Am I working out too much to get ripped and cut?

tooheyz

Hi everyone,

I am relatively new here in the forums, and I will some advice/opinions from those with more experience.

First of all, my stats:
Height: 5"1 (153cm)
Weight: 115lbs
BF%: 24%

I am very active; currently doing t25 (HIIT cardio for 25 mins) 5 days a week, following by 30-40minute of lifting afterwards 5days a week. I spend every saturday doing yoga and very light cardio to stretch everything out. Sunday is rest day.

My goal is to be more ripped and cut, and have more definition in my mid section. I am currently losing about 0.5%bf per week, and weight is pretty much the same - I guess I am gaining more muscle mass from strength training.

My question is: should I be doing more or less cardio to achieve the ripped and cut look? Am I working out too much? I eat about 1500cals a day and eat back about 80% of all my exercise calories (I use a heart rate monitor to track cals burnt). I track all my food, and I am also on target with calories, with the occasion weekly splurge meal.

Thanks for your time guys.

JoRocka

How are you verifying losing percentage of body fat- but your weight isn't changing??

Really working to hard won't get you to cut- zoning in on your diet gets you the definition you want.

2nd HRM are not good for strength training- and really they are only accurate for long steady state distance- you probably aren't even getting an accurate reading from the HIIT session.

3rdly- unless you're exceptionally short- 1500 isn't enough food to build substantial mass on really- so I highly doubt your building substantial muscle.

tooheyz

Thanks for your reply. I have a scale which measures weight and bf%. I have been training for about 3 months now, and I have noticed I am getting stronger, and a little leaner in certain areas (by measurement).

I use my HRM for my HITT and usually burn about 300cals per session - most of these calories I eat back, which makes my daily total cals around 1800. No less.

I forgot to mention and that I am 28yo female

JoRocka

that's about what I maintain on- and i"m a bit bigger than you- I suspect you might be pushing into the potential bulk world- but barely. like that's the high end of your maintenance.

getting stronger =/= getting bigger muscles.

You can get stronger without putting on appreciable size (and that's a good thing- and totally normal) but putting on size as a woman is really hard to do.

secondly - scale isn't particularly accurate- taping yourself would be more accurate and visual tracking via pictures.

But if you're losing weight- and you're seeing definition then you're headed in the right direction.

dbmata

Be aware those scales can be gamed significantly by hydration level.

tmdpotts

If you lifting right after a 25min hit cardio I would rethink that. 25min of HIT should leave you almost unable to have the energy to walk to your car let alone life correctly for a full workout. Lift first and focus on the quality of your lifts and putting all your effort into it. A light 10 min warm up of cardio before and then if you have anything left then do some HIT at the end or on off days

Misshodge64

If you trying to ripped and not bulky in muscle mass. I would try not strength training so much. I would probably do more cardio but also increase my diet to 2000 to 2200. I am a lady and weight 113 pounds and I am just trying to get abs and I eat 1500 calories and I feel like I am starving and I don't work out as hard and intense as you. I would try slowly down and take a look at your body over next few weeks. I seen on YouTube the Hodgetwins suggested jumped rope. Just to be on safe side, also maybe cut back on protein if you take large amounts of it daily.