No more cardio!!

[millalyte86]

Hi everyone! After my first month of Insanity down I am so happy I only have one more month to get through. I really challenged myself with this one because I HATE cardio! I think I've only lost a couple of lbs. since I started Insanity. I've also been doing Cathe weight training workouts so I can build some more muscle. After I finish this last month of Insanity I would like to make my workouts more enjoyable...

So here is my question... Can I lose weight and look good just by just eating clean, counting calories, and doing heavy weight work? I have to lose 10-15 more lbs. Preferrably by July but DEFINITELY by October 21st (my wedding day). What does everyone think? If I continue to workout 5-6 days a week but only do resistance training and no cardio, could I still lose this weight?

-Lauren

 

[Dela]

I think yes you can (not by July though), because you can diet and not exercise at all and still lose weight, you just have to account for burning less calories during the day. But you will lose faster with cardio, and there are health benefits to doing some cardio. Also, since you have a very specific deadline, you might want to keep the cardio and the weights until after October.

How about looking at circuit workouts with weights and cardio mixed? Or maybe add in 1 or 2 HIIT workouts per week with your weights, so your cardio is fast and to the point, but the benefits are still there.

I'm curious though, why did you choose Insanity if you hate cardio?? I don't mind cardio, but Insanity had a HUGE dread factor for me. If that's the only cardio I did, I would hate it too.

 

[DirtDiva]

I'm curious though, why did you choose Insanity if you hate cardio?? I don't mind cardio, but Insanity had a HUGE dread factor for me. If that's the only cardio I did, I would hate it too.

This is what I thought too. Although I have done Insanity a few times, its not as enjoyable after a while. I've replaced it with Shock Cardio workouts instead. Something about Cathe never gets old. I tend to lose weight doing AWT type workouts, or full body workouts like Power Hour, High Reps, etc. I do think you should get some cardio in there because its healthy and another added benefit is its great for your skin. Congratulations on your upcoming wedding!

 

[kikster]

I agree w/trying some circuit workouts, or at least some full body workouts. There will at least be some cardio factor when you do upper and lower body in the same workout. Or do more than one leg workout per week. Like one Heavy one Light day, legs will bring a cardio factor, and the light leg day (using higher reps) will bring even more to it. Also any higher rep type training will get the heart rate up pretty good, as will going as heavy as possible on lower rep workouts. Maybe just alternate all of the above, like one circuit, one full body, and one upper and one lower per week (depending on how many days per week you have to workout)

 

[millalyte86]

I think yes you can (not by July though), because you can diet and not exercise at all and still lose weight, you just have to account for burning less calories during the day. But you will lose faster with cardio, and there are health benefits to doing some cardio. Also, since you have a very specific deadline, you might want to keep the cardio and the weights until after October.

How about looking at circuit workouts with weights and cardio mixed? Or maybe add in 1 or 2 HIIT workouts per week with your weights, so your cardio is fast and to the point, but the benefits are still there.

I'm curious though, why did you choose Insanity if you hate cardio?? I don't mind cardio, but Insanity had a HUGE dread factor for me. If that's the only cardio I did, I would hate it too.

Thanks for the suggestions! I was thinkin about maybe just doing 2 HIIT workouts a week for the benefits of cardio.

And I decided to do cardio because I really just wanted to shock my body thinking it would provide some more results because my weight loss was really slowing. I lost 18 lbs already but haven't lost more then 2 more lbs. in an entire month! So I thought doing something very different then what I normally do would speed things up. Doesn't really seem to be working though.

 

[millalyte86]

I was thinking of doing a rotation something like this...

Sunday- GS Chest and Triceps and HIIT Pyramid
Monday- Floorwork and ankle weights from L&G AND B&G
Tueday- Muscle Endurance
Wednesday- OFF
Thursday-GS Back, Shoulders, and Biceps and abs from BC
Friday- HIIT Pyramid and power yoga
Saturday- B&G (w/ heavy weights)

How does something like that look? I was thinking of alternating that rotation with one that uses S&H instead of GS

 

[RapidBreath]

Doing heavy weight work never produced any weight loss on my body. That said, its super fun and good for you, so why not?? Yes, diet is the primary culprit when it comes to weight loss, so you should be ok there. But, lifting heavy (for me, and you won't know until you try it.) means adding muscle which is good for your calorie burn in general but may not trigger fat loss.

Try it for a month and see what happens. Do as you say, eating extremely clean, counting calories, avoid all soy (estrogens and antithyroid), add plenty of coconut oil, and let us know how it goes. At the very least, it sounds like a fun experiment.

Alisha

 

[Fit_mommy]

I have been struggling to lose a little bit of weight for a long time now. Nothing worked...until now! If you want to lose weight and are willing to track your food, I would strongly suggest giving Weight Watchers a try. You should be able to lose weight on it wether you include cardio in your exercise program or not as long as you are diligent about tracking your food on WW and staying within your allotted points each day. I don't have a lot to lose and still lost lost about 4# in the first 2 weeks of the program and I'm NOT starving! The program encourages healthy eating in the way it is set up so the better your diet, the more food you will be able to consume each day yet there is still room for treats when you want them.

Just my 2 cents. Take it or leave it.

 

[Dela]

Thanks for the suggestions! I was thinkin about maybe just doing 2 HIIT workouts a week for the benefits of cardio.

And I decided to do cardio because I really just wanted to shock my body thinking it would provide some more results because my weight loss was really slowing. I lost 18 lbs already but haven't lost more then 2 more lbs. in an entire month! So I thought doing something very different then what I normally do would speed things up. Doesn't really seem to be working though.

Congrats on the loss, I'm very jealous!

I have heard people do not lose much with Insanity, but that they get good cardio conditioning benefits from it. I just think there is no reason to torture yourself with certain types of cardio if you don't like them, for me Insanity is out .

Also to tack on to an above poster, I have been reading A LOT that full body weight workouts are better for weight loss than splitting up your routines.

I had a great week last week, where I really enjoyed my workouts, and am going to continue with this type of format for a while:

Monday: STS Full Body, no abs + KCM TLC Kelly's Mix
Tuesday: Turbo Fire EZ 55
Wednesday: High Reps
Thursday: Amy Bento Kickbox Surge
Friday: KCM Powersculpt + 3 sets of chest presses and 3 sets of rows.
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: Muscle Max

I am trying to go to 2/day workouts, but having a hard time getting there

 

[amybajamy]

Congrats on the loss, I'm very jealous!

I have heard people do not lose much with Insanity, but that they get good cardio conditioning benefits from it. I just think there is no reason to torture yourself with certain types of cardio if you don't like them, for me Insanity is out .

Also to tack on to an above poster, I have been reading A LOT that full body weight workouts are better for weight loss than splitting up your routines.

Do you know why that is?

Thanks.

 

[Fit_mommy]

It's funny you say that about lack of weight loss during Insanity for most people. I actually lost a decent amount of weight on that program (for me that's only 5# but it's all relative as I didn't have much to lose) when I did the full rotation a couple years ago and it was the last time I lost anything more then a pound before joining WW 2 weeks ago! I guess I'm just a freak of nature! LOL

On the flip side though, the things that work for most people don't work for me.

 

[Dela]

Just a general observation reading this board and VFF, nothing scientific, and of course that statement does not apply to all people, what works for one, doesn't work for another, but I have read about a fair amount of people not too happy with their results for all the work and put into the program. There was some speculation that following the rotation as is, put too much stress on some people, and that could have created an issue, there are much better explanations out there than what I am giving, because it's not from personal experience, but if you search Insanity on VFF, you will find some good threads on this.

Full body workouts make more sense for weight loss to me because you burn more calories when you work your legs than your upper body, and if you do the exercises in a circuit style you can create even more of a calorie burning cardio effect. I'm certainly not an expert, I think the only way I can lose weight is to cut off a body part, but thinking back to the times I could lose weight, I did best with full body workouts 3 days per week plus cardio, or 4 days per week doing a split routine circuit style with cardio bursts, plus 1-2 days cardio, but the split was front and back, so everyday had legs and upper body.

 

[Fit_mommy]

Well I must add that I did not do the Insanity rotation exactly as written. I did all of the cardio but left out the other stuff and added in 1 f/b weight work out per week ala Kelley Coffey Meyer plus 1 day of running. IDK if that influenced my results enough to make the difference in weight loss but I just figured I'd mention it anyway.

I couldn't do INSANITY as written. I wouldn't feel right about leaving weight lifting out of the equation completely.

 

[Dela]

Well I must add that I did not do the Insanity rotation exactly as written. I did all of the cardio but left out the other stuff and added in 1 f/b weight work out per week ala Kelley Coffey Meyer plus 1 day of running. IDK if that influenced my results enough to make the difference in weight loss but I just figured I'd mention it anyway.

I couldn't do INSANITY as written. I wouldn't feel right about leaving weight lifting out of the equation completely.

ITA, there is some body weight stuff in Insanity, but he even had an upper body weight routine as part of the deluxe/extra package. I don't think I could ever leave out weights, and I know for sure I would be very unhappy with working out if I did.

 

[Stebby]

I lost 21 lbs with Insanity when I did it last May-July. I ate very clean but found that my metabolism went through the roof and I had to increase my calories quite a bit.

BTW, I have since put 10 of those lbs back on. Trying to take them off with Asylum.

This is just me, and the other poster was completely right that what works for some people doesn't work for others, but if I do only weights with no cardio I get strong and fat. I'm sure it's a caloric balance thing but I just can't seem to get it right when I'm not doing cardio.

Stebby

 

[millalyte86]

Thanks so much for all the suggestions! I'm not sure how to make up a rotation that uses mostly full body workouts. Because they say not to workout the same body part with weights 2 days in a row. Anyone know of any rotations??

 

[kikster]

Try fitnessfreak's get ready for summer rotation. It has both circuit & full body workouts, although it does have quite a bit of cardio. Cathe's current May Rotation and March 2010 rotation has full body workouts too. If you wanted to create your own rotation, you could probably do up to 3 FB w/o's per week, as long as you have a day in between, you're fine. Maybe do HIIT on in between days (like once or twice per wk OR 1 HIIT, 1 regular cardio), and at least one day of rest.

 

[millalyte86]

Thanks Kiki... I think I'm gonna try to make up my own. I don't have the ability to do circuit workouts right now because i'm my townhouse there isn't alot of room to store the step and I can't do cardio upstairs because It sounds like I'm gonna come crashing through the ceiling lol. I usually do Insanity downstairs and I have all my weights upstairs. I'll try to come up with my own rotation...

 

[kikster]

Ha, ha! I know what you mean,lol. About 2 yrs ago my mom was living with me, & she would always complain about my cardio, and how she thought the sky was falling . I sure wish all of that new low impact stuff was around then, because my cardio surely suffered for it.... I've just now finished gettin rid of the lbs from that time...

 

[jonahnah]

Do you know why that is?

Thanks.

You get a greater metabolic boost from the full body workouts as the large muscles (i.e. legs, glutes) are worked more frequently.

While YMMV, in my experience, I need cardio to lose weight. Last year, I did 6 weeks of Cathe full body weight workouts 3x/week and 2 days of cardio. One of the days would be a Cathe LB workout + MM UB or BM2 UB. The other 2 days I alternated between MM, PH, MIS.

I wasn't counting calories but I wasn't going crazy in terms of cheats. Zero weight loss. Some improvement in UB muscle definition, but not much in my lower half.

For weight loss & better definition, I do better w/ circuit workouts OR hi-rep workouts that use light weights & produce a cardio effect. Either way, I find I need 6 days/week of a cardio-effect, even if it's not from cardio per se. I mix up intensity & duration. Some workouts are shorter than others, some longer. Some are harder, some easier. The important thing is a consistent cardio-effect.

I think just doing weights & minimal cardio requires you to be much more careful with your diet. Frankly, I like the cardio high & I don't want to be that careful! Everyone has different preferences & different goals though so you just have to find what works for you, mentally & physically.

Good luck!

Joan