Slappy, I Have a Question

(UK joke approachinhg)
Sorry for butting in but I think the only good thing the resistance did was wear cute little outfits in episodes of 'Allo 'Allo.

purpose of weight training
I'm a former runner and athlete so perhaps I can help:

The purpose of effective weight training is to either build long, lanky muscles suitable for endurance
or
for building bulky muscles suitable for "explosive" strength (i.e. sprinting).

You can accomplish building long, lanky muscles by doing more reps (say, 12-15) with using lesser amount of weight and adding more sets - say, 2 or 3.

You accomplish building bigger bulkier muscles by doing less reps (10) with more weight and perhaps maybe doing more sets with even less reps.

If you are female, there is a lesser chance you will build bulky, large muscles due to the effects of hormones. Your muscles will get large - just not like men do.

You can substitute the word "weights" for increase of resistance as with Elliptical machines. As you increase resistance on elliptical machines, you effectively increase the work load on your muscle groups.

Hope this helps.

So I am doing SOMETHING to help build my muscles. Maybe not enough but something, right?

not enough info


Sorry but I don't see enough info to know the answer there.

ragman(orig)
ragman(orig), I'm always pleased when an A2K member can provide really helpful information to another member.

Thanks.

BBB

ok..reread
Ok..I reread your post.

When you ADD in weight training with FREE-weights, you will be doing MORE to help tone and define your muscles than without adding them in.

Elliptical trainers help effectively train you with cardio. When in a training routine you add in some resistance with ellip trainers, you help tone as well as build cardio. Free weights, in my estimation, help tone better. Slappy can help us both with his experience there.

BBB: I'm glad you are pleased!

I'm not Slappy, but here's my take. Adding resistance to cardio, whether it's an elliptical trainer, stair climber, or treadmill adds a certain amount of increased tension to work the muscles. You tend to add a small amount of resistance and do hundreds/thousands of reps. Free weights and/or weight machines, on the other hand, tend to be used with a high enough weight that you stress the muscle to exhaustion somewhere between 8 and 15 reps. They accomplish different things. The added resistance in cardio will boost your cardio workout, but it won't build muscle. In order to build (tone, for women) muscle you need to work the muscle to exhaustion. If you can do more than 15 reps with ease then you aren't using enough weight.

I'm not slappy either, but can only share my experience....I've used eliptical machines for years, and now that I bought one, I'm on it almost every day.

My legs are not bulky, but it's really surprising how toned they are. I wish the rest of my body looked like my legs. I believe in going for a long time, at a slower pace. That way, you don't get burned out, like a sprinter. Over time your legs will just naturally become more toned. If your knees start to bother you before the supporting muscle builds up around them, get yourself some knee braces.

Throughout my 20's and a little into my 30's, I LOVED lifting weights. Now, it's more than I can't get back into it, I just really don't want that anymore. However, of course I know at my age I have to watch my muscle mass of my upper body.

Just last saturday, my neighbor across the street was having a garage sale, and I bought a pilates ball, pump and video for $3.00....such a deal.
I haven't even bothered to look at the video, but I'll tell ya what's happened.....(come closer)

When I took it home, I could tell in wasn't inflated all the way, but I wanted to check it out...Wow....because it was under inflated some, I was laying on my back on it and was doing slow rocking back and forth, each time going back just a little farther...slooowwww streaches.....it felt like heavan. I got where I could get my fingertips over my head to touch the floor behind me, you know, in that great arch

During that session, my hips popped, aaahhhhhh....my back cracked, aaahhhh, aaaahhhhh and my abs were gently lengthened. rocking in a cicular way side to side got those abs on the edges, and a little lats.

The next day, I inflated the ball just a little more...it made the whole thing a tad more challanging, I think I'll leave it at this level for a little bit before inflating again.

Bella, I swear just in the what? 3 times I've used it, I notice a difference, and the whole thing just felt so good.

It's really more that just for a streach, it involves working muscle to keep your balance...good for light pushups too.

I don't need the video to tell me what felt good.

I don't even really care at this point about toning up....I want the strength training so that I burn calories just sitting around on my butt. I'll worry about toning up once you can SEE my muscles.

toned muscles are long strong muscles.