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Answers from Danny M O'Dell:

QI am sixty years old and exercise regularly both cardio and strength. I would like to know what is the best way/exercises to shed fat and build strength, e.g. cardio or weight training or both. If weight training is recommended for building strength, how much weight, heavy, medium or light and how many reps, i.e. 8, 10 or 15 should I consider to achieve the results.

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Answer:

Congratulations on the continued persistence in maintaining your health. At the age of sixty it will be a bit more difficult to get rid of the extra layer of fat covering your muscles because your metabolism has slowed down over the years. But it can still be done. Begin with a workout diary. Write down everything you eat and drink along with your workouts each day. Eat five to six times a day.

The short answer to your question of ‘what is the best way/exercises to shed fat and build strength’… hands down it is weight training.

Resistance training builds muscle mass. Muscle is metabolically more active than fat and thus burns calories at a higher rate. The sets and reps to greater hypertrophy will be in the higher ranges when compared to those used to gain pure strength. Multiple sets – 4-6 of 7-10 repetitions will increase your muscle mass to a significant degree. The intensity of each set will be in the 75-85% 1RM range.

You have to challenge the major muscle groups by doing military presses, pull downs or chins, bench presses, barbell rows, squats, dead lifts, and abdominal during your strength training sessions. Accessory exercises will be performed for 1-4 sets of 10 reps.

Do these on a work to rest ratio of 1:2. As your stamina and work conditioning hardens reduce the ratio to 1:1. The work to rest ratio implies that if a set takes ten seconds to do then you will rest either twenty (1:2) or ten (1:1) seconds before beginning the next set.

Between each of the various exercises skip rope at high speed for 1-5 minutes. This will raise your work capacity and allow more to be accomplished in the future.

Add in runs, not jogs, or fast bicycle rides on alternate lifting days for twenty to thirty minutes to raise your cardiovascular capabilities.

Keep me posted on your progress.