Compound weight lifting and hiit for fat loss

sarahsamuels82

Hi all
For a few months, I have been lifting weights and have become a lot stronger.

Although I've seen subtle changes in shape, I don't seem to have shifted much fat. This is down to diet and the fact that I've done hardly any cardio.

Weight training has been with an upper lower split, including compound and isolation exercises.

To start to remove fat, I was thinking of changing my routine to something like this, to remove isolation movements and add hiit:

Day 1
Deadlifts
Barbell back squats
Split squats
Cardio Hiit for 15-20mins
Abs for 10 mins

Day 2
Bench press
Pull downs
Bent over rows
Shoulder press
Cardio Hiit for 15-20 mins

Day 3
30 mins cardio hiit

Then have a day off, then do it all again.

What do you think of this? Of course this will be combined with a good diet that includes 1g of protein for each lb of body weight.

My goal is to drop my body fat from 25% to around 18-20%. I'm female so this should give the more toned look I think!

jacksonpt

A couple of things jump out at me.

1) You're getting stronger - awesome!
2) if you aren't losing, I'd change your diet not your exercise.
3) 3 days of HIIT in a row plus heavy lifting on 2 of those days is going to punish your CNS. I'd work in more rest days, or at least more days with no lifting/hiit. Something like:
- Day 1 - Lift/HIIT
- Day 2 - rest or low intensity steady state cardio, or better yet, stretching and mobility work
- Day 3 - Lift/HIIT
- Day 4 - rest
repeat cycle
4) make sure your expectations are reasonable for how fast things will happen.

DavPul

I agree with Jackson. Do some form of regular cardio most days and keep the HIIT to 2, maaaaaybe 3 times a week for the time being. But mostly check your diet for weight loss.

sarahsamuels82

Ok thank you for the advice! Diet is fine most days, but my cheat meal on a Friday usually turns into a cheat weekend to be completely honest!

Would you say just sticking to the compound movements for my lifting is sufficient to preserve my muscle whilst in a calorie deficit? I want to cut out the isolation ones for time reasons more than anything, plus they always make me less inclined to do the cardio!

In terms of timing, I have just over 4 months to achieve this, which I feel is doable.

Thanks

DopeItUp

Ok thank you for the advice! Diet is fine most days, but my cheat meal on a Friday usually turns into a cheat weekend to be completely honest!

Would you say just sticking to the compound movements for my lifting is sufficient to preserve my muscle whilst in a calorie deficit? I want to cut out the isolation ones for time reasons more than anything, plus they always make me less inclined to do the cardio!

In terms of timing, I have just over 4 months to achieve this, which I feel is doable.

Thanks

I've done primarily (most of the time, ONLY) compound movements for the last few years and my weight loss/body composition results have been quite good. Isolation stuff is generally used more for an accessory movement or it's used for hypertrophy purposes.

dockholiday8234

Ok thank you for the advice! Diet is fine most days, but my cheat meal on a Friday usually turns into a cheat weekend to be completely honest!

Would you say just sticking to the compound movements for my lifting is sufficient to preserve my muscle whilst in a calorie deficit? I want to cut out the isolation ones for time reasons more than anything, plus they always make me less inclined to do the cardio!

In terms of timing, I have just over 4 months to achieve this, which I feel is doable.

Thanks

Sadly sometimes the cheat weekend or meal is enough to almost cancel out a whole weeks worth of work. Especially when you get to the stubburn fat areas. Give yourself a cheat hour. Or a cheat meal that you plan ahead. I like to do Friday or Saturday night dinner. I always like to do a heavy weight session or HIIT session on my cheat day. Careful that you are not going to hard during the week which is causing a little binge on the weekends. I use to do that when I was on some stupid 1200/cal/day diet while lifting heavy and hiit. Your metabolism just stalls out and you plateu.

Once you hit your setpoint or equilibirum point you really have to go hard to break that. The body does a fantastic job of keeping homeostasis.

jacksonpt's training advice is rock solid.

Try carb cycling. Carbs only on workout days. No carbs on off days, but replace those with fats. High protein everyday. This is what worked for me.

kitinboots

I'd like to add (and feel free to disagree) that if you can manage 30min of HIIT then the intensity isn't great enough. 20min should suffice (+adequate warm up and cool down)

sarahsamuels82

Thanks everyone.

Yes, the HIIT is really only 'intense' for 20 mins i guess, as that time includes a 5 min warm up and cool down.

What does 'hypertrophy' mean?

Going to try the one cheat night tonight, guess it becomes easier with more practice

mrsmaslin

if you are working the lower body correctly (heavy weights) then theres NO WAY you should be capable of doing any cardio after let alone HIIT. U should be crawling out of the gym after just the weights alone.

mumof5

i agree with mrsmaslin, on my lifting days - no way could i do cardio straight after. maybe i could but it would be no where near as intense as it could be if i separated the two. if you must do them on the same day make sure you have had recovery time and some good carbs and protein in between. i would only do hiit 2 times a week and maybe fill the gaps with steady state cardio and yoga.

kitinboots

Thanks everyone.

Yes, the HIIT is really only 'intense' for 20 mins i guess, as that time includes a 5 min warm up and cool down.

What does 'hypertrophy' mean?

Going to try the one cheat night tonight, guess it becomes easier with more practice

Hypertrophy is muscle growth.
There are 3 basic rep ranges to work in. If you lift up to 8x (to failure) it promotes muscular strength. 8-12x for hypertrophy (muscular growth) and >12x for muscular endurance. They overlap, but this is just a rough guide.
So basically if you want to increase the size if your biceps for example, you would want to lift a weight that you can't lift any more than 12 times. If you want to increase your strength you would lift a weight that you couldn't lift more than 8 times.

kitinboots

Reading back through the posts - you're probably aware of what I just said. I don't mean to tell you how to suck eggs or anything.

sarahsamuels82

Ok thank you, I appreciate the advice!

So for fat loss and just to preserve muscle then, I'm guessing that I just stick to the lower rep ranges to maintain strength. Is that right?

And it seems that sticking to the big compound exercises would also be fine?

Summer_Lunatic

Compound lifts are great! Add some thrusters, box jumps and burpees to your routine or to switch it up. Great cardio at the same time as these lifts can be quite draining.

star5785

bump

jacksonpt

Ok thank you, I appreciate the advice!

So for fat loss and just to preserve muscle then, I'm guessing that I just stick to the lower rep ranges to maintain strength. Is that right?

And it seems that sticking to the big compound exercises would also be fine?

Yes and yes. Personally, I add lunges, rows, pullups and dips to the big 4 lifts... those 8 lifts cover all the bases.

kdiamond

Agree with all. Cardio is completely unnecessary for fast loss, if you create a deficit in your diet you don't need it. That said, I do HIIT for 20 min 2x a week and that's all. I think HIIT is very effective for both cardio benefits and keeping weight in check. Of course, this is combined with a good diet and weight lifting 3x a week. I think your plan sounds like too much, scale down the cardio and focus more on your diet.

lknjohnson

bump good advice and info!

JNick77

A couple of things jump out at me.

1) You're getting stronger - awesome!
2) if you aren't losing, I'd change your diet not your exercise.
4) make sure your expectations are reasonable for how fast things will happen.

^ What he said

/end thread

sarahsamuels82

Thanks to everyone for all of your advice! You have given me more motivation to meet my goals with a more sensible approach

Lillyloooo

Bump

nomorebingesgirl2014

Bump