Has anyone had success with losing body fat by adding an hour or two of strength training to their tri regimen? I train 10-15 hours a week depending on the time of year but have generally not done any strength training besides core. I really want to lose 10-15 lbs (I am 5’11", 185-190 right now, would like to weigh 175). I eat an extremely healthy diet (no dairy, no red meat, no fried food, no alcohol, no sugar unless it comes from fruit or the occasional Clif Bar, no crap whatsoever) and run a deficit of a few hundred calories a day (although with my training volume it’s really hard to be precise about how many calories I am burning daily, but if I track my weight change vs. calories eaten over the last year I have been running a 200-300 cal per day deficit).
I am wondering if adding 2-3, 30-minute sessions of endurance-specific strength training (high rep, low weight) will help that last 10 lbs of body fat come off. Anyone had success with this?
Has anyone had success with losing body fat by adding an hour or two of strength training to their tri regimen? I train 10-15 hours a week depending on the time of year but have generally not done any strength training besides core. I really want to lose 10-15 lbs (I am 5’11", 185-190 right now, would like to weigh 175). I eat an extremely healthy diet (no dairy, no red meat, no fried food, no alcohol, no sugar unless it comes from fruit or the occasional Clif Bar, no crap whatsoever) and run a deficit of a few hundred calories a day (although with my training volume it’s really hard to be precise about how many calories I am burning daily, but if I track my weight change vs. calories eaten over the last year I have been running a 200-300 cal per day deficit).
I am wondering if adding 2-3, 30-minute sessions of endurance-specific strength training (high rep, low weight) will help that last 10 lbs of body fat come off. Anyone had success with this?
You should be able to tell daily calorie expenditure fairly closely. If you are truly running 2-300 cals a day deficit on average, you should be losing ~ 2-3 lbs per month (on average). If you aren’t losing weight, then one of two things is happening:
You really aren’t running a deficit.
You are replacing fat lost with muscle, which will outweigh the fat loss.
What is a reliable way to calculate calories burned in a workout? My Garmin tells me I burn 1200+ an hour during a hard bike, which seems absurd, and others say you burn only 500-600. If you workout 2-3 hours a day and your calories burned calculation is off by even 10% per hour, there goes your 200-300 calorie deficit.
What is a reliable way to calculate calories burned in a workout? My Garmin tells me I burn 1200+ an hour during a hard bike, which seems absurd, and others say you burn only 500-600. If you workout 2-3 hours a day and your calories burned calculation is off by even 10% per hour, there goes your 200-300 calorie deficit. http://www.nutristrategy.com/activitylist4.htm
I’ve found that pretty close. Mostly I just use the scale. I’m hovering right now at 170 (5’11"), and if I can ever give up fast food for lunch, I can get down to my goal of 165ish.
I believe the calculations on calories burned (which is what weight loss is all about, given a certain level of energy expenditure) indicates that aerobic exercise beats strength training. You burn far more calories, minute for minute, during/after the aerobic exercise than you do during/after strength training, and the calories burned by the extra muscle you (might) gain from the latter is, actually, pretty minor.
On another point, the food you don’t eat is exactly what I do eat.
Thanks a lot - those numbers look pretty reasonable. I still wish there was a reliable way to calculate it though based on your own, hard data (ie your average wattage or HR over a certain time, etc).
I have to disagree with the responses you have received. Based on personal experience, I think adding some strength training - heavy weights and lower reps, not the other way around - will help you lose body fat. You will burn additional calories, and you will build muscle. The numbers aren’t huge but they make a difference. I also think the very different nature of the exercise from your typical swim, bike, run stimulates your metabolism.
Now as to whether strength training will help your performance in a tri, that’s another question.
I have to disagree with the responses you have received. Based on personal experience, I think adding some strength training - heavy weights and lower reps, not the other way around - will help you lose body fat. You will burn additional calories, and you will build muscle. The numbers aren’t huge but they make a difference. **I also think the very different nature of the exercise from your typical swim, bike, run stimulates your metabolism. **
Now as to whether strength training will help your performance in a tri, that’s another question.
Sigh… there are days when I know how Paulo felt…
I have to disagree with the responses you have received. Based on personal experience, I think adding some strength training - heavy weights and lower reps, not the other way around - will help you lose body fat. You will burn additional calories, and you will build muscle. The numbers aren’t huge but they make a difference. I also think the very different nature of the exercise from your typical swim, bike, run stimulates your metabolism.
Now as to whether strength training will help your performance in a tri, that’s another question.
Was there a post that I missed in this thread that said the OP couldn’t lose body fat by strength training? What I, at least, was saying is that strength training will not lead to as much weight loss as spending that time doing aerobic exercise.
My experience is solely anecdotal, but the short answer is “yes”.
Several years ago, I cranked up the aerobic exercise (although to a lesser extent than 15 hrs!), but it was not until I started doing some modest weight training in addition to that when I started losing weight. Took off 40 lbs in something like a year and a half and have kept it off by becoming a triathlete.
