Police Officer Preparation & Law Enforcement Resource - Archive

When I was at my doc's yesterday (still have a bum ankle) I showed him my current weight routine. Its a typical 3-day a week routine with 2-3 sets of 8-10 reps of each exercise. For example I do 3 sets of 8 reps @ 200lbs bench press. He suggested keeping the sets the same but dropping weight and doing 20-30 reps and do them in like a circuit routine. He says this would burn more calories and provide a good cardio workout. My questions are... will I lose strength or power by doing this? Will doing the reps fast provide any benefit to strength as opposed to slow reps? Should I combine a few of these types of sets with maybe a low rep high weight exercise (like the bench press mentioned above)?

I am able to pass my situps and pushups on fitness tests, I need to cut my run time (but cant run cause of my ankle). I need to lose some weight/fat but I also feel there are some area where i need to increase my strength. Input is greatly appreciated.

Low reps with heavy weight builds strength.
High reps with light weight builds endurance/stamina.

Mix up the routine occasionally and you can maintain the strength and build up endurance. IMO, being strong is nice, but if you can only endure 30-60 seconds of exertion, it doesn't seem beneficial. I went away from dedicated heavy lifting, mostly due to bracitis and other joint issues, and went with high reps, lower weight and once a week I will lift heavy for maintenance.
When we run our obstacle course you can see the guys that have the hardest time are the ones that only lift heavy, while the others can breeze through it and still be able to manipulate their weapons with well placed shots. I attribute it to endurance and recovery time.

A couple of routines I've used in the past:
The first one is called the 50/20 routine. Basically, you pick a lift (clean and press, squat, whatever but make sure it's a "big" lift). Set the timer for 20 minutes and try to get 50 reps in that twenty minutes. Use whatever rep scheme you like (sets of 5, sets of 10, singles). When you can get all 50 reps then you increase the weight and start over. This is the routine that I used to pass the CPAT when I was testing for fire departments. All I did was the clean and press for 20 minutes twice a week. Here is the link to the actual article:
http://www.ironsports.tv/it_all.htm

Another one that I've used combines low reps, high weight, and short rest times. Instead of typing it out, here is the link:
http://www.workingclassfitness.com/tacticalstrength.shtml

It's clear down at the bottom under "Strength-Endurance" although the entire article is worth a read. Like I said, I've used this one, but when doing as many different lifts as he suggests it tends to be a long workout. If you like short workouts (like me) you could probably drop it down to one or two of the big lifts.

Hope you found this helpful.

Dan

When I was at my doc's yesterday (still have a bum ankle) I showed him my current weight routine. Its a typical 3-day a week routine with 2-3 sets of 8-10 reps of each exercise. For example I do 3 sets of 8 reps @ 200lbs bench press. He suggested keeping the sets the same but dropping weight and doing 20-30 reps and do them in like a circuit routine. He says this would burn more calories and provide a good cardio workout. My questions are... will I lose strength or power by doing this? Will doing the reps fast provide any benefit to strength as opposed to slow reps? Should I combine a few of these types of sets with maybe a low rep high weight exercise (like the bench press mentioned above)?

I am able to pass my situps and pushups on fitness tests, I need to cut my run time (but cant run cause of my ankle). I need to lose some weight/fat but I also feel there are some area where i need to increase my strength. Input is greatly appreciated.

You will never lose anything out of a workout, only gain.

You need to listen to your doctor and switch it up often. I randomly pick a different lifting exercise every time I workout.

I work out every other (2) days, it works best for me.

Try doing 10 sets 5 reps for bench one day, with 4 sets for back and 2 sets for shoulders/biceps/triceps.

Next workout Pyramid for every isolation exercise.

Next workout do 4 sets of 8 for chest/back. 3 sets of 8 for the rest.

You need to switch it up often because your body becomes "used" to the routine and the more you change it up, the better gains you get.

I speak from experience when I say that you will likely never lose any weight or cut fat from weighlifting. I was off for a year from a dislocated and broken ankle.

Your primary focus right now should be rehab on the ankle, diet and then working out (in that order). Regardless of how you work out, unless you stay at ~70% mhr you won't lose too much fat, if any. Building muscle is important since that's your furnace to burn the fat when your healthy. Having said that, you could work out all day and if you eat like sh!t it doesn't matter.

What did you do to your ankle anyway? What is your range of motion? Can you bear weight? Lots of other ways to keep your wind up without running.

I speak from experience when I say that you will likely never lose any weight or cut fat from weighlifting. I was off for a year from a dislocated and broken ankle.

Your primary focus right now should be rehab on the ankle, diet and then working out (in that order). Regardless of how you work out, unless you stay at ~70% mhr you won't lose too much fat, if any. Building muscle is important since that's your furnace to burn the fat when your healthy. Having said that, you could work out all day and if you eat like sh!t it doesn't matter.

What did you do to your ankle anyway? What is your range of motion? Can you bear weight? Lots of other ways to keep your wind up without running.

Well, you are wrong.

You simply cannot hoard yourself with Chips Ahoy and cheese steaks all day, while lifting because you will not burn any fat.

Also, just saying "lifting" is a very broad term. Some people train to burn fat and gain muscle, others train to just make muscle.

If your lifts are hard and heavy, with little rest between sets, your heart rate will be high enough to burn fat.

BUT, if you are burning calories when you lift, then you go home and consume 400g protein, then you will not be loosing any weight. Its all in HOW you train.

Well, you are wrong.

I am???:confused:


You simply cannot hoard yourself with Chips Ahoy and cheese steaks all day, while lifting because you will not burn any fat..

