Is intense weight training ok?

[feenpup49]

I'm at the end of my first week on Atkins. But I was walking and working out with weights for about a month prior. I know walking or running is fine but what about weight training? I've heard the lack of carbs won't allow for building muscle.

Can anyone here give me any advise on this?

[Chef Kevin]

Re: Is intense weight training ok?

Weight training is great. I life very heavy 3 days a week.
You will grow like mad on this WOE. You do not need carbs to build muscle.

Once again, it's people who don't have a clue telling you stuff.

Lift and grow big and strong.

[feenpup49]

Re: Is intense weight training ok?

Weight training is great. I life very heavy 3 days a week.
You will grow like mad on this WOE. You do not need carbs to build muscle.

Once again, it's people who don't have a clue telling you stuff.

Lift and grow big and strong.

AWESOME!!!

So, will I still LOSE weight/fat fast? I'm about 80 lbs. over weight, so LOSING is more of a priority. I'm also 49 years and 11 months old (ok, so I'm 50!) and I want to rebuild my muscles. I spent 20+ years trying to stay in shape and working out. But I always yo-yo'd...then I kinda gave up around 7 years ago and got REALLY fat.

I'm working out right now and loving it! I'm using a workout from Men's Health called "The Testosterone Advantage Plan". It involves a recommended diet and a rotating workout plan. I'm just doing the workout plan. And NO, there are no steroids involved. People tend to think that because of the name, but the diet and the workout are designed to icrease testosterone levels.

It's a pretty intense regimen, but it feels great!

[Chef Kevin]

Re: Is intense weight training ok?

Yeah, people are clueless about most things.
They are idiot convered idiots with idiot filling.

Think of it this way, you are eating protein, probably chock full of artificial hormones, and lifting weights. And you are burning fat for fuel.

Then you are increasing your muscle mass, which burns more fat all the time. So, weight training is the best thing in the world. Plus you might get a small boost from the hormones in the meat, but that's a different story....

[julirama723]

Re: Is intense weight training ok?

Protein is what helps you build muscle. On Atkins, 30% of your daily calories should be coming from protein sources like meat, eggs, poultry, tofu, and fish, so you will have no problems building muscle! You will also find that low-carbing is GREAT for lifting weights, because lifting requires steady, focused energy, which is exactly the kind of energy you have on Atkins.

I lift weights 3-4x/week. HEAVY weights. None of this girly crap that involves 5-pound weights for 6000 reps. I notice the most positive changes in my body shape and size when I lift weights as opposed to when I focus on cardio. Strength training will increase muscle mass which helps to burn fat; muscle is metabolically active tissue, meaning it burns calories even at rest.

Another great thing about having muscle tone is that you can weigh MORE but look smaller. I had a one-month stretch where I didn't lose a single pound, but I lost something like 15 inches off my body, 3" from my waist alone. You will LOOK much smaller or more toned than the scale leads you to believe. For example, I'm a pretty dense and muscular girl, and when I weigh 170, I'm a size 8.

[feenpup49]

Re: Is intense weight training ok?

Yeah, people are clueless about most things.
They are idiot convered idiots with idiot filling.

Think of it this way, you are eating protein, probably chock full of artificial hormones, and lifting weights. And you are burning fat for fuel.

Then you are increasing your muscle mass, which burns more fat all the time. So, weight training is the best thing in the world. Plus you might get a small boost from the hormones in the meat, but that's a different story....

Yeah, those hormones in the meat thing scares me. but I guess I've been eating them most of my life. Either way, it's better than the quart of ice cream I was eating most days!

[Chef Kevin]

Re: Is intense weight training ok?

The hormones aren't the best, I mean look at the kids these days. Puberty starts at, like, 8 anymore.

But unless you shell out the money for the hormone free stuff (and then believe it is), you just can't avoid it.

But at least you are feeding your body to grow with the protein instead of carb loading like they do to fatten cattle for market.

[riboflavin]

Re: Is intense weight training ok?

Actually, what you're asking is very relevant. Normally, you need carbohydrates to release insulin, which has the anabolic effects of activating protein uptake and muscle deposition, glycogen synthesis, and lipid synthesis (this is the reason why you're trying to cut carbs so that fat production is cut out). However, on a ketogenic (Atkins) diet, you can still work out and gain muscle mass because your body uses other hormones, specifically, Growth Hormone, to produce similar anabolic activity required for protein synthesis.
This is how Growth Hormone works: It is directly catabolic, in that it stimulates lipolysis (fat breakdown) and increases plasma glucose through gluconeogenesis, which is the opposite of what insulin does. However, GH, via IGF-1 (a protein it stimulates the production of), has anabolic effects like increasing bone growth, tissue growth, amino acid uptake (muscle deposition) and these actions are similar to insulin. However, even though this seems like a dream supplement to help you lose weight (it breaks down fat for sole usage by skeletal muscle while restricting glucose usage there so that it is reserved for your brain) it also causes bone growth and other effects, which can result in acromegaly when GH is abused, which you can look up for yourself to see how nasty it is.

I hope this helped. So keep working out, it will definitely help you lose weight faster too!

[livingdeadguy]

Re: Is intense weight training ok?

Personally I weight train too, but just stay at a level you can handle for the induction phase. After that up the intensity for gains every 2 weeks, or however fast your body allows. If you try to take it too intense on induction having no carbs will make you feel twice as crappy as normal. Hope this info helped

[4themasses]

Re: Is intense weight training ok?

Same as weightlifting before. Eat lots of protein within that 1 hour window after weight training!! That's a muscle must....gobs of protein.