Knowing that it’s difficult (impossible?) to lose fat AND gain muscle, I think I’d like to try sprints and intervals (along with some weightlifting work); lose a bunch of fat, THEN concentrate more on building muscle.
I was inspired to try this from the December 04 issue of MILO. Article “Conditioning for Football Players, Weightlifters, and Other Anaerobic Athletes” by Steven Morris. I do intervals on cardio machines now, and really enjoy them.
Anyways, I do carry way too much fat, and I know long distance running will probably destroy my knees, what with my age (39) and heavy weight. But how about sprints/intervals? That would be much shorter distances and thus less chance of knee damage/pain.
I’d like to hear if I’m on the right track here. If you agree, how many interval sessions a week should I do?
i cannot give you advice on intervals or whatever, i but i would start very slow, some people even start at 4 minutes and work up from that, make sure you get an excellent pair of running shoes they will help your knees out alot, i got asics gel evolutions for $100.00 from http://www.roadrunnersports.com (you can send them back in 6 months and they will run tests on them to see where they wore and will recomend a better shoe for you if there is one available, thats pretty cool if you ask me. good luck i had great sucess with losing a lot of fat with HIIT (high intensity interval training) also had good results with the navy seal running program, but that is endurance stuff (up to 6 miles) and i think i lost a lot more muscle with that than i did with HIIT
I am no expert, but I think you are correct. Intervals and sprints are superior in my mind for both fitness and fat loss than long distance running. Plus it won’t chip away at the muscle you do have. There is an article somewhere here by Christian Thibodeau(sp?) about intervals/sprints offering three styles. I tried them all as well as the Tabata protocol with good results. I am a small guy however. I would suggest doing sprints or intervals once a week at first and 2 or 3 days of weighted walking(hills would be best). After a couple of weeks add another sprint/interval workout and lose a weighted walking workout. This way you will build up safely without aggravating joints. Plus, sprints and intervals can be very demanding for someone who doesn’t do them. The good thing is anaerobic capacity seems to improve pretty quickly. Also check out Mike Mahler’s High Octane Cardio. Its another fantastic way to get in great shape and lose fat. Also, there is no reason why you can’t lift weights as well. You don’t have to concentrate on adding mass, just do some to get the metabolism up and strengthen your muscles for the future workouts you are planning. Just my 2 cents.
I don’t think a fat guy should do sprints, especially not endurance runs. That’s too much stress on the joints. I think you should do The Tabata Method or HIIT on a stationary bike until you get into a somewhat decent shape. After that sprints are good.
Endurance runs however do not build serious muscle and bust up the joints. There’s no such thing as a marathon runner with any decent muscle.
I highly recommend Tabata. There’s an article about it here on T-mag. It takes only 4min (don’t be fooled by the simplicity!!) Do it two-three times a week with a lean non-bulking diet and it will work miracles. And pick a really light weight, you’ll know wwhat I mean when you try it.
I won’t speak directly to your sprinting question, but, rather, to the question of loosing fat and building muscle at the same time.
Studies have repeatedly shown that individuals who carry significant amounts of body fat loose little or no lean mass as they diet–even when the diet is very extreme.
Furthermore, years ago Dr. Scott Connelly demonstrated that, again for those carrying over about 10% body fat, you CAN loose body fat at the same time you build muscle. Your body fat reserves in essence pay the metabolic cost of building new muscle.
This is not merely theory, as I’ve done it many times. Don’t sell your body short! Always seek to add new muscle as you loose body fat.
Sstarling,
You are on the right track (pun intended) towards incorporating intervals. the link to CT’s “Running Man” program is below. It is very effective for fat loss, combined with an appropriate diet. I hope you are using something like T-Dawg 2.0. In addition, if you are a relative newbie to lifting, I believe that you can gain muscle while losing fat. I’ve done it myself using running man, T-Dawq and a routine focused on using compound movements, heavy weights and lower reps. A word of warning, I’m about the same age as you, I’d start slow with Running Man and the workouts. I’m more succeptible to injury than I was 20 years ago, and a lot slower in healing as well. My body has a harder time keeping up with my motivation. You might find Alpha Male and ZMA helpful in your recovery as well. Good luck.
old dogg