Working out, weight gain?

It sounds like you are doing more than enough exercise. If you want to lose more weight I'd suggest replacing a couple of weight training sessions for something aerobic (like the elliptical trainer or a bike or brisk walking). When doing those aerobic exercises do not let yourself get out of breath or exhausted. We burn fat quickly by going at a slow-to-moderate aerobic pace for a longer period of time.

It's important to keep doing the weights as fat is burned when your muscles are at work. But maybe for now you should focus more on that elliptical trainer. Do they have recumbent bikes? I have one of those at home and it's really easy on my knees. As you start to lose weight add more weights.

That's my .02

Lifting weights also forces water into your muscles. This isn't permanent. I lift to failure 2-3 times a week. The morning after each workout I'm 2-3 pounds heavier, and my bodyfat % usually jumps 1-2%.

The body fat monitor I use measures body fat based on the amount of water in your body, so it makes sense based on that too. If you took a day or two off, didn't eat too much, then weighed yourself, you'd most likely see your progress there.

I graph my weight and bodyfat daily (two lines on the graph, morning and afternoon). It has a downward trend with upward spikes the day after each workout.

Keep going, you'll see results if you stick with it.

If I can offer a tip, don't get stressed about numbers, pay more attention to how you look and feel. The World's Strongest Man competitors can lift more weight than Bradd Pitt, but BP looks much better, so who cares how much he can bench.

Oh yeah, I'm about 181 pounds, 26%BF. I way slightly more than you, but we're close, so the 2 pounds we each gain from excercise seems about right.

lucypevensie said:

We burn fat quickly by going at a slow-to-moderate aerobic pace for a longer period of time.

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To expound a little, regular exercise lke this also helps to build lean muscle, which is more efficient at burning fat. Doing this regularly will bump up your metabolism as well, another factor in fat burning.

I've read that it takes 50 calories for a muscle to maintain itself, and 3,000 calories bruned to lose a pound of fat. So if you put on 3 pounds of muscle, you'd burn an extra 150 cal a day. And three pounds of muscle spread over your whole body won't look much bigger. Just imagine 3 pounds of hamburger spread out to cover the same surface area as your muscles, it's be very thin.

Two things to remember:

Proper diet. Weight training and cardio is only part of the battle. You also have to eat foods that will raise your metabolism.

Muscle weighs more than fat. If you're doing the weight training correctly along with cardio and dieting and you find you gain a pound that's probably your muscle increasing. I go to the gym for toning, mainly, so I maintain my weight.

The gym I go to offers body fat % tests my advice is to check this out. If your gym has it, get it done than do your work out and get it done again in a month to see if there's been any change.

And remember you'll be the last person to know that your slimming down/looking more toned/whatever. ^^

JillLars said:

Thanks so much for all of your responses! Iklepac, can I ask how tall you are? How does everyone design their workouts? I have been doing upper body and cardio one day, and then lower body and cardio the next. I usually work my abs and lower back every other day as well. I'm really excited about joining this new gym, its close enough to walk to from my apartment Hopefully I'll start looking and feelings better

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Something else to consider. Try getting a workout partner to lift with you. Also view lifting as a life long activity.

Also measure your weight gains and losses over the longer period to rule out weight gains and losses. Also the percent body fat scale are a good investment for body fat measurement.

Well, I do Cardio everyday (if possible). I usually do shoulders/tris/chest. wait a day. Legs. wait a day. back/bis/abs. 12-15 reps...3-4 sets at various weights. Not all in that order though, but the groupings are generally the same. I like to do abs whenever I can because I used to have lower back problems...and I want to keep feeling good.

Also, It's good to give the muscles time to heal.

Also, stretching and proper form is a must. I see a lot of people sacrifice their form to try to impress people by lifting heavier weights.

btw..one of my sisters is a personal trainer. ^^

A partner is also a wonderful idea. Helps you stay committed and having someone to encourage you is great.

How tall are you, btw? (JillLars)

JillLars said:

Thanks so much for all of your responses! Iklepac, can I ask how tall you are? How does everyone design their workouts? I have been doing upper body and cardio one day, and then lower body and cardio the next. I usually work my abs and lower back every other day as well. I'm really excited about joining this new gym, its close enough to walk to from my apartment Hopefully I'll start looking and feelings better

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I'm 5'9".

My workout currently caters to my schedule. I work a full time jopb, then make pizza's at a local joint 2-3 times a week. Since my schedule flip flops, I try to get it all in at once. This gets me a workout 2-3 times a week. I work each major muscle/muscle group to failure through four sets. Once I can lift 3 sets of 10, I increase the weight for the next session. I also rest NO MORE than 20 seconds between sets, slightly more between excercises.

