Confusion on Potential Workout Routines (Weights vs Circuit vs HIIT) and Frequencies

adam212121

Hi there,

Hew initial details about me:

• 40 year old male who used to be in athletic shape but am now in the obese range
• Diet isn't great and is the main thing I am working on now
• Have begun the process of dropping 500 calories intake per day with a combo of exercise and diet
• Can workout 4-5 times a week and currently take my dog for 30 minute walks 2-3 times a day

My confusion is the best type of exercise I can do to help supplement things further.

I’ve read in some spots that while in a calorie deficit I still should be lifting heavy weights so I don’t lose muscle and therefore it’s taken from fat. This makes sense to me but then I find I burn more calories with circuit/weight combo workouts, programs like T25/21 Day Fix . I thought about more HIIT based workouts but am not sure those are appropriate at my weight right now either.

One of the main reasons I ask is because I've already hurt my back doing barbell squats and trying to push myself (could be a case of bad form, too much weight, a combo, etc). I lift by myself at home so I don't have a trainer/spotter either so that's another risk.

If you are with me so far, i'm trying to find a good plan for my situation. I realize diet is #1, but I wonder if I do circuit based workouts while at my current weight range is best for me over the heavy lifting. Will I lose muscle is I am not lifting heavy but using free weights in a circuit?

Any suggestions are welcome.

Thanks!

AnnPT77

Let me get the easy opinion out of the way: HIIT is seriously over-hyped these days.

If it's actually high intensity (in a cardio sense), one can't do it for very long, especially if either new to exercise or resuming after a long hiatus. So, even if it burns more calories per minute, it probably burns fewer total calories than easier-paced cardio in practice (can't keep up that intensity for long, can keep up an easier pace longer, if one has the time). Fatigue from too-intense exercise can also bleed calorie burn out of daily life (we rest more, basically).

The EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, "afterburn") is reportedly twice that of lower intensity cardio, but that's on a percentage basis, so a higher percent of fewer total calories becomes underwhelming fast, considered as a specific number of calories rather than a percentage. If EPOC is 14% for HIIT, 7% for easier steady state, that's 7 calories difference for every 100 calories burned in the exercise: Whoop-tee-doo. There's probably more difference in my day from one apple being sweeter than the next, y'know? 😆 (Those percents are debated, but those are fairly common ones to see batted around, IME.)

If it's weight-circuit or fast bodyweight HIIT exercise, calories are often overestimated (heart rate monitors tend to overestimate it, among other issues), and because of fast movements and the potential for fatigue, form can suffer, and injury risk can increase as a result. Since you've already experienced injury, that might be especially relevant for you.

Certain types of HIIT have benefits, but more from a fitness standpoint than as a weight management adjunct, and HIIT is more manageable with some base fitness (from lower intensity things) in place first.

Other people will say different things about HIIT. That's just my opinion, based on modest credentials (coaching education, self-study).

I'm far from expert about muscle gain and muscle retention, but my basic understanding is that if we don't try to lose weight too fast, get good nutrition along the way, and do some kind of resistance exercise that is progressively a bit of a challenge, we're unlikely to lose very much useful lean mass at all. (Note that it's routine, even good, to lose some things that technically count as "lean mass" that our thinner body no longer requires, such as blood volume.) I'd also point out that "lift heavy" means "heavy enough to be challenging for you", more than it means "things that some random hyooooge bodybuilder lifts".

This is a good thread for finding a strength program:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1

There are more things in there that are strength, but not strictly "lifting", such as bodyweight routines - despite the title. That's also a good thread for follow-up questions.

adam212121

Thank you - I am on the same page with HIIT. My understanding of what it actually is - tends to be different from the different workouts I see labelled as HIIT.

As for the lift heavy - yes sorry I should have clarified that i'm only doing what challenges me and not what body builders can do. I'm trying to use progressive overload (or whatever it is called) to try and get better each time in some way (i.e. 1 more rep, 2.5 lbs extra, etc).

So provided I don't have a "spotter" when I am lifting like this, am I better off trying to burn extra supplemental calories lifting, or would I be better served using weights into a circuit / MRT type scenario?

Thanks!

AnnPT77

adam212121 wrote: »

Thank you - I am on the same page with HIIT. My understanding of what it actually is - tends to be different from the different workouts I see labelled as HIIT.

