I'm giving advice to someone else on fitness and I need to know the more important of the two?

Question

Okay, I know a person who is very fat, and they know a little about working out and what to and not to eat. However, they want to know for the first week what should the emphasis be on mostly...Strength training or Cardio? You need to build muscle in order to burn calories more faster because of the more muscle mass you obtain the faster you burn calories. Cardio gets your heart rate up and you burn fat when you challenge your heart rate. I know you can balance with both, but for the first week shouldn't Strength Training be the foundation for this person in losing all the fat? This person is really obese by the way. They want my advice but I can't really tell them the more important of the two, so what's the more important of the two (Strength Training or Cardio) for the first week?

Answer 1

cardio combined with light weight training.
people who are overweight have more muscle since they have to carry arount more weight all day long than skinny people who dont exercise that much.
cardio burns fat and muscle so you do weight training to tone and keep muscles you have.
later on they can do more weight training to get stronger and bigger muscles to burn more energy.

Answer 2

I would think it would be easier for an obese person to start out with a strength training regimen in order to not only boost their metabolism but build muscle to complete a cardio circuit in the future. Encourage your friend to take measurements instead of stepping on the scale because he/she is going to loose more inches while building muscles at first rather than weight. Once they add cardio then they will start to see the pounds come off.

New studies are starting to come out that show that cardio, believe it or not, really isn't all that beneficial to weight loss. Although it is important to the circulatory system it doesn't really build muscles which is what's needed to boost the metablism (hence burn more calories)!

Sorry this is getting kind of long. Tell your friend to stick to lean meats (turkey, fish, chicken, sirloin) whole wheat bread (carbs to a minimum at first) and eat all the fruits and veggies he/she wants. Sugar free jello is a great snack too. If he/she likes to cook replace sugar with splenda instead of equal etc.

I have my email on my profile if you or your friend has any more questions.

Answer 3

This is a double edged sword, my strategy is to never induce strength without some type of cardio, that way the body begins to adjust immediatly. If the purpose is weight loss then a couple days of cardio alternated with days of weight training, light weights and a high number of reps will work better then lifting heavy. That and a good diet, he should start to see the weight melt off after 1 month. tread mill, and ellipticle, along with biking is best, he has to hit his target heart zone and maintain it during the workout.