I have been doing Paleo now for a few months and I was wondering on the best exercise to couple with it for optimum results. I used to be a bit of a gym junkie and I love to exercise, but for the past two months have moved away from gym and just done crossfit 4 - 5 times a week. I have been really enjoying it, and I also walk to work everyday it's not raining. I was just wondering how to achieve the best results from diet and exercise though and whether it was better to do just crossfit? just strength training? or a combination of both to lose weight and get toned?
|
7
|
|
||||||||
|
|
4
|
Walking and strength training are the two best options for maintaining lean mass while losing weight. Once you enter a calorie deficit to lose weight, your body begins to burn whatever it can to meet the excess calorie demand you place on it. This includes muscle. Strength training is essential to 'force' your body to maintain muscle mass. High intensity activities causes catabolism which leads to muscle loss (like running). Keep in mind that when on a calorie deficit, your body's ability to recover will be diminished (strength gains will be hard if impossible to achieve). Walking 40-80 minutes in your 'fat burn' zone a day is a great way to burn calories without impacting your joints or recovery time from strength training. Buy a heart rate monitor to keep yourself in your upper 'fat burn' zone and you will get some cardio conditioning as well. I started cutting in March at 180 pounds. As of 4/10/12, I am 167 pounds. My goal weight is 155. I walk/hike everyday and strength train 3 times per week. I am maintaining my 5RM deadlift at 365, my squat at 330, my bench at 240, my press at 165, and pull ups at 65. I may lose some strength but will worry about putting it back on responsibly later. :) Hope this helps. |
||
|
|
|
0
|
I think the best thing to do would be to do a variety of what you like. So long as you are active I think that all activities are worthwhile. Don't overtrain and stress your body, but at the same time if you push yourself past your comfort zone you will see huge improvements. Eat smart, train smart, and it will happen naturally. |
||
|
|
|
0
|
so strength training then? does anyone have a good progressive program to follow? |
||
|
0
|
Its good that you are doing exercises for weight loss, but with exercise you also need to have a balanced and proper diet plan. For fast weight loss you may do some changes in your diet, like replace fatly food with unsaturated fatty acid food like vegetable oil, olive, avocado, increase intake of water, avoid fatty food, late night meals, and junk food. |
||
|
|
|
0
|
I'm a huge fan of strength-biased crossfit style workouts. My gym and a neighboring gym both have good programming that takes the elements of crossfit, adds strength work, and subtracts the chippers and over endurance work. Check out their programming: http://www.flatironscrossfit.com/main/blog.html http://www.frontrangecrossfit.com/ In addition, I often subtract a metcon or two a week and substitute it for heavy low rep (5x5) weight lifting. I think it's a great combination of strength and metcon that keeps me lean and strong and not sucking at life. |
||
|
|
