Whats up everyone-first off, this site is ILLLL! Anyway I wanted to get some opinions on my routine, as I fear I may be overdoing it. I’m pushin about 195, slightly under 6’. I have a pretty unsightly gut, but have worked out on and off in the past so I do have fair muscular development…I am on the verge of starting Ian King’s 12 weeks to super strength, phase I…I was wondering if 7-days a week of cardio (40 mins) in addition to a 4day a week weightlifting routine and low-cal diet would be messing me up rather than helping me. My goal is to shed the fat and get a bigger more ripped look…I hate cardio quite a bit, but am willing to do anything to burn this fat…thanks yall
you might very well be able to handle that kind of volume without losing any muscle along the way. i do much more than that at times. but then again i have been doing high volume cardio for years now and am used to it. just start out slow. keep close tabs on your strength. it is normal to drop a bit in both lifting volume and strength a first, so don’t mistake the normal lag and decrease in muscle volume for muscle loss. you will have to learn to how YOU react to this kind of program. you will be much more pleased with your overall fitness level in the long run by adding consistent cardio training at whatever volume you end up choosing. good luck. kevo
But what is the purpose of all this cardio? Is your bodyfat percentage that out of whack? I would really work on lifting hard and SUPPLEMENT with cardio. As in, NOT 7-days a week, but begin with 3 or 4-days a week. There is a really good thread here on this forum regarding aerobic/anaerobic training, called something like “what are you burning…” I suggest you take a gander at that. However I am someone who will occasionally add 15-minutes of rowing at the end of a weight training session, just for something different. But that’s like, one out of every 4 or 5 workouts (and I weight train 3-4 times a week, 30-minutes max).
well i’m not sure what my exact body fat percentage is. what i am certainly sure of is the spare tire i sport around my waist and miscellaneous fat deposits elsewhere. i hide my weight well, and like i said have some developed muscles and am fairly strong for my age (21). my biggest concern was whether 7days a week cardio + low calorie diet would be counterproductive in any way. i checked out most of the diets on this site, but they seem to take one resource i don’t have: money…i’m just a poor college student…i don’t have the funds to buy flax oil and all these other things from GNC…i had to save up just to buy a bottle of “xenadrine” to help me on my weightloss journey hahah. in any case, i’m pushin 195 now (down, actually, from 205) and hope to make it to 175 by the summer. im gonna continue taking this supplement, eating relatively scarcely, doin cardio 7xweek and workin out i guess and hope for the best-unless anyone thinks thas the wrong way to go about it, or theres somethin better (and equally cheap to do).
If you are willing to reform your eating habits, then you probably do not even need cardio to lose bodyfat with Ian King’s program. It will kickstart your metabolism by the amount of muscle mass you should gain, all things being relative. Too much cardio will rob your muscles of valuable nutrients they need to grow and get stronger. If you are going to do Ian’s routine, keep the cardio to a minimum or you may find yourself smaller and weaker rather than bigger and stronger. Good luck!