As for the lift heavy - yes sorry I should have clarified that i'm only doing what challenges me and not what body builders can do. I'm trying to use progressive overload (or whatever it is called) to try and get better each time in some way (i.e. 1 more rep, 2.5 lbs extra, etc).

So provided I don't have a "spotter" when I am lifting like this, am I better off trying to burn extra supplemental calories lifting, or would I be better served using weights into a circuit / MRT type scenario?

Thanks!

The only opinion I have, which I'll offer until someone with more knowledge comes along, is that my personal routine while losing was to add the form(s) of strength exercise I felt like doing to the strength-y cardio I already did (on water rowing when possible, machine rowing when necessary), plus do some indoor/outdoor cycling that's more purely cardio because I enjoy it, and it seemed to work out OK overall.

I think it's useful to do some strength and some cardio (for fitness), but if the goal is muscle *preservation* during loss, it seems like it should be OK just to make sure there's a continuing strength challenge (i.e. progressivity) in the exercise, alongside a sensibly moderate loss rate, and good nutrition (especially but not exclusively adequate protein). My rowing performance (among other things) suggests to me that I didn't lose any significant amount of muscle while losing fat, despite being a 59-60 year old woman at the time. Can't prove it, though.

If it were me, I'd do the strength exercise that seemed the most fun, and that keeps injury risk manageable. FWIW, I was also doing most strength work at home alone, at the time, so I get it.

sijomial

adam212121 wrote: »

Thank you - I am on the same page with HIIT. My understanding of what it actually is - tends to be different from the different workouts I see labelled as HIIT.

As for the lift heavy - yes sorry I should have clarified that i'm only doing what challenges me and not what body builders can do. I'm trying to use progressive overload (or whatever it is called) to try and get better each time in some way (i.e. 1 more rep, 2.5 lbs extra, etc).

So provided I don't have a "spotter" when I am lifting like this, am I better off trying to burn extra supplemental calories lifting, or would I be better served using weights into a circuit / MRT type scenario?

Thanks!

My simple definition of HIIT would be maximal effort, or close to maximal effort, short interval cardio interspersed with easy periods of recovery for a short overall workout duration. e.g. sprint/walk, cycle flat out/recover....
If someone claims to be doing HIIT for longer than 20 minutes my suspicion is that they are simply doing some form of intervals but not with the intensity of HIIT.
Where the remarkable calorie burning claims tend to come for is from people that don't understand that counting heartbeats isn't the same as burning calories - the further away from steady state you get the worse the estimate tends to be.

I'm fortunate that my exercise I can actually measure my total work so I know that a very intense interval session for me is fairly comparable to a moderate steady state effort for the same duration.
But that interval session would be exhausting, it needs more recovery, it might impact the rest of my day or my training next day. That need for recovery adds significantly to your overall training load/stress which can be a really bad match for someone also lifting weights intensely.
Whereas the moderate intensity workout isn't fatiguing, doesn't compromise recovery and the kicker is you can do it for far longer.

Rather than turn weight lifting into a form of hybrid weights/cardio I far prefer to keep the two elements separate. But there is enjoyment to factor in and that's very personal.

penguinmama87

I am not at maintenance yet, but I started out with a very basic bodyweight routine (complete newbie to lifting plus postpartum, didn't want to risk injury at ALL) and focusing on increasing step count. I also enjoy running, which has a pretty significant calorie burn, so I began doing that a little later. As I have gotten lighter I have found I have more energy and interest in other things, so only last month did I add in a dumbbell routine.

I'll be honest, I don't do the lifting for weight loss and I treat it as a separate thing - for me it's preservation of the muscle I already have and a trimmer appearance, plus just getting stronger. Combined with the weight loss that's ongoing, I have noticed improvements already in the look of my arms and upper back, but that's likely just that it's been exposed with fat loss and I already had it under there. I'm hoping to keep it, though! And I have improved in strength quite a bit in that time, which I understand is normal for beginners. It is fun, though, and I did not expect that I would enjoy it much - yet here we are!

kshama2001

Another vote for weight lifting for its own benefits, rather than just calorie burn.

Plus whatever form of cardio you like. I like mine outdoors and am glad the weather has gotten cooler.