Current Routine for Losing LBS

[soootiff]

OK, I posted about Body Pump before and only had one response, so now I have a different question around the same topic.

I'm currently doing Body Pump (a Les Mills, weight lifting class, full body) 3 days a week, and 30 minutes of cardio the opposite days, 3 times a week.

I bought NROLW however, I'm really wanting to lose fat before I focus on getting muscle definition, etc. My understanding that by not losing the fat, I could possibly bulk up in terms of muscle, while still having the fat on my body, not a look that I want....So, does this routine that I have now seem OK for getting the fat off (aside from keeping my nutrition dialed in) or should I do the NROLW and incorporate the cardio? I'm not sure the 3 days a week in NROLW is what I want to do, I like spending my 6 days a week in the gym....

Any thoughts or advice is appreciated.

[gwnorth]

You can check out the threads on the fat loss board for more information, but I workout 5-6 days a week. My routine consists of a 1hr weight workout followed by 30 minutes of cardio (running) 3x a week. On 2-3 of my non-weight workout days I do 1 hour of cardio - some running, some spin class. The cardio burns the fat and improves my endurance, and the weights, while also burning fat, ensures that I loose as little muscle as possible. Some will argue that you don't have to do that much cardio, and I'm sure you don't, but it is my preference. So far I've lost 27lbs and ~13% BF while maintaining my lean muscle mass.

As for Body Pump, I really would advise against it unless you are really sure of your technique. I've even see instructors with bad form and with so many people in the class they don't correct technique. It's a recipie for injury. The other problem with Pump is that the weight/reps are too low. I haven't checked out NROLW but I'm pretty sure that if you compared the program in the book to what you are currently doing in Pump class you'll see what I mean. To get maximum benefit from your weight workouts you need to really stress the muscle and from what I've seen from Pump class, you aren't going to get that.

[soootiff]

Thanks for replying. I appreciate the feedback.
Body Pump is a lot of reps, but I definitely exhaust my muscles in the class. The one that I go to, the instructor does walk around and correct form. I did the class a few years ago and a combination of the class and running lost quite a bit of weight. Dating and not keeping up with my routine has added weight back, that needs to be lost again.

Hopefully I can get more suggestions, I am all about trying the NROLW but would definitely need to incorporate cardio.

Thanks again for the response!

[oregonchick76]

Body Pump is more or less a form of cardio. Yes, you get tired. Yes, you use weights. But if you want to gain muscle, this isn't the way to do it. Depending on your goals, you'd be far better off doing "real" weight lifting 3 days per week and cardio 2-3 days per week. No need to lean out before you start working on building muscle - in fact, if you do weight training while in a deficit you'll lose less muscle.

I understand that you don't want to start with a bulk. If you are a newbie to weight lifting though, you can gain muscle and lose fat initially - so I'd go for it.

[gwnorth]

Again as I mentioned I haven't checked out NROLW (I should) but I doubt it advocates the high reps/low weight approach you get in Pump. Every expert I've read will tell you for maximum results you need to lift heavy. In any case you absolutely can incorporate cardio in your workouts. When I do my "burn" cycles with my trainer, he even encorporates small amounts of cardio in between sets (active rest) to keep my heart rate up.

[soootiff]

OK - great. Thanks so much for the feedback. This proves I need to move on from Body Pump and into heavy lifting. Great! Thanks again for the responses :)