i’m still cardio confused. i’ve tried HIT, slower and longer and also in the morning on empty stomach. my diet is very clean. i’m 45. no love handles. just a slight bit of lower ab fat. i’m 5’9.5 @ 185. i’ve lost 10lbs. i’m trying to gain muscle and lost some fat (i know, everyone is unless their massing out). i’d like to be 200lbs at 10-15% bodyfat. i just don’t know how cardio fits into this goal.
i do 20-30mins after w.o. 5xper week. mostly eliptical because of knee pain on treadmill. i don’t do stationary bike very often. my heart rate is usually around 135 on non-hit days and then up to 150 on HIT days alternating higher intensity and lower every 30 or 60 second intervals. i don’t want to lose muscle (yes, keep up the eating and protein). at my age i do also want some cardiovascular training and feel that the higher heart rate aids this.
new to this board. sorry if this is too long. hope it is the right place to post. thanks guys.
Lose the fat first, then focus on eating plenty of food to gain muscle. Chase two rabbits and catch neither. Focus 100% on fat loss for a few weeks, if you gain some muscle, thats great.
After that, focus 100% of gaining muscle, if you happen to lose some fat, thats great. This phase should consist of plenty of food, plenty of heavy ass weight, and even some cardio to help keep your energy output up. .5 - 1 pound per week is a good place to start.
Cut sugars or High GI foods, cut saturated fats out of diet. Increase protein to 1g per lb of bodyweight.
Cardio either uses calories you may over eat, so can be used to trim excess calories in, or done in AM before any food can trim bodyfat - but ONLY if in accordance with a vey strict diet. If you have too much insulin from sugars/hi-GI your body will want to hold on to the fat you have stored.
Weight-training is excel;lent way to get/keep lean.
I’d advise a diet overhaul personally. Simply because if your diet was perfect, and you were burning more calories than eating, then you would be losing fat. You are’t so… there is something to work with- which is good news!
For general weight loss, not trimming small amounts of fat from a lean physique, i go for HIIT everytime.
High intensity burns more calories and thus a higher number of fat calories albeit from a lower percentage.
Hiit also increases the metabolic rate for hours to come as the proponents of high intensity resistance training will know.
It is a great way to increase fitness levels too-allowuing you to work at higher levels, thus more results.
The main downfall is it is hard work, on a low calorie diet, muscle will be lost a little too so isn’t ideal for a competing BB, but joe public is fine.
[quote]Joe Brook wrote:
For general weight loss, not trimming small amounts of fat from a lean physique, i go for HIIT everytime.
High intensity burns more calories and thus a higher number of fat calories albeit from a lower percentage.
Hiit also increases the metabolic rate for hours to come as the proponents of high intensity resistance training will know.
It is a great way to increase fitness levels too-allowuing you to work at higher levels, thus more results.
The main downfall is it is hard work, on a low calorie diet, muscle will be lost a little too so isn’t ideal for a competing BB, but joe public is fine.
You can keep doing the cardio; BUT you probably need more food. It sounds like you are pretty lean, and you have lost weight, so now your metabolism is rebelling.
I would jack up your calories for awhile to get that metabolism humming again.
IMO if you aren’t eating enough, and you do HIIT instead of steady-state cardio, you will lose even MORE muscle than you are now.