Which is more important?

[Road2ANewMe]

Upper body or lower body? When weight training days come up, I tend to gravitate towards lower body. I guess I assume if I workout my lower body enough, i'll lose a pant size!! I know upper body is important too, but its not my favorite.

So, which is more important? Are they really equal? Since the birth of my 3rd child 3 months ago, i have started carrying my weight in my belly. It used to be carried all in lower body! GRRR...and i'm only 25! Too young for these body changes. LOL!!

Jessica

 

[MAYNARDSMOM]

One is no more important than th eother. You need balance between upper & lower body & don't forget the all important core. Someone else may be bale to give you a more in depth explanation, but that's it in a nutshell.

Sometimes I may prefer one over another & focus more on that area. Particularly if one area is sore or has been overworked but I always get back to it.

 

[NinjaMom]

I'm just the opposite of you. I much prefer working my upper body over my lower body. I really have to force myself to work legs and do not enjoy it.

IMHO, they are equally important and we must strike a balance. That said....I still strength train my upper body more than my lower. At least my legs are getting worked during my cardio (running, biking, step, KB etc...)

JJ

 

[bitmover]

Hey Jessica, I suppose in the grand scheme of things, they are equally important, but, having just wrapped up a rotation that worked the legs just about every day (check out FF's leg blast rotation in the rotations section), and watching my eating a little better, I dropped enough that I could get into a smaller pant size I hadn't been able to in a good long time. I think because your leg muscles are more substantial than your upper body, it's possible to work them harder/more often, but I am no expert! I read that on the internet, so it must be true, right?

good luck!

-Beth

 

[LauraMax]

Have you ever watched Pumping Iron? Gawd I love that move........anyway, one of my favorite lines from it is when Arnold says "it's all about proportion." Upper & lower body are equally important.

However, in a serious fat burning rotation lower body could be considered more important b/c it has some of the largest muscles in your body & therefore will help increase your metabolism when worked more. Some ladies on the forum work legs 2 times a week & UB only once a week. So for weight loss, I guess the case could be made that lower body is more important.

Disclaimer: I do each muscle group once a week.

 

[dbelden1]

As I understand it ~ same as has been stated, both are equally important, and working legs more will not help the hips, thighs, or core lose to body fat or target those areas more just because we do them more. it takes a whole body effort approach to working out PLUS a good healthy diet to reduce body fat and lose weight... for me it starts in my face and works it's way down! Right now i'm in the "loosing my boobs" phase

I do enjoy the lower body more however. My arms, shoulders and upper back are VERY sore with DOMS the day after an Upper Body workout, so while I should be doing more to eliminate that by adding more UB work, I just can't seem to do it!

in the long run we should all be striving for a well balanced overall workout rotation that focuses eventually on the entire body. Now, it that easy to achieve??? ah... well.....

 

[kathryn]

Both are important, but since the lower body gets more work from some types of cardio (like step), and is used to transport you day-in and day-out, I'd say if you just choose one, work upper body. (Though I really don't advise working only one or the other. An alternative is to do kettlebell training, which works the whole body with almost every move).

 

[Road2ANewMe]

Please enlighten me on the kettlebell training.