Like others, i find your posts of this nature incredibly mis-informed and somewhat offensive.
I COULD make a long list of what you are mis-informed about, including the physiologically correct answers, but i wont. For everyone else's sake, it goes something like this:
He's right. bodyweight exercises ARE great. I do them all the time. But- they will NOT give you the same type of strength that resistance (with iron) does. If you lift weights, the strength gains are far greater, and will, in turn, make bodyweight exercises a lot easier. And about lifting inevitably giving people joint/back, etc. etc., problems. This is not true. Yes, the possibilty of injury is real, and that's why it's very important to lift correctly! It is true of any exercise (even bodyweight exercises,) that if you don't do it right, you could hurt yourself!!!!of course!!! Done correctly, weighted resistance exercise is actually GOOD for your joints, and your bones, and your connective tissues, well, really, for your whole body.
And lastly, he is getting "weightlifting" and "bodybuilding" confused. They are not the same thing. Bodybuilding (as i have come to learn, and am open to correction,) refers to the building of huge muscles, sometimes with the use of stimulants. Strength gains come second in importance. (this explains his paragraph on "puffy" muscles.) Weightlifting is a strength based sport. There is a female on the u.s. olympic team that looks TINY, and doesn't have those huge, "soft white meat" muscles. She has the "oxygen-filled, useful ones," cuz she does some heavy STRENGTH training, and doesn't use steroids.

Gahri:

If you're going to be dismissive of all weight training except bodyweight training, please posts some links to research supporting your claims. I didn't see any at Matt Furey's site.

Hey Bigdaddy
Wow, what a transformation! I bet you feel great! Ok, since you have experience I have a question for you. I've been lifting weights twice a week and doing lower body as well on those days & 3 times a week I run at least 6 miles (about an hour) for my cardio. Now am I wasting my time doing that much running? Reason being is I've read that you only need like 20 - 30 minutes of cardio to see results. I feel like I am excercising my ass off for nothing. I mean sure I see some definition, however, not enough loss. I'm so confused! Someone help!

I have the type of male physiology that easily builds muscle. From my experience, I found doing hundreds of pushups daily never built up the pec muscles. But I became very good at doing pushups. :-) A thousand at a time was no problem. But for big pecs I needed to do bench presses with the heaviest weights I could tolerate.

Using your weight for exercise will make you stronger and increase definition but you won't get bigger and never as strong as a weightlifter. That's true for most men and nearly all women. The lack of testosterone is what keeps women from developing big muscles.

Thanks, your looking great as well!!!

If your goals are to develop some muscular definition, then you will need to increase your weight training and you may need to drop your running down a bit. At 1 hour, your close to the limit for cardio IMO. Your probably beginning to canabilize any new muscle growth that you may have earned during your weight training. But, everyone is different, maybe you can put on muscle and still do that much cardio. If not, drop it down to 30 - 45 minutes and increase your frequency to 4 times/week.

If you simply want to lose weight without adding any musculature, then I would say your on track.

Three questions

1. What are you goals?
2. Please post your lifting routine.
3. What's your Carb/Protein intake per day?


BD

If you are not seeing 'enough loss' with an hour of running, then you certainly won't see it with 20-30 minutes. The loss you're looking for comes from creating a calorie deficit by the end of the day. The best way to do this is by combining activity and reducing your calorie intake.

If you want to lose more, then you'll need to make an adjustment in one or both of these areas. Find a long-term sustainable balance for yourself.

One key thing to remember is that as your bodyweight drops, so should your calorie intake. You can blow through a weight/fat plateau by remembering this simple truth.

Ok, let's see.
1) All I want is to tone up and be more lean. Don't get me wrong I would like the poundage to go away as well. ( I know asking too much) I just don't think I'm doing it right. I see people on these forums loose instantly with little to no excercise. It's unbelievable! I know age has something to do with it but jeez I'm not that old, I'm only 33! I even got off the pill thinking that was hindering weight loss, also made hubby just a little pissed~
2) I use the BFL lifting routine Tuesdays and Thursdays for Upper Body and my own for lower. squats with 10lb weights, lunges, lying leg curls (only 25lbs), and leg extensions(55lbs.). I already told you my cardio 3x a week. Today though, I've started the HIIT for 30 minutes with 10 cool down. Wow that was tough!
3)Ok, carb intake is under 25. Protein, Ummmmm, I think was too little bit. It was like maybe 30 grams give or take a day. I read a post the other day stating a large person needs at least 60 grams per day! I was like, What?!?!?! I consider myself large person because I'm large framed and 5'9. Also, since I read to eat more protein I started trying to have more frequent meals instead of just 3 and replacing a couple with protein shakes with whey protein etc. Except I think I was doing that wrong as well! I would put 2tbls. flax seed into it, along with 1tsp. of L. glutamine (I think that's what it is)& coconut oil. So then I read somewhere not to include any fat into the shake? What do you think? I'm a mess!!!
THanks for responding so quickly! I need some answers man.

I am happy for you guys if you like weightlifting, and this is clearly a weightlifting-oriented posting group, so have fun in your gym. I want to point out that "there is an alternative", which most people don't realize. I never did! Matt Furey's site is not for scientific proof for weightlifters, it's for information on how to do bodyweight workouts and why they work. If you want to know more, join his daily e-mail list. We are still in the minority, we bodyweight workers, but our numbers will increase, I am sure. I will just say I respectfully disagree with those who say you can only get strong lifting weights, and leave it at that. Discover the truth for yourselves!

I'm familar with the BFL routine and I think it is really good for someone with your goals. Your doing the 16/12/10/8/16 reps for each upper body part, chest, shoulders, back, biceps, triceps. This should work well.

At 25 grams of carbs and only 30 grams of protein, your only taking in less than a 800 calories per day! With your cardio routine and this diet you must be losing weight.

The flax seed oil is a necessary EFA (essential fatty acid) and should also be aiding in the weight loss.

It sounds like the pounds should be flying off you... if anything, I'd say your protein intake is way too low. I'll be honest, I'm stumped.

Anyone else???

Thanks Big Daddy......
Good luck on your goals.

I would be surprised if your protein intake was not higher than 30 gr/day. Can you post what your daily food intake is like right now? Be as accurate as possible. I'm guessing that things aren't as big a mess as it may seem at the moment.

Ok, well after my HIIT run of about 32 minutes with 10 of cool down and abs I had a shake that consisted of 28.5 grams of protein and only 3 of carbs. I'll probably have a couple hard boiled eggs and something else in about 1 1/2 hours. Don't know about later. See, I didn't realize that I was under 30 a day until I read a post 2 weeks ago that was under reasons why a person stalls and it said about the protein intake. So let's say before I read that I drank 1 shake that had maybe at a minimum of 16 grams of protein (didn't use whey at that time) Didn't have my shake until after my workout which was at about 11:30 am. Then I would have maybe tuna with a few pork rinds for lunch around 2:30 then I'd maybe have string cheese around 4:00 then dinner would be some sort of protein like beef, chicken or fish with either a salad or broccoli, some sort of veggie. This is just an example.

Even before, it sounds like you were over 30/day.

How long have you been at your current weight and how does that coinside with your added protein?

Actually I have not weighed myself because it brings me down if I don't see progress! I got off the pill last month and everything is a little off. So I'll probably weigh myself next week. So don't have that answer for you.
Have a great weekend!
Chow

I have to agree, weighing yourself too often can be depressing. And if you're depressed, what do you do? Eat! I'm not a female so I don't have to worry about hormone fluctuations but my weight will bounce around for unexplained reasons. Yesterday I ran 20 miles and today I must be heavier than last week because my belt feels tighter. I got rid of the bathroom scale a long time ago. I use a cheap skin fold caliper to gauge body fat. It's much better than a scale since it measures fat, not weight.