Hi all,

I know that we are supposed to do both cardio and strength training to fully enable our muscles to increase the basal metabolism (to use up more of those calories). So cardio is basically where you get your heart pumping more, breathing heavier, etc. And then strength training is where you work your muscles to have them become stronger.

I read on some of the threads in the exercise forum that with strength training you should do the strength training for a muscle one day and then let it rest the next day. That it's in the resting that it builds. And by building it bigger you get the greater basal energy used.

So, getting to my question.... For those of us in the TDC who are just getting started, and weigh quite a bit, isn't cardio also strength training? I mean, for some of us who haven't been exercising, just walking is strengthing our muscles... And if that's the case, should we really be exercising every other day rather than daily? At least until we feel the muscles are stronger?

For example, I am using the Walk Away the Pounds video for my routine workout (2 miles). In part of this workout you do a knee lift, which is bringing your knee up so that the thigh is parallel to the floor. You do this with each leg several times (maybe 20?) in a row and repeat it several times (maybe 4?) throughout the video. When you weigh as much as I do that's a lot of weight for the leg muscle to be lifting, so it's strength training, right? So, should I be doing this every other day in order to build muscle? What happens to the muscle if you don't give it that day of rest?

Just call me confused in Ohio.

Hi Dianne

Starting out I would not jump into working out 6 days a week. You don't want to overtrain and get sick of it and then never do it again. Start out with one day upper body...one day cardio, next day lower body and take 2 days off and build from there over time. Doing WAP 3 times a week will give you cardio and a weight workout combined..

You are right that your muscles need rest to build up..that is why you usually do weights every other day or like with BFL you do one day upper body..next day cardio...then lower body...cardio....upper body ect.

What kind of training do you have in mind?

So if you are building muscles, you need to give those muscles a day of rest after you've worked them. So, even with cardio, if your muscles aren't strong (like some of us in the TDC), you should do it every other day, not daily. At least until you feel like your muscles are strong.

So for people who aren't yet doing strength training, it would be better to just do the cardio every other day, then, right? Then once your muscles are adapted to it, you could do the cardio 5 or 6 days a week.

I'm really just trying to understand all of this so that I can come up with a routine that really works for me. I've been doing the cardio (WAP) 5 days per week and I'm thinking that I should go to an every other day schedule, even if I don't start the strength training yet.

Does this make sense? Or am I not explaining it very well?

Yes, walking builds leg muscles......to an extent. The problem is at some point you stop progressively overloading your leg muscles.....ie you walk for a certain amount of time or a certain distance, so as soon as you can do that distance you are no longer sending your body the message "I'm being forced to do something hard, so I better add more muscle"

I love walking, and walk 50 minutes 3-4 times a week, but it is not a substitute for weight training. Walking 50 minutes and leg pressing 500 lbs are apples & oranges.

Yes, muscles grow during rest, not the workout. So for the first few months, until the time/distance gets easy, walking every other day would be beneficial.

I suggest beginners weight train each bodypart twice a week (working the whole body at one time) and only after a year of training split out body parts for more isolation.

While I am no exercise guru, I am pretty sure that you could do cardio 6 days a week with no problem. Cardio is actually working your heart. The benefit for people trying to loose weight is that it also burns more calories than if you are sedentary.

Any program you decide to do should be "do-able" in the sense that you need to be able to stick to it and not get too tired and burned out. Design something that you can stick to and you enjoy.

I believe that maximum fat burning benefit occurs in cardio if you can sustain the workout for more than 30 minutes.

Someone feel free to jump in and let me know if I am off base.

I think Jerry got my drift. I understand that if you were doing pure cardio, meaning the muscles themselves weren't being pushed to the max, that you could do it for 6 days a week. But if you are sedentary and all of a sudden start working those muscles, you are building the muscles. So a day of rest is needed. The trick then is to know when your muscle has reached the point that it's no longer building, right?

That's an interesting way of looking at it Diane. As heavier people we have that added weight we carry, which becomes an issue when we workout. I also think we are more susceptible to injury as heavy people.

Like you suggest, beginners are probably building strength as well as cardio. As Jerry said, in time as you get used to your routine, your workout will have to change to keep improving. Plus the weight workout schedule he suggests is a good one.

In another post someone made a very good point by saying as a beginner, walking slowly may be an aerobic workout for that person. It may not be aerobic technically by what the books say, but for the person doing the workout it sure is.

