom and my experience says nope you just have to work your whole body and keep at it till its all in the shape you want it to be and then keep at it to maintain it.
Compound exercises will help use up energy quicker than isolated exercises. Things like Squats, deadlifts, pull ups, press ups and variations on those exercises. Do these first in your routine and then finish off with isolated movements for the smaller muscles like the bicep curls etc ... train for a strict controlled technique, it hurts SO much more and burns way more energy than throwing weights and using momentum to lift. You'll be annoyed at first as the weights will have to drop by 20% by using the strict technique but you'll soon be back to lifting the same weight as before.
Will you end up looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger? Nope unless you seriously try to end up looking like a body builder, with the strict diets, supplements (including the naughty ones) and training twice a day etc etc... But eating well and exercising regularly 2-3 times a week by lifting weights plus some other CV work and eating well will most likely see you looking lean and strong and not an overblown muscle head.
thanks. I have got quite a good shape in my upper body already and have no worries about getting a better shape there. The weight loss bit is all new to me as I have never done CV stuff at the gym.
Interesting topic...
I've been playing about with my body weight of late, mainly because i'm an ectomorph at heart, and with all my life crap going on at the moment it's pretty easy for me to lose about 5kg per week (yup... have lost that before!) if I don't eat well... when I get stressed I stop eating...
I purposefully set myself the challenge to try to build muscle bulk and gain some weight (really, so as to force me to eat). In November I gained about 4.5kg and did bulk up a bit, but got bored of eating all the time, and have now dropped to about 2kg above baseline (currently 72kg...my body WANTS to be 70kg whatever I do!).
I think it would be hard to gain muscle without gaining weight, TBH... but you could bulk and then cut i guess..
DrP
My legs are fine for cycling as it keeps them in good shape and I do not want them any bigger or stronger really. – so upper body only.
Why not?
& why ask advice from a bunch of internet strangers but not an actual PT? Is it because they tell you things you don't want to hear? Or do you think you know better than someone with years of experience?
Sorry if it sounds harsh, but a good PT will look at everything from diet to exercise to put you on the right track for your goals.
"The weight loss bit is all new to me as I have never done CV stuff at the gym"
So routine didn't have any conventional CV exercises my PT said to do some on the side a minimum of 20mins couple times a week. But in the early days I was so knackered from my lifting sessions I didn't do any supplementary CV work and even when I was a bit fitter I skipped the CV stuff a lot.
But the weights I was lifting was done at very high intensity 3 sets of 10 reps and usually on the 3rd set I was failing at 6-8. Everytime you reach 3x10 good reps you move the weight up. Only a short break in-between the exercises a little walk around the gym, a little stretch of the muscle catch your breath back and get back to lifting. Wasn't 5 plus minutes of posing in the mirror like some people at my gym seem to do before hitting the set.
This left me very out of breath and I could feel my heart beating much faster. So weights can be CV if done in a particular way. Obviously not as good as things like running or rowing machine on the cardio front but a lot better than some people think.
If you ride just for fun and are happy with your performance I'd say skip the gym CV work and just do weights.
Sorry if it sounds harsh, but a good PT will look at everything from diet to exercise to put you on the right track for your goals.
However, finding a good PT who actually understand any of it is like finding a needle in a haystack. Most PTs have done a few days of training to get their basic Certificate and just fell into it because PE was the only thing they were good at in school.
And much more importantly, is he's happy with his legs that's all that matters. You know what you want not the PT.
Most PTs have done a few days of training to get their basic Certificate and just fell into it because PE was the only thing they were good at in school.
The ones I know are those who have degrees - yes you can become a PT with a 2 year course, & potentially a good one, but like anything, always check to see their qualifications.
It's really funny I've got an old school body building book with loads of solid exercises in it. At the start it mentions cross training and these new things called mountain bikes ( US book ). A no I do not want a new book as this one is very good for results.
Stop eating crap and lift heavy twice a week.
The true definition of fitness is being average at everything, not specificity which is at the core of all sports and specificity equals pain and injury.
IMO spend 2 or 3 months doing the 5x5 program and get to lifting weights you are comfortable at, but doesn't burn you out for other activities. By doing so you will raise your muscle mass slightly and therefore also the background calories you burn every day.
Once you reach that point, just workout with weights twice a week but just look to maintain rather than increase strength and mass any further. Weight loss can then be controlled better by a mix of aerobic activities and diet.
I find lifting weights quite boring, but massively beneficial to my overall health, especially as i get older. so twice a week 30-45 mins max per session is plenty. If I don't lift weights for a few weeks I get far more aches and pains than when I do.
What's happened to bump this topic close to the top of the list? It looks like the last update/comment/reply was 11 months ago? just curious; is the forum having a wobble?
There was probably a spam post deleted by the mods.
There was probably a spam post
Definitely not what the OP needs.
There was probably a spam post deleted by the mods.
There was indeed, I saw it and went to report the post, but the mobile view wouldn't allow me to.
