Lifting heavy stuff and putting it back down again

plantboy2

I'm currently trying to shed a bit of excess fat so am restricting calories and being all cardio, but in a few weeks I'm going to start lifting again and am looking for inspiration.

If you have done a programme recently that worked for you and want to share, I'd really appreciate it. I've done 5x5 Stonglifts and a couple of basic programmes from bodybuilding.com in the past and suppose a mixture of simplicity without getting too boring would be ideal. Any info on diet you used would be good too.

Thanks!

TheMrWobbly

Hi PB2, my PT was quite adamant not to go all out cardio. The best mix is to keep some weights going so you don't lose muscle weight and the burn comes off your fat. Cheers!

sijomial

All cardio isn't a good idea - lifting weights/resistance training is one of the three keys(*) for minimising loss of muscle along with the fat lost in a deficit.
It is far, far easier to retain muscle than lose it and have to gain it again.

* = The other two keys are moderate calorie deficit and adequate protein.

hippytee

Love bodybuilding.com , lady lifter here, back on it.

5Mack

Bb.com is the best. I use the app in the gym to track my workouts.

DoogCampbell

Hi, I'm also cutting right now, need to lose about another 5-7lbs in the next few weeks. I do this cut once a year really for summer. I just generally go lower carb, it drops the calories down (my protein intake is generally high anyway). I'll run in the summer but that's it for cardio, I ALWAYS keep my lifting going, even if its on reduced weights.

I started on stronglifts too. I stuck to it as written for about a year before I then started changing things. Since then I've hurt my back and recovered, had some surgery (not back related) and recovered. Overall I consider myself to be an intermediate lifter, I know I have to train more if I really want to be adding weight to the bar but at the moment life gets in the way and so 2 workouts a week is all I can manage. As such I do my own SL variant, only on 3x5 (although I do that for deadlift too) and try and work with the same progression rules. I supplement each main lift with an accessory (dumbell flys, straight leg deads, arnold press, rear delt rows) as well as ab work, arm work and pull/chin ups.

I think that if you have been lifting a while you should be considering what works, what doesn't and start to pull yourself a program together based on that. I know you;d get good feedback here for anything you posted. You probably know more than you think o why not start at what you want to achieve, what time you have and build up form there?