cardio- thoughts?

Dave198lbs

As your gym partner I have seen you make really great progress so far! I am glad you have gotten out of your plateau. But you just recently changed your diet to consuming healthier options, reduced some of your cheating, and reduced how much your drinking. I think in 3 weeks you will start to see the cutting, just give it time! As far as lowering your calories I think you should do the opposite. Since we are weight training and doing HIIT. I have actually read many things from girls in a similar situation as you that upped their calories after they werent seeing the results they wanted and they actually ended up loosing more weight by eating more. You have been consuming about the same amount of calories (which has always been under 1640- your estimated daily intake) for quite some time now. Your metabolism WILL start to adjust to that and that is what causes the plateaus. My recommendation is stick with the lower carbs (rotating with 1-2 high carb days a week for the next 3 weeks) and UP your calories! As far as the cardio Just stick with the HIIT, switching up the intervals, try the Super 8's, continue with the stair stepper and incline walking on the treadmill. Also add in Plyo's. Too much cardio when you are trying to build muscle and loose body fat can be a bad thing, so dont over do it! No more than 60 mins a day (especially since you are doing the circuit training right now) You have to factor that in as cardio as well!

Thats where I run into problem with the calories. If I up them then, up goes my carbs. I can't seem to find a happy medium with keeping them down. When I do up my calories, I am way to full. I feel miserable. I tried that for awhile and it just didnt seem to work for me. Although I may not have given it enough time for my body to adjust but I wasnt feeling good.

have you discovered the wonderful world of cheese? my favorite is cave aged gruyere...OMG...awesome...and good fat and protein....so many cheeses out there...skip the low or no fat american stuff...love cheese!

angied80

Ill give it a go but if I start getting fat, you have to do 100 burpees in a row. Without a water break. :happy:

Wow, you are at a lot of protein already. Not too much though.

Usually it's 1g per lb of lean body mass, not just weight. So you already are hitting that, excellent.

With that level of activity, it may indeed be the cal's in general are too low.

Since you gave your BF%, age, weight, I looked at your BMR estimate that uses BF% instead of height.
http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/CalRequire.html

Says 1529.

So you are well above that. So that leaves the calculation of maintenance calories potentially being off, depending on how active your body is outside of the specific workouts. So that site allows you to estimate that too.

And then your exercise burn calories could be off also. You could be eating back too much, or not eating back enough. In which case your exercise burn could be pushing your deficit below your BMR, causing metabolism to slow down to match. Not a good thing.

Thanks. Ill have to check ths out! I appreciate everyones help!

nick1109

Its all about context here. If you want to be a long-distance runner and see continued improvement, you must run more than 30 minutes at a time and you must do it frequently. However if you want to burn fat and improve physical fitness, then 30+ minutes of cardio is not the best use of your time. You are better off doing resistance training and high intensity intervals. But if cardio keeps your more motivated, better that than nothing!

Agree with this. Training for a specific sport that requires endurance you obviously need to train more than 30 mins, although some short sharp interval sessions will help too. For the purpose of fat loss and retaining muscle HIIT under 30 mins and a good diet is the key with a well balanced structured weight training routine at the right intensity

doughnutwretch

Its all about context here. If you want to be a long-distance runner and see continued improvement, you must run more than 30 minutes at a time and you must do it frequently. However if you want to burn fat and improve physical fitness, then 30+ minutes of cardio is not the best use of your time. You are better off doing resistance training and high intensity intervals. But if cardio keeps your more motivated, better that than nothing!

Oh and I am in marathon training and have actually gotten stronger because I always lift weights before I run, and I have upped my protein intake to prevent muscle loss. I've definitely burned fat without losing muscle in recent weeks.

This. Your body is still in motion and still burning calories, but unless you are training for something or wanting to set a personal goal, 20-30 minutes is adequate.

Lifting before cardio is the best option if you're going to combine because lifting requires the use of your glycogen stores. If you do it the other way around, you'll see strength depletion. I typically do 20-25 minutes of HIIT on the treadmill after lifting or 30-60 minutes of cardio on non-lifting days. 60 minutes isn't usually intentional. I start playing basketball or volleyball and lose track of time. My personal preference.

Azdak

Funny, I increased my strength levels by 80%--while losing 60lbs in five months and gaining 5-8lbs of muscle --and I have never, ever lifted weights before doing cardio. In fact I have hit PBs for bench press and squat after doing "performance" AT cardio workouts lasting 45-60 min. And I never ate more than 20% of my total calories from protein, either.

Wonder what I could have done if I hadn't been so "depleted"?

heybales

Lifting before cardio is the best option if you're going to combine because lifting requires the use of your glycogen stores. If you do it the other way around, you'll see strength depletion.

You would have to do a whole lot of cardio to deplete the glycogen stores enough to effect weight lifting, like 2 hrs or more at decent pace.
That is the "wall" for untrained marathoners, where the glucose has gotten low enough that muscle breakdown occurs to make more glucose so fat can still be burned.

Besides, the energy for weight lifting is the ATP in the muscle cells, and that is replenished after you stop and some seconds to pause.

If you did a lot of HIIT (which is not cardio) first, then I could see a problem, because you will just be tired from stressing the muscles the same way weight would.

Dave198lbs

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nick1109

If you did a lot of HIIT (which is not cardio) first, then I could see a problem, because you will just be tired from stressing the muscles the same way weight would.

How is HIIT not cardio? The term cardio in the exercise world is defined as an exercise that elevates the heart rate. If HIIT is done as its suppose to be it should be done at 'high intensity' which would normally see the heart rate well over 160bpm in most cases

CalJur

In the words of Cuba Gooding Jr. "show me the money." What actual study or empirical data is this based upon? This he say/she say/they say is not helpful. Not the first time such things are said without any real support whatsoever.

REDGIA

I have been with my trainer who is now my friend and she looks amazing. She teaches 60 min cardio kickboxing, 60 mins of strength training classes, and so on. We have become quite close over the past few months and she has told me u need a min of 30 cardio at least every other day