The reasoning behind this is based on how muscle growth works. When you push a muscle to failure, you tear the muscle fibers, and the muscle repairs itself by building itself up. Your body is designed to recognize it's limits and adapt. When you go out in the sun, your skin darkens. When you lift to failure, your body builds muscle so it will survive the next time.

As a side not, working a muscle to failure means you should rest it 1-2 days before you do it again, or you'll greatly increase you chance of injury. For instance, if you wear out you legs, then go jogging before the recouperate, all the shock from hitting the ground that is usually absorbed by a muscle will be transferred to your bones and joints.

I do about 25-30 minutes of Ab work using basic crunches, crunches on a swiss ball, then move to trunk rotations, side crunches and standard crunches with a weioghted machine. I work the abs forsit to wear them out, so they'll get even more workout as stabilizers during the regular routine.

Then, I work single muscles, like the biceps, tris, quads, delts first, then move to muscle groups, doing rows, presses, moves that incorporate stabilizer muscles. If your tricpes are worn from extensions, then you switch to presses, your triceps are now aided by your shoulders and chest (which you've already worn out doing flys), and you can pushg them farther.

AND, I just went to a health class at work today. They said that crunches and sit ups work the beach muscles, but not the transverse abdominals, which run under the abs that you see. Working this muscle is what give you a smaller waist and better posture. One excersie they showed was to lay face down, prop yourself up on you elbows, suck in you gut, flex and hold it.

I'll stop now before this post gets too long...

JillLars said:

Hey thanks guys for your advice! I am 5'10, to technically I think I'm 1 lb. overweight I really want to be healthy for a number of reasons, I am only 20, but have back problems, and bad knees. I am trying to strengthen the muscles around my knees to help take some pressure off of the bones, right now I cannot go from a squatting position to a standing position without using my arms to life myself off the floor, stairs are awful too. I do some back exercises that the chiropractor told me to do, and some ab exercises from a pilates dvd that I have, it seems to work my abs and my back.

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This is something we talked about in the class too. The teacher said pretty much all back and joint pain is caused by bad posture. You're body is designed to work better the more you use it. If your posture is bad, it throws everything out of line, and creates problems from that.

If I may thrown in my two cents worth (you'll be billed at a later date), I would suggest doing abs every day. Abs are high intensity muscles, and can be worked every day without over-stressing them. Ab workouts, if done correctly, are extremely intense and burn a lot of calories. I like to do some crunches before a workout as a warm-up, and then a few sets at the end of the workout to cool down and get blood flowing throughout the body and not just to the muscle group you just worked out.

O.K., I'm done now.

iklepac13 said:

I'm 5'9".

Once I can lift 3 sets of 10, I increase the weight for the next session. I also rest NO MORE than 20 seconds between sets, slightly more between excercises.

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You obviously are not concerned with muscluar growth with this routine.
Only 20 seconds rest between sets? 2 minutes between sets would be more like it if you want to grow. Your muscles cannot build up enough ATP with only 20 seconds rest. But then again maybe you are not interested in muscular growth as I did not read what your goal was for weight training.

As a side not, working a muscle to failure means you should rest it 1-2 days before you do it again, or you'll greatly increase you chance of injury.

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I would say 3-4 days would be better if you are working out intensely.

Lifting weights burns more calories then cardio. Maybe not while you are doing the actual excersise, but the next day, when you are resting your body is rebuilding and that takes a lot of cals.

Try this for losing weight:

Mon - Chet, Back, and Triceps. Followed by 20 mins of HIIT (see below)

Wed - Abs and lower body. Followed by 20 mins of HIIT

Fri - Shoulders and arms, followed by 20 mins of (yep, you guessed it) HIIT.

HIIT - High Intensity Intervial Training. Try this:

1 min jog, 30 sec sprint, 1 min jog, 30 sec sprint, and so on for 20 mins.

Tha really burns the fat!

Dewjunkie said:

If I may thrown in my two cents worth (you'll be billed at a later date), I would suggest doing abs every day. Abs are high intensity muscles, and can be worked every day without over-stressing them. Ab workouts, if done correctly, are extremely intense and burn a lot of calories. I like to do some crunches before a workout as a warm-up, and then a few sets at the end of the workout to cool down and get blood flowing throughout the body and not just to the muscle group you just worked out.

O.K., I'm done now.

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The abdominals, specifically the rectus abdominus, are phasic muscles, which means that they are composed of predominantly fast twitch fibers. If you can work them every day, you are not working them hard enough to truly accomplish much with respect to developing the musculature of the abdomen.

Furthermore, while it is being performed, resistance training of any sort does not burn anywhere near the number of kcal as cardio. The true metabolic benefits of resistance training come from the long-term increase in base metabolic rate. However, to achieve this sort of increase, the muscles must be heavily stressed.