Starting November 1st and ending Febuary 28th. This gives all of us a few weeks to get our fat count checked at our health club, etc.
On November 1st, you can post your fat % here (if you want) and we can all help motivate each other to loose as much fat as possible. We can discuss workouts, diets, etc.
I will be lifting to build muscle which in turn will help me burn calories. I will also be doing my regular swim/bike/run routine. I’m sitting at 6’3”, 220lbs right now. Would like to be 6’3”, 200 (or a solid 205).
I will be lifting to build muscle which in turn will help me burn calories. I will also be doing my regular swim/bike/run routine. I’m sitting at 6’3”, 220lbs right now. Would like to be 6’3”, 200 (or a solid 205).
Wouldn’t you burn more calories by replacing the time spent lifting with aerobic exercise? Muscle doesn’t burn that many more calories over the course of the day.
For me, I have been the most fit when I was lifting. This will also give me more power in all 3 disciplines. I am on the pro weight lifting side of camp.
Also, I am not one who wants to do an Ironman. I like my sprints, olympics, the occasional 70.3, and looking forward to adding adventure racing next year.
For me, I have been the most fit when I was lifting. This will also give me more power in all 3 disciplines. I am on the pro weight lifting side of camp.
Also, I am not one who wants to do an Ironman. I like my sprints, olympics, the occasional 70.3, and looking forward to adding adventure racing next year.
You said you are lifting to burn calories, not to be fit (what is “fit” for you?). I suggested that doing aerobic work instead will burn more calories in total. Just a suggestion.
I believe the combination of lifting and aerobic work will burn more calories than just aerobic work alone. I may be wrong, but that has been my experience.
I agree with Ken’s suggestion. Two years ago I was same wt/ht as you 6’3 230. Lifted weights and rode MTB mostly downhill. I started a more serious approach to tri training and cut back on weight lifting to two days per week plus Core. I’m now 185 and 8-10% bf during race season and 190ish in winter and am very happy with the decision to cut back a bit on weights in favor of tri-specific training as a strategy to improve body composition. Pain and knee problems from running left after I got below 200lbs as well.
Perhaps I wasn’t clear. I will only be lifting 2x / week.
Monday - Bike & Run
Tuesday - Lift
Wednesday - Bike
Thursday - Run
Friday - Lift
Sat - Swim (only need to swim once a week - an ex swimteam guy) & Bike or Run
Sun - Rest
Core everyday. No eating after 9pm. I have a pretty good diet now, but it could be better.
I’m in. I’ll be taking the ‘no-lifting’ approach, since several years of lifting for other sports has left me with too much muscle in the wrong places, so it will be interesting to compare results.
I believe the combination of lifting and aerobic work will burn more calories than just aerobic work alone. I may be wrong, but that has been my experience.
Last try. If you replace your time lifting with aerobic exercise, I’ll bet that you will burn more calories as a result of that exercise than the sum of calories burned while lifting and burned by the extra muscle you have. Instead of lifting twice a week for an hour each time, run 6 miles (10:00/mile). That’ll burn ~1800kCal per week for someone your size. Figure each session of lifting burns 200kCal, that’s 400 kCal per week. You add .25lbs of muscle each week (a lot, I’d think). How long would it take for that quarter pounder to burn up 1400kCal? A damned long time, I’m guessing.
I dont know the exact science behind it but lifting weights is an important function of losing fat. The added muscle burns fat constantly. I have talked to many professionals on this subject. I usually want to shoot myself after listening to there indepth explanations, but they all come back to lifting weights is an important part of the equation.
Ken is totally wrong. Aerobic work will almost always burn more calories than lifting and aerobic work combined, assumming the time spent for the two groups is equal. There are some exceptions, but they are few and far between. Thus, if you want to burn calories, do tons of aerobic work. 2 hours of aerobic work will burn more calories than virtually any combination of lifting and cardio that takes up 2 hours. This includes any increase in calorie burning via added muscle.
However, it should be noted that adding muscle will decrease your body fat percentage. So, while adding weight may not the best idea for triathlons, it is completely and totally feasible that you will be able to lower your body fat percentage via weight gains from weight lifting. Doing so takes careful nutritional planning and a strict adherence to a workout plan. Look at bodybuilders. They have super low body fat via adding muscle weight and cutting fat via cardio work.
Simply, if you want to cut body fat, do more aerobic work. This will cut body fat percentage so long as you lose more fat than other weight. If you want to decrease body fat percentage, you may be able to do so more effectively via a combined program of weight training and cardio.
In my opinion, if your sole goal is to decrease body fat percentage, lifting and cardio is key. Lifting will offset any muscle loss from overall weight loss. Simple equation. Increase muscle through lifting. Decrease fat through cardio. Thus lower fat percentage. While this plan may not be the best thing for triathlons, it will be the best thing for a lower body fat percentage.
Lift 2-3 times a week for 30 minutes. Add roughly .5lb muscle a week. You’d loose the initial 1 1/2 per week aerobic workout for the first six weeks leaving you with roughly a deficit of 5700 calories. From that point however you’d be carring around 3lbs extra to burn calories at roughly 840 calories a week. 6-7 week later you’d be at a break even point and beyond that you’d ahve burnt more calories than going aerobic alone.
Of course you could probably play with the numbers and make it look worse or better by gaining more less muscles, changing the amount of calories each pound burns etc etc.
None the less as you always say, it’s all about the squats and as I always say…one jelly donut is worth 4-6 miles.
I guess I totally missed the body fat percentage angle. Isn’t it kind of pointless to decrease the percentage by increasing the lean mass, as opposed to decrease the fat mass, at least for triathlons? Which will make you a faster runner, an extra pound of muscle or one less pound of fat? (Oops, you make this point, sorry!).
Also, did you really mean that I was totally wrong?
Finally, what would be a realistic amount of muscle mass that could be added by lifting twice a week? I thought that adding a pound of muscle took a lot of work.
Ken said: “If you replace your time lifting with aerobic exercise, I’ll bet that you will burn more calories”
You said: “Ken is totally wrong. Aerobic work will almost always burn more calories than lifting and aerobic work combined, assumming the time spent for the two groups is equal.”
"Finally, what would be a realistic amount of muscle mass that could be added by lifting twice a week? I thought that adding a pound of muscle took a lot of work. "
I did a few googles and found things like 3lbs in six weeks or 6 lbs in 8 weeks. I suspect that it would be different for different groups. Probably alot easier for a absolute newbie to put on 6lbs in 8weeks than it wodul be for someone who was already fairly trained.
