what's the purpose? (rant)

[wanderlusty]

***edit, I meant to post this in the woman's disscussion board.. oops!***

ha!

So I'm fat, and my mom has been on my case about it for years. Understandable, but still annoying, and it makes me want to stay fat rather than change to please her.. but okay, I'm not gonna let that continue to be an excuse for my self-destructive habits..

Anyways, I was really proud of leg pressing 275 lbs today. Bragged this to her.. she said "now what's the purpose of all this?"

because building big muscle is just gonna make me bigger, right?? ble.

So I replied.. "to build muscle. Muscle makes you more shapely, increases your metabolism, decreases your bodyfat %, and also happens to make you stronger, which to me seems to be a good thing."

bah, I'm just annoyed/amused that everybody in my life seems to think I'm off my rocker and at least should be doing lighter weight/more reps.

 

[bigmag]

lighter weight and more reps doesn't nessecarily burn fat....it does (don't get me wrong) but only to a certain extent. To burn fat you HAVE to do cardio. low weight and high reps primarily tones the muscle and gives it a harder look.

 

[life is good]

bigmag,
no flame, but your just saying the same thing everyone else is to wanderlusty. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS "toning" the muscle. you either build muscle or you dont. period. end of story. you look more "toned" when you cut to a lower bodyfat through diet and cardio.

Wanderlusty,
Use the anger as motivation to hit the iron hard and heavy.

 

[Jeremy21]

There is such a thing as muscle "tone". To increase it you need to primarily train your nervous system to heighten the level of resting tension in the muscles.

kind regards,
jeremy

 

[minion]

wanderlusty, focus your efforts on cardio work. That's the only way to go.

Get lean them build. Extra muscle mass will and can increase your metobolic rate, however like most young lifters you'll probably end up over training which will leave you lethargic. This can lead to more fat.

I have known many guys that were over weight and figured they would get bigger and lean at the same time. Now they are big like power lifters (husky) (no offence) my point is it was NEVER their intentions to be smooth.

I'm asuming you're an adolescent. Since you're husky already it is your plight and genetic disposition to be round for the rest of your life. In other words that's where the true ballte is.

"What's the purpose?", there isn't IMO. Only to lead you astray from your goals which I'm assuming is to be lean. (not thin)
In order of precedence diet, cardio, rest then weights.

 

[bigmag]

when I was talking about "tone" I was talking about the look of the muscle not just how ripped it is. when a muscle is toned it looks hard and it has more shape to it as opposed to a muscle with no tone which doesn't have as much shape to it.

 

[wanderlusty]

Minion, hmm.. well for one thing I think it would be good to maintain what muscle I do have. I'm a girl, so I don't think I'll bulk up particularly. I do 20 minutes of cardio every day and 60 additional minutes 3 times a week, and I'm keeping to a 1,800 Calorie diet.. so yeah, the focus of my workouts right now is to lose fat.. but maintain the muscle that I've got. It's exciting to increase strength though, and I think it's very possible for me to do both right now BECAUSE I am so out of shape. As I get leaner I expect my strength gains to slow.

Am I completely misguided here?

I'm a 22yr old female, btw. I think you are right that being chubby is my genetic dispostion... that's okay.. I just want to get as low as I can get comfortably with my genes and also be strong I don't mind a little extra flab, but I'm at 40% right now.. which is.. well, pretty damn unhealthy.

 

[bigmag]

just stick to your diet and cardio and the weight will eventually come. The main thing that is hard to do when trying to loose weight is to be patient.....every time I try to loose weight I keep having to remind myself that it doesn't happen over night. Good Luck with that and pm me if you need any other advice on diet or anything...I'll be glad to help out.

 

[Belial]

when I was talking about "tone" I was talking about the look of the muscle not just how ripped it is. when a muscle is toned it looks hard and it has more shape to it as opposed to a muscle with no tone which doesn't have as much shape to it.

High reps low weight won't do jack for that.

Genetics, overall level of muscle fitness/size, and bf%.