The Strength Training Critic Blog

I work in my own business and do not have time to go to the gym throughout the day, and have no energy for it at night. As part of my job I walk dogs several times a day, so my cardio is good, but I have no way to do any strength training. Any suggestions??
- Clarification: I would like to know ways I can do strength training at my job – exercises that build muscle and such…

yeup 2 ideas, work out before work, i know it sucks but you gatta want it

if you can’t do that

make sure you getting 20-30carbs in the morning (starchy, like half a grapefruit with 6eggwhites 2 yolks). this will spike your insulin and you will get a good glycogen store for the day which should give you more energy to do it at night. a protein shake before and after lunch (2hrs) will help a ton as well.

other than that i don’t know what your looking for here, you basically said you want to do strength training but you cant.

I want to strength train my way to a 6pack nothing but strength training exercises and keeping my calories low..That would be my cardio, and over time have it come off that way. Possible?

Well the general rule is muscle cells burn far more calories than fat cells even at rest, sure you probably know that. You’d probably need to eat healthy and not undergo too much of a calorie deficit to keep your muscles growing. As for the 6 pack, we all have a 6 pack, just got to get rid of the fat so y’can see it!

So in short: more muscle = more fat burning potential.
be sure to use heavy weights and actually challenge your muscles and give them a chance to rest.

edit: For more effective fat loss from your entire body you should target the larger muscle groups (legs, chest, back) and do more complex exercises like squats and push-ups. Squats (with weights) are fantastic

I’m 30 years old and female, 5′4" and 160 pounds. I gained 25 of those pounds in the last 6 years or so. (And I’ve had no pregnancies to excuse me!)

My blood pressure, cholesterol and heart rate are all in very healthy parameters.

I’m pretty happy with my diet. I generally eat about 1400-2000 calories per day of whole foods with just a little junk. I’m trying to cut down on the trash, which should save me a couple hundred calories per day.

My question: Will I lose any of this extra 25 pounds by walking and weight training? I am planning on walking about 45 minutes per day, at a brisk 4 mph pace, five or six days per week. My strength training routine is four days a week and comes from Wini Linguvic’s "Lean, Long & Strong." It’s not strenuous, but it is comprehensive.

Thank you!

Definitely….You should do cardio for about 30minutes a day so 45 minutes of walking is good and one of the best ways to lose weight is by gaining muscle since it raises your metabolism and BMR so you burn more calories while resting…sounds like a good plan good luck and don’t quit on it and you’ll accomplish your goals i lost 40lbs in 4 months because of my weight training and 30 minutes of cardio and of course eating healthier but not starving myself

i want to try out for the volleyball team but i need some tips and exercises explanation. What kind of strength training and the exercise?

Like they all said squats are definitely good and so are lunges. You want to be in good shape so go for longer steady jogs and if you want short sprints would help too. Another important thing is to keep your shoulders, arms, and abs strong so you can hit well. Lift weights (they don’t have to be too heavy) do push ups, pull-ups work if you have gym access. Also crunches work to make your abs strong all you have to do is about 50 a day (more or less if that’s too easy or hard) and you’ll have ripped abs having strong abs realllllly helps your hitting so thats important. Good luck! Hope i helped!

I am looking to loose weight the healthy way with exercise and healthy living. My goal is to loose 1-2 lbs per week and I have decided to utilize the Weight Watchers Flex Point system to help me on the food end. Now I need to know how to work out the right way. How long should I walk/lift weights? Should I alternate days? Is is okay to work out for a half hour or should I go longer? Is it more important to walk a mile in 17 minutes if I can or should I still walk the whole 30 minutes? What kind of strength training should I do and for how long? So much to know. Please Help. Thanks

Burn more calories than you eat.

Cut your fat intake.

Eat three cups of fat free low cal yogurt a day (make sure it has live cultures in it) and pineapples. This helps you break down your food and promotes weight loss. You still need to eat low fat proteins. (baked and grilled fish and chicken and beans)

Do 45-60 min. of aerobic exercise a day (preferably before you eat in the morning). This will attack the fat. Try to supplement your training with some running, running stairs or hills, and cycling. Mix it up, it will keep your body guessing.

Do 30 min of weight training three times a week. This will build lean muscle which will in turn burn fat.

Keep moving all the time. Tap you feet while at the computer, tap you hands on your legs while walking. Keep moving and keep burning calories.

I lost 40 lbs in two months and have kept it off for 18 more months doing this. I did not lose any strength and gained more energy. I also took my body fat % from 30% to 10% and my waist from 36 inches to 31 inches.

I’ve been researching questions on here and found to lose fat, but not so much weight (I’m 5′4” and 122lbs) you need "strength training." What exactly do I need to do to lose fat in those areas? I don’t have a gym membership so I would like some creative and enjoyable things to do at home.
If strength training is only for my stomach, what can I do for my love handles and thighs?

There is no site specific way of losing fat… the old myth about working your abs to burn belly fat isn’t true. To get rid of love handles, you need to lose overall fat. That happens with exercise and watching your diet. More on that below.

The most effective way to lose fat is aerobic exercise in the "moderate" fat-burning range, ideally first thing in the morning before you eat. When you wake your body is ready to burn fat and your levels of growth hormone are highest at that time. Later in the day it can take up to 30 minutes just to put your body into a fat-burning mode.

Another overlooked way to burn fat is by lifting weights. Skeletal muscle has very high caloric needs… almost twice that of adipose (fat) tissue. Put on a little muscle and you will burn calories all day even at rest. Be aware that skeletal muscle weighs more, so with this approach you may see your weight increasing while your body fat is melting away. Not realizing this often stresses folks who think they should be losing weight as a measure of fitness. Forget the scale, look in the mirror and you will be happy.