I have a thought when it comes to telling heavy beginners how to workout or what is good for them. I know there are all of the technically correct theories when it comes to weights and aerobics, progressive training, etc. And I agree with all of that, but I wonder if we get too deep, it may scare off the people we are trying to help.

What I mean is, does it maybe help by keeping things simple at first? I think a person is more likely to start an exercise program if all they have to do is a little bit, by telling someone that all they have to do is walk a little 5 days a week and that will help to lose weight and get fit.

Compared to telling them that they really need to be doing cardio for more than 30 minutes per day, at such-and-such heart rate, at such-and -such speed, and so on. Which is all true, but I think at a certain level, all a heavy beginner really wants to hear (and responds to) is: just do what you can and it will be enough.

Know what I mean? I don't know if I'm too clear on that or if I'm just full of hot air.

Just getting moving for me in the beginning was very difficult - I could only exercise 3 min. the first day - eventualy I was doing 60 min of cardio (actually mixed because I use the Gazelle which has built into the routine some upper body exercises) but I think I was overworking and not really getting anywhere after a while. I have lost 60 inches since Oct 25 2003.

Now I do weights Mon & Thursday - cardio Tues, Friday & Sunday - 45 min. per day.

I wanted to leave some free time to address stalls - I can increase exercising by another day of weights and still be doing only 6 days - or increase my time per day to 60 min. All of the reading I have been doing recommends 30-45 min per day & only 60 min per day when you get into a stall - once the stall is broken you back off again to 45 min.

I think I would have liked someone to explain all of this to me in the beginning - I don't think it would have scared me, I as most people, do believe when they start this WOE that they will become fit and slim - and that they will have to work at it (some more than others).

Absolutely. My wife just bought a bicycle so she can ride alongside our 3 year old daughter. She was embarrassed that she could only ride for a minute or two. I told her thats fine, just try to add 1 minute per week. She is now up to about 12 minutes.

The same is also true about weight training. I would just tell people that its fine if you can only curl 3 lbs now, but in two years if you are STILL curling 3 lbs you aren't getting anywhere.

Hi Dianne,

I dont consider Cardio Strength training, however if anything it will help tone you but not bulk you. It was suggested by this fitness guru who owns this company called Exude (exude.com) that since I have so much weight to lose I should do aerobic (cardio) exercise 5x a week. He also told me to try and get in anerobic excersise in between at my discretion, meaning weight training. I have heard of people saying that your body needs a rest in between.

Personally I try to do cardio on the Elliptical machine at least 5x a week, as it burns more calories then using the treadmill. In addition I alternate strength training/weight lifting between a lower body one day then upper body another day. The weights that I lift are between 6lbs to 45 on the upper body and 30-70lbs on the lower. This is just my preference. However If I feel that I am not up to this crazy workout, I would go to Curves for my 30 minute workout.

I'm no expert but I've read that if your goal is to lose weight and burn fat, you should do as much cardio as you can (building up slowly and without pushing yourself to the point of injury).

I also think lifting one of my thighs on the bike should qualify as weight training!

My thoughts based on what I've read. The more cardio the better. If you can fit it in 5 days that's excellent. Strength training 2-3xs per week. Yes, when you are doing leglifts during an exercise video that is both cardio and strength training, but the muscles in your legs are large and can usually recover quickly. Are you sore when the next day? if not then you are probably fine to do the video daily. If your legs feel sore or overworked, just do some fast walking or something else during that part of the video to keep your pulse rate up. Cardio burns more calories than strength training but stregth training builds muscles and muscles burn more calories than fat. so the stronger you are the more calories your body uses at rest.

Congratulation on your commitment to a healthy lifestyle!
Christy

Thanks for the feedback everyone! It's really great to hear the different perspectives.



Maybe what I'm really looking for is a guide to know when your muscle needs that day of rest. Is "your muscle feeling sore the next day" a good gauge? Is that what tells you it needs a day of rest?

I'm going to go check out some library books this weekend on the subject. I think I have a lot to learn!

Dianne, please check back in & inform us of what you find out. I think by what we have read here is that there are a lot of ideas out there that do not necessarily match each other. Good luck on finding out what you need to know.

Here is a link to an article on muscle soreness.

http://www.physsportsmed.com/issues...1_99/muscle.htm

I have trained with sore muscles but only very lightly to increase blood flow in the muscle and only after a few days rest. It all depended on the severity of the soreness and the goal of my weight training program at the time.