Losing weight priority- cardio only or cardio/STS??

[lovebeingmom]

Hi

If your primary goal is to drop 20 lbs., would it be more beneficial to do 6 days of cardio(like Insanity) for 2 months and then do STS or would do cardio(cardio shock or Insanity) with STS

i hear people say you can't lose weight and build muscle.

so i'm not sure if I should do 2 months of just cardio and THEN do STS(just bought it)

or should I do the STS 6 month rotation doing 3 days STS and 3 days cardio. or more cardio with STS

not sure which route to take

jaime

 

[kariev]

since nobody has responded i will do my best to answer. I think you should do an STS/shock cardio rotation as listed in the rotation forum. The critical role of weight loss will be in your diet. Being in a caloric deficit to lose weight increases your risk for losing muscle so its important to keep weight training in the process. Mabe start with the 3 month rotation keeping it exactly the way its laid out going through all the mesocycles and doing 3 days a week of cardio. At the end of 3 months you can then reassess and add cardio or tweak your diet or keep everything the same. Hope this helps some.

 

[ldy_solana]

i can't give a definite rotation but i agree with kariev. DIET well we should say healthy eating lifestyle are the most important part of losing weight.

but this phrase "hear people say you can't lose weight and build muscle" always ticks me off.

yes you should do cardio(and insanity is more then just cardio) but JUST cardio and at some point your body will adapt and you will stop losing weight not to mention you might not have any strength b/c you haven't worked your muscles. PLUS long bouts of cardio CAN canniblize muscle tissue b/c once you go through glycogen stores and fat stores the body will go to protein for fuel, where is protein?.

i find balance in strength training and cardio. if you tend to build muscle easily try more muscle endurance using light weight and high reps or circuit training for while and doing 3-4 days cardio. mix up the intensity try new activities and keep the body guessing. the body can adapt easy and then it just goes through the motion.

you have to do resistance work, more muscle is more calories(basal metabolic rate) burned at rest, and i don't care what study says what. once i watch my food intake and added resistance training and cardio i got results. i might not have the "perfect" body but i lost weight and keep up with ppl way younger then me. more importantly i am stronger and can do things with ease then i ever could before.

kassia

 

[lrayburn]

If your primary goal is weight loss, I would recommend doing weight lifting and moderate cardio. I find I lose best doing full body weights 2-3 times a week or an upperbody/lowerbody split and moderate cardio (3-4 days/week). Many people mentioned they did not lose weight doing STS and I find that if I'm lifting too heavy I tend to retain water and hold onto fat (response of body to stress). If I were you, I'd do several months of full body or split workouts and cardio and then progress into STS for strength gains later, once you are closer to your goal weight. And of course, eat clean. What is your current workout routine?

Lisa

 

[lovebeingmom]

I've been doing full body workouts 2-3 times a week and 2-3 moderate cardio sessions. i've been at the gym

but I cancelled my membership because its getting harder to get there consistantly and i recently ordered STS and Insanity for some variety and change in my routine

honestly i have not been doing well food wise which i know is #1 in the weight loss battle so i've cleaned it up a ton which will help

but wasnt' sure if I should shock my body and do the Insanity rotation as its stated and then do STS hoping to lose some weight with insanity and maybe 1 full body workout a week. then once i get closer to goal do STS and cardio together.

 

[bethj]

What worked for me was doing STS on M-W-F and cardio/core work on T-TH-Sat. I lost 25 pounds. The first 15 were tough because I was dieting and hungry a lot. Then I started eating just a little bit more to not be starved and lost another 10 pounds more slowly. I find that the cross training of cardio one day, weights the next really helped me to go full bore intense every single day. If I tried to go all out cardio every day I would get sore knees, and if I did hard weights every day I would get tendonitis and pulled muscles. So I like alternating the two because you can really go all out every single day and not get injured. Also I like the 3 day split of STS because again, it gave adequate recovery time so I didn't get tendonitis which I have problems with doing a full body workout 3 times a week. I think in my case STS was very effective for weight loss, much more so than cardio only or circuit/light weights. Maybe because of my age, which is 52.
Beth