For diet, keep a diary for a couple of weeks counting calories, grams of protein, and grams of fat intake. It is easy with online sources of nutritional information (type the name of the food and calories into the Google search engine) and packaging labels. That will let you quickly figure out where the fat is coming from in your diet.

Fat gives you 9 calories per gram. So take the number of grams of fat, multiply by 9, then calculate what percentage the fat calories are of your total daily calories. Restricting the calories from fat to about 20% of your total intake is ideal for a maintenance diet… that isn’t overly restrictive. Of note, you need some fat in your diet. For instance, the body uses fat to produce hormones. Once you have a picture of how to modify your diet, you can drop the diary and just go back to it occasionally if you are wanting to tweek things further.

There is a subset of questions that goes further and asks about "How to get a six-pack?" The answer is the same. Six-packs are 20% abdominal exercise and 80% diet. There is one caveat… abdominal muscles will form in the position that you exercise them, so be certain to pull them tightly toward your spine while doing crunches, etc. Also, during most lifting, the "core is active" which means that you should be stabilizing with contracted abs then too. Fail to do this and the abs will form, but bulging outward and the result is not attractive.

If you are trying to build muscle as a way to lose fat, then you may need to increase total calories and specifically your protein intake. I target about 0.8 g of protein per pound of body weight each day when actively building. That is far more protein than most people need in their diets.

Aloha

I’ve been recruited to be a police officer, and need to get in serious shape.I’m only 5.4" and 115 pounds, and I’m a girl. I need to be able to keep up with the guys, so I need to do some serious strength training.
I have a small child so I don’t have time to go to the gym.
What kind of strength training can I do at home to prepare for the police training?

Hi,
You can start by purchasing a simple bench, a variety of free weights ranging from 5lbs to 20lbs, leg weights that strap around your ankles 3lbs and 5lbs, and perhaps one of those rubber stretch bands. With these, you can do a complete weight workout. You can find a lot of this equipment used. If you buy a copy of Shape magazine, they have a lot of strength training/weight workouts in there and a lot of good information. I would begin by doing something as a warm up like stretching and then jogging around the block before beginning the weight workout. You should workout every other day with weights, to give your muscles time to recover; 3 days a week minimum. On the other days you can do a speedwalk, run, jog or bicycle for 30 or more minutes. Take one day a week off. Good luck! You can do it!

I am trying to do to the gym and do some strength training. I know you body needs to time to recover between exercise. How often should I be going? Everyday at the same time? Every other day? Twice a week? I am not trying to get really muscular ( I am a woman) just want to be a little stronger and look a little better. Also dumb question but how long does it normally take for visual results? I am very weak right now, some of the machines I have to do with no added weight.

If you work your entire body while at the gym, meaning legs, arms, back, chest, etc you should go every other day. Lifting weights creates miniscule tears in the muscle fibers that need at least 48 hours to regenerate. Now, if you only like to lift say, arms one day, and legs another day, then you can go every day. Lift your arms on monday,legs on tuesday, arms on wed, and so on…. What I am basically getting at is that it is not healthy for your body if you dont give whatever muscle group you worked at least 48 hours of rest before working it again.

As for visual results, that all depends on your lifestyle and genetics. If you have a high amount of body fat it may take a while for you to actually see the results because they may be masked by fat that you need to burn first. Also, if it is just genetically hard for you to build muscle, that may make it take longer as well. In general, I’d say to give it 3 months of consistent weight training and then you should see results.

Hope this helps!!

I do a fight club type thing, and it requires strength training with heavy weight along with exercises like body weight exercises, explosive squats etc. You need an adequate amount of rest to gain any progress. So is there any way that I would be able to efficiently balance these two out?

try this
Monday & Friday

Squats 3 sets 8 to 12 reps
Bench press 3 sets 6 to 10 reps
Chins 3 sets 8 to 12 reps
Seated dumbbell press 2 sets 8 to 12 reps
Standing calf raises 2 sets 12 to 20 reps

Wednesday Arm Specialization

Standing Barbell Curls 5 sets 5 to 8 reps
Lying EZ bar Tricep Extension 5 sets 6 to 8 reps

Friday Arm Specialization

Scott Dumbbell or Barbell Curls 3 sets 8 to 12 reps
Overhead Pulley Tricep Extension 3 sets 8 to 12 reps

so work out 3 days a week, and eat

I walk/jog a couple times a week and will do sit ups, push ups and lunges.

What’s the most efficient way of using cardio and strength training together to burn the most fat?

ALSO, what are thee best leg exercises to get rid of that stubborn fat that won’t go away!
Hey Boogie* Guys just need to losin up a little!

The best way to implement cardio is by using PROGRESSIONS. Meaning "slowing adding to the amount when fat loss stalls".

For example. Start off 3x per week for 30 mins. Each week add 1 day to the mix. Keep it there until fat loss stalls. Then add 10 mins to each session. Keep it there until fat loss stalls. then add another 10 mins. etc etc

((Always wait for 2 consecutive weeks of no loss. Why? because our bodies don’t lose fat linearly. 1 week we might lose 3lbs the next week we might lose 0 lbs. The next week we’ll lose 2lbs and the following 1lb.)) It’s best to do cardio in this fashion because our bodies are highly adaptive so we have to steadily add to the minutes to keep our bodies from fully adapting to the stimulation.

Do weight lifting 3-4x per week. For no longer than 45 mins each session.

ALWAYS do your cardio AFTER the weight lifting. If you were to do the cardio before, it takes approx 10 mins before your heart rate is high enough to be beneficial. If you do it AFTER the weights, your heart reate is already raised so you immediately reap the benefits.

good luck Ms. Boring Dater :p