Who said that? In fact, I said the exact opposite


BUT, if you are burning calories when you lift, then you go home and consume 400g protein, then you will not be loosing any weight..

Really? :rolleyes: BTW it's "losing" not "loosing"


Its all in HOW you train. Then you should post a workout plan that will melt away his fat.

Fwiw, it's not how you train at all. It's 95% diet. No amount, style or type of training can overcome a poor diet. Even with a good diet you eventually need to do some cardio which is why I aksed about the status of his injury.

You can burn some fat by lifting weights. Do a circuit and keep your rest period around 45 seconds per set and definately no more than 60 seconds per set. If you do a high intensity workout you'll get your heart rate up.


That being said the best way to burn fat is to do cardio, diet and lift.

I did nothing but weight lifting, with maybe two days of cardio a week (45 minutes each day), I lifted about 3-5 times a week. I tried different splits, and all the sorts. Since last year in August, I've lost only 25 pounds but cut down from 38%~ body fat to about 27%~ body fat. I cut down from 31% to 27% while losing only about 5 poundsin about 3 months, and i'm a big boy, but have toned down. :o

It can be done, but you have to lift hard to lose body fat without losing much weight (protein shakes). I even eat healthy.

I speak from experience when I say that you will likely never lose any weight or cut fat from weighlifting.
i disagree.

weightlifting = larger muscles = faster metabolism = weight loss


Building muscle is important since that's your furnace to burn the fat when your healthy.
this is done by weightlifting.

When I was at my doc's yesterday (still have a bum ankle) I showed him my current weight routine. Its a typical 3-day a week routine with 2-3 sets of 8-10 reps of each exercise. For example I do 3 sets of 8 reps @ 200lbs bench press. He suggested keeping the sets the same but dropping weight and doing 20-30 reps and do them in like a circuit routine. He says this would burn more calories and provide a good cardio workout. My questions are... will I lose strength or power by doing this? Will doing the reps fast provide any benefit to strength as opposed to slow reps? Should I combine a few of these types of sets with maybe a low rep high weight exercise (like the bench press mentioned above)?
what kind of dr gave you this advice?

fast reps won't do anything. yes, you'll most likely lose some strength and power.


I am able to pass my situps and pushups on fitness tests, I need to cut my run time (but cant run cause of my ankle). I need to lose some weight/fat but I also feel there are some area where i need to increase my strength. Input is greatly appreciated.
doing situps and pushups will strengthen your situps and pullups.

sprints will strengthen you cardiovascularly.

heavier weight with lower reps will increase strength.

what kind of dr gave you this advice?

fast reps won't do anything. yes, you'll most likely lose some strength and power.


I think what the dr's intentions were to keep him active for the whole workout, keeping his pulse up, and therefore burning more calories.

Lifting for strength (waiting over a minute in between each set of 6-8) is much different than lifting to cut down (waiting LESS than 45 seconds, preferably 30 seconds, in between each set of 12-15). The latter burns more calories, thus helping you lose more weight (fat specifically) than bulking up(simply adding more muscle, not cutting fat).

EDIT: also, I think that a normally paced movement is what he meant, with less time in between sets. Fast in that sense(as in little breaks), not in a fast rep in each set.

what kind of dr gave you this advice?

fast reps won't do anything. yes, you'll most likely lose some strength and power.


I think what the dr's intentions were to keep him active for the whole workout, keeping his pulse up, and therefore burning more calories.

EDIT: also, I think that a normally paced movement is what he meant, with less time in between sets. Fast in that sense(as in little breaks), not in a fast rep in each set.

That is correct, sorry for the confusion.

I think people are losing site of the issue. You can get lean by doing Low Weights, High Reps. Unless you are doing bench press competitions, I wouldn't worry myself with power. A general balance between the two, in my opinion, is best.


My questions are... will I lose strength or power by doing this?

Not enough that will matter. In fact it is good to change up your routine between higher weight, low reps and low weight, high reps.

A popular workout is the 300 workout, made popular by the actors that played in the movie, "300".


Will doing the reps fast provide any benefit to strength as opposed to slow reps?

You will get more definition and look more lean. However you may not lose a bunch of weight because muscle is muscle and will make up more weight then body fat. However, you will be more fit and hense healthier overall.


Should I combine a few of these types of sets with maybe a low rep high weight exercise (like the bench press mentioned above)?

Here is a recommendation, you can cycle 1 month on High Weights, low reps. Then 1 month on low weights, high reps.

Just remember to alternate from day to day so you are not working out the same muscle day to day. Good reminder for this is, do your pushing one day, do your pulling the next.

Below our my personal recommendations for someone doing an alternating work out routine.

Supplements:

High Weights Recommendation:
Creatine: No-Xplode (Drink lots of water while taking)
Protein: Muscle Milk

Low Weights Recommendation:
Protein: Muscle Milk (every other week)
Vitamins: Men's One a Day

Actually, in terms of fast reps v. slow reps, there have been many recent studies showing more muscle fiber recruitment doing slower repititions.

i disagree.

weightlifting = larger muscles = faster metabolism = weight loss


this is done by weightlifting.

You are correct. I lost 30# in 12 weeks by doing heavy strength training. No cardio whatsoever. I never did over 5 reps on any movement. But I did reduce calories, carbs, and fat intake. I kept my protein up. It was hard but it can be done.

I lost 220# by eating Subway. Eat subway and lose weight - it's THAT easy.

Just kidding - I lost the 220 but working hard. I offer no input on the subject at hand, I just felt like typing something. Thank you, and if I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and goodnight.;)