Dumbbell question

[kingflab]

Hi folks. I've hit a weight loss plateau lately.

Am I right in thinking that if I start doing a set of dumbbell exercises for about 3 days a week, my body would probably recognise the change and increase my metabolism?

I realise that weight training will increase metabolism in the long term, but I was hoping a sudden change (I don't do exercise much) would kick start my metabolism again!

 

[pete10141748]

I'm by no means an expert, but I think that 3 good Cardio workouts a week (i.e. running, biking or swimming for 30 minutes minimum) would do you much better than weights.

Lifiting weights will be great for increasing your muscle mass, but it doesn't get your heart pumping like a cardio exercise does, and that's what you are after really.

 

[kingflab]

Cardio's a no go for me at the moment. I did try, but I eventually gave up making the effort. I'd prefer something I can just do in my bedroom, whilst I study. I'm not too bothered about a slow weight loss - I just want to get past this plateua.

 

[pete10141748]

Cardio's a no go for me at the moment. I did try, but I eventually gave up making the effort

Why is it a no-go? Not even some moderately paced walking?

The only really effective way that exercise is going to help reduce bodyfat is if you get the heart pumping and keep it that way for a decent amount of time ('experts' say 30 minutes)

In order to "burn" fat with exercise, you must first work off your glyogen stores; only once they are used up will your body turn to fat stores for energy.

It's debated all over the web, but the general consesus is that the best approach is to combine both weights and cardio; do the weights first to burn off your glyco stores, then do the cardio to start attacking the fat stores. If you did it the other way around, you'd be using all your ready-made energy (glyco) for the cardio, then needing much less for the weights part so much less fat would need to be converted to energy.



Like I said, I'm by no means an expert, and this is just my own view and experiences, but realistically, I doubt that anybody could exercise with dumbells alone and lose fat because of it, even if they are dieting too; it's just a different sort of exercise, muscle-building/toning, not fat-burning.


Other's might not agree with what I've said and someone may even prove me wrong, but the bottom line is, to be fit & healthy, you need to do cardiovascular exercise; that's a fact, and deep down we all know it, we just chose to ignore it.

 

[kingflab]

It's a no go for a number of reasons. I don't feel comfortable exercising infront of people, especially because I live in a small condensed Welsh university town, with about 10,000 students, I only have to step outside my house to see people I know. Secondly, I have a severe perspiration disorder which means any form of basic exercise (walking included) leaves me soaked in sweat.

I realise that there are many benefits from cardio - I went to the gym several times last year (which in my town is on top of a massive hill) and I tried my hand at jogging when at home, I eventually gave up on both. I just want something I can do for about 20 minutes between my studies - if using dumbbells will help increase my metabolism just enough to get past my plateua then that is fine for me.

 

[pink~chocolate]

To confirm (kind of) what Pete said, it won't do much if anything to help with weight loss. Not sure what effect it will have on metabolism.

My boyfriends friend is a weight lifter he has the fattest gut around and the rest of him to be honest. His arms are chunky and all muscle and so is his neck but the rest of him is jelly!

He focuses solely on his arms when training!

 

[kingflab]

Heh, somethings better than nothing!

I'm quite happy with just the diet at the moment, my life is busy enough - but its just if I can get something to increase my weight loss from 1lb to 2lb a week, then I'm happy.

One of my close friends is a professional power lifter, tiny yet wide man, thats not exactly what I had in mind (though he did try to get me doing it at one point), I just want to do something simple in my bedroom! Unfortunately my landlord won't allow us to put any exercise machines into our student house.

 

[pink~chocolate]

Give it a go, at the very least if it doesn't do anything else you will have some great toned arms!

You are not going to lose anything, and lets face it anything that gets us moving is better than nothing! :character00115:

 

[lippy]

i reckon you should aim to do both cardio and weights however if you are doing quite a lot of reps with lighter weights i doubt you will build up huge biceps. Also you can use dumb bells for squats, lunges, shoulder press, abs and side bends...so you can get an effective all over body workout.....done right it will make you sweat and increase your metabolism but you should also try incorporating some cardio - fast pace walking outside (if you dont want to go to the gym) and also some walking up and down stairs will all help...

 

[ChristieK]

Could you perhaps use something like a mini-stepper that would fit in your room (you could store under your bed)...you could use it while watching TV or something? It might help to give you that bit of boost to your cardio (any movement is good!) while giving you the privacy you want?

 

[munchkin09]

agree...lifting weights increases mass...you want to do more cardio and of course watch wat you eat!

 

[kingflab]

Best Life Magazine - Weight Loss - 20-Minute Winter Metabolism Boosting Workout

Thats the workout i'm looking at. If that doesn't help me get past my low-cal diet plateau, then I'll have no choice but to try cardio.