Fundamentals of lifting weights to lose fat: Answers to frequently asked questions Part 1(by Tom Venuto)
FAQ #1: Shouldn’t I lose all the fat first, then start weight training later?
No, no, no, no, no!!!!! This has already been discussed, but it bears repeating over and over: If you diet without weight training, you’re almost always going to lose muscle. If you lose muscle, your resting metabolic rate will decrease. If your resting metabolic rate decreases, you burn fewer calories. If you burn fewer calories, you lose less fat and eventually plateau.
FAQ #2: What if I don’t have time to do cardio and lift weights? Can I just do cardio?
If you’re expecting me to give you some secret abbreviated routine, like “12 minutes a day to a better body,” or some nonsense like what you read in the magazine ads these days, you’ve come to the wrong place. It’s time for someone to cut through the crap and tell the truth about how much effort it takes to develop a great physique. What most people want to hear is that you don’t have to work hard; all you need is XYZ diet, pill, machine, routine or some other magic formula. What you need to hear is that there’s a substantial time and effort commitment that must be made if you want a better body. To think otherwise is delusion or gullibility. If you’re a recreational lifter looking to lose a few pounds and “firm up”, your time commitment for weight training might be as little as three days a week for thirty minutes a session. If you’re aspiring to become a bodybuilder or fitness competitor, or just look like one, the time commitment will be substantially more. You don’t get a body like Miss Fitness Olympia, Monica Brant, or Team Universe bodybuilding champion Skip Lacour from just “minutes a day” in the gym. Physiques of that caliber come from many hours spent in the gym – sometimes even two training sessions a day before competitions. “I don’t have time” is the #1 reason people have for why they can’t fit everything in, but it’s not a valid reason at all. It’s an excuse made by lazy people. We all have the same 168 hours a week. We’re all busy. But some people get in shape and some people don’t. Why? Is it luck? Is it genetics? Of course not! People who successfully get lean and muscular –and stay that way – have made training a priority in their life. They MAKE time, even if that means setting the alarm an hour earlier every day or giving up an hour of television. Successful people use every hour wisely and never fritter their time away on unproductive and meaningless activities. The truth is that you will always make time for whatever is most important to you in your life. If it’s important for you to spend three hours at the bars every night, you’ll make the time. If watching a TV show every night is important to you, you’ll make the time. If reading a book a week is important to you, you’ll make the time. If playing a game of hoops twice a week is important to you, you’ll make the time. If being with a loved one is important to you, you’ll make the time. And if your health and appearance are important to you, you’ll make the time. You have to make training a top priority in your life. You’re being honest with yourself if you say, “Training isn’t that important to me,” or “I’m not motivated right now,” or “ I choose not to spend that much time training,” but you can NEVER honestly say, “I don’t have time,” because that’s never a valid reason for missing workouts. The average person in the United States watches FIVE HOURS of TV per day! And yet those same people still use “no time’ as their number one excuse for why they don’t work out. Many of my coaching protégés get up at four or five in the morning because it’s the only time they can possibly train. The rest of their day is full with work and/or family commitments. You’ll never “find” the time; you must “make” the time even if that means sacrificing in other areas.