Maintaining Muscle

L

Lizzie

Guest
Hi there Cathe and all! I’m looking for some advice… first I’ll give a little info about myself and my workouts.

I’m 28, 5’4” and weigh somewhere around 140 lbs (haven’t actually weighed myself in months). I have lost close to 30 lbs in the last year after coming back to exercise, especially since I started your workouts Cathe- so thanks! :) One of my problems is that I carry fat around my middle, on my back and somewhat on my arms.

Right now I typically do about 3 to 4 days of cardio (45-60 min) and work each body part twice a week with weights. My favorites are PH and the PS series – I try to mix them up. I’m very happy with the results I’ve seen. I have all the muscle I really want now and I’m most impressed with my legs (which show the least fat). I want to be able to see the muscles I’ve built in my arms and I’m sure that the fat layer is prohibiting this. Can I move down to say one full body endurance workout a week to maintain muscle and up the cardio to lose fat? Oh yes – my diet! I eat clean for the most part, with the occasional weekend pizza night… or Chinese food. I’d say I range from about 1800 to 2000 calories a day. Anything less than this makes it very difficult to workout and my endurance is shot. To my real question: would you say it’s alright to weight train once a week for maintenance while I focus on more cardio or do I really need to stick with 2 weight sessions? Thanks to anyone for input.

Liz
 
Liz..
Yeah, you can lift once a week to maintain, BUT I would ditch the endurance and go for the slow and heavy. If you don't have that, maybe MIS?? Remember, your goal with the weight training isn't primarily to burn the fat..it is to maintain your hard earned muscle. You can best acheive this with one hour weight training a week lifting as heavy as you can, even if that means you must slow the cadence of the exercises. Like Power Hour, you can go real heavy, but for every two Cathe lunges, maybe you will do only one. This will keep up the strength and hopefully preserve most of the mass. Endurance workouts are good for just that..endurance. They are not the best for putting on the most muscle the quickest. The cardio should get you lean. If it were me, I would do MIS or slow and heavy once a week..Power Hour or Circuit Max once with lighter weight and then do cardio 3-4 times a week. I would not eliminate your Power Hour for a cardio. When I do Circuit Max, I find that my heart rate stays just as high as when I do cardio, but I have the added benefit of the weight training as well. Don't underestimate how high your heart rate can get even when doing a weight tape.

What is your cardio now?? Maybe on the weekend you can incorporate a 90 min cardio session?? This should shake things up a bit. However, you already sound like you are at a good weight!! Maybe cut out the chinese on the weekends???(OH_NO!!!!!!:):)) No matter what though...lift heavy when you are trying to maintain muscle..remember, your body is naturally in a catabolic state when you diet or anytime you take the energy balance into the negetive. Good Luck..Janice
 
RE: What she said . . .

I second Janice's answer 1000%! If you have to choose between a muscle endurance workout and a muscle strength workout, choose strength! And building lean muscle mass will enable you to put more power into your cardio work as well, not to mention adding metabolically active tissue that needs more fuel to be maintained!

Since we're so good at spending each other's money, I'd suggest getting the Slow and Heavy Series pronteau!

Annette
 
RE: What she said . . .

Hey, thanks for your replies you two! This helps a lot. Although I do not own the S&H series... would Pure Strength work as well? I've gotten the feeling from reading posts about S&H that I would get bored easily since it moves so slowly. I really need to stay away from that type of thing because it will definitely deter me from lifting. I will keep the Pure Strength series in my schedule once a week and be sure to put at least a little endurance workout in at some point too. I do love PH (but oh my the pain). ;-) The music is the absolute best - VERY motivating for me.

I've just come back from a week in the Bahamas and am planning to work out tonight... this is going to be so tough to get back into my routine!
 
RE: Hi, Lizzie!

I'll suggest you give Slow and Heavy a chance. One of the neat things about exercise videos in general is the flexibility with which individual exercisers can layer them into their lives according to their own tastes. If you had the set it wouldn't mean you'd be honor-bound to use it week in and week out.

I think the S&H series is an excellent and necessary complement to other series precisely because it forces you to slow down and really focus on each rep. Slow lifting is indeed different from quicker-paced lifting, and I would argue that it's more beneficial in the long run. If you implement it judiciously into your program, I don't think you'd get bored, especially if you really go mentally into each working muscle!

Just my $.02 -

Annette
 
RE: Hi, Lizzie!

Thanks Annette. I'll take it into consideration when I get ready to spend my next lump sum on Cathe videos. I do value your opinion since you seem to be very knowledgeable about exercise and fitness. :)
 
Hi, Lizzie!

I just wanted to say I agree with Annette & Janice! Get the S&H Series! I don't think they are boring at all and the music is good. The nice thing about this series if you do find them a bit more boring then your favorite vids, is that you only use them for a short period of time, preferable no more then 3 weeks because of the concentration level. I love all 3 tapes because you REALLY feel each muscle work to the max. Just another opinion~if you can, save your pennies! :7 They are worth it!

Your-Friend-In-Fitness, DebbieH http://www.plaudersmilies.de/wavey.gif If You Get The Choice To Sit It Out Or Dance...I Hope You DANCE!!!
 
RE: Hi, Lizzie!

I love S&H ... particularly the Legs and shoulders one. They are long but if you set a day for each series and not add any cardio on that same day then an hour is pretty manageable. It's only when you tack on extra cardio that you start to mind it being a full hour. The rests arent really long infact when I do it I wish I had an extra 30 seconds with the rest periods. If you do get bored during the rest periods turn on MSN messenger and chat ... that works too. Have fun!
 
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