I wish I could document it without spending undue time, but I believe there are several studies out now that suggest even sacrificing some aerobic time for some strength training is a strong positive factor towards weight loss.
Part of the argument goes that the weight training forces your system to keep the muscle, making (in the long run) the calorie deficit work more from fat. Note - I don’t mean that in the usual way meant by triathletes, meaning instantaneously; I mean the net result.
You are correct and I wasn’t clear. I believe, and its just my opinion based on my own experience, that strength training in addition to aerobics is of more benefit to losing body fat then aerobics alone. I believe, with respect to weight loss, there is a point of diminishing returns with aerobics, perhaps due to the body becoming more accustomed, and therefore more efficient, at performing the exercise. Strength training, in my opinion based on my own experience, is more effective than an equivalent amount of additional aerobics (once you are up to 10-15 hours of aerobic work per week) at building and retaining muscle when you are losing weight.
In theory weight loss is an exact science - calories in and calories out. In practice it is not nearly so easy. What you eat, how often you eat, how you exercise, and your own individual metabolism all play a factor. I knew a 250 pound man who worked out 5-6 days a week, ate 2000 to 2500 calories a day, and steadily gained weight. I also know a 170 pound man who works out 6 days a week, eats 4500 calories a day, and maintains single digit body fat levels. Same person actually, 10 years later.
In theory weight loss is an exact science - calories in and calories out. In practice it is not nearly so easy. What you eat, how often you eat, how you exercise, and your own individual metabolism all play a factor.
Yeah, they all play a factor, but it really is that simple. If calories out > calories in, you lose weight. All the rest of it is the processing in the middle, but at the end of the day it's the basic equation.
Check out crossfit.com - it’s a really great approach to strength training, with applications for triathletes. There is a downloadable PDF for beginners that is worth checking out. Best of all, the info is FREE, it’s there for everybody.
I threw out my bowflex a month ago and got a power tower (for dips and chin ups) and some dumbbells; thirty minutes of hard core interval strength training following a run or swim does the job nicely. I’m always hungry.
Aerobic exercise is important, but it cannot replace strength training; you get stronger bones, an immune system boost, better injury resistance, and a tighter gut.
It appears to be easier to track caloric expenditure than consumption. Is there a good way of accurately tracking calories. I have thought of using one of those meal plans (or TV dinners) as a means of at least knowing what goes in. What do others do? 300-500 caloric deficit might be on the order of the error in the tracking if you don’t have meals with defined caolric content.
It appears to be easier to track caloric expenditure than consumption. Is there a good way of accurately tracking calories. I have thought of using one of those meal plans (or TV dinners) as a means of at least knowing what goes in. What do others do? 300-500 caloric deficit might be on the order of the error in the tracking if you don’t have meals with defined caolric content.
I get the calorie information from online menus, online calorie counter sites, etc. If I’m making something at home, I’ll take the calories for all the different ingredients, add them up, and then guesstimate the portion size.
Generally I don’t even bother. The scale in the morning tells me all I need to know. Right now I’m pretty steady in the 170-173ish range in the morning. I want to get to 165 next season, and for me, that just means not eating fast food at lunch 5 days a week.
I know a lot of triathletes like to micromanage everything, but I found I had a harder time losing weight when I was tracking and following every bite I ate. “You want a couple bites of my cake?” “No, I’m already at my calorie count for the day”. Blegh.
I have the same problem with my polar. I decided to wear it for 24 hours just to see how many calories I would burn when not working out so I could how much I should eat to lose a few lbs. After 24 hours, with an average HR of 61, and a max of 123 it told me that I burned 3417 calories. Talk about crap, if I ate that much I would be putting weight on real quick!
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It is not just simple calculation that you would burn more calories with 30 min of aerobic cycling than with 30 min of weight lifting. Weight lifting has strong metabolic effect, since rebuilding of muscles takes long time, and during all that time metabolic rate is elevated.
HIIT training, in this study with theoretically only the half calories burned (during exercise itself) compared to aerobic exercise, resulted in 3x bigger reduction of fat, meaning 6x better effect. And not to mention prevented loss of lean mass.
That is probably something we all noticed, that we are the leanest during racing season, when overall volume is perhaps not the greatest, but there are a lot of races and interval sessions (high intensity) that have metabolic effect on reducing fat.
Did that second study control for diet? It’s odd that the ET group did what looks to be 75 workouts over the last 15 weeks (five workouts per week), while the HIIT group did only 35 workouts over that period (about twice a week), yet the HIIT group lost much more fat? Doesn’t sound right, does it?
Table also says that the HIIT warmed up at 70%, while the HIIT protocol says 50%. Also references % of HRR everywhere but the HIIT intensity which references “max output”. What does that mean?
Finally, the Intensity row says that ET went from 60% HRR to 85% HRR, while HIIT went from 60%/70% to 85%/95% “max output”. What’s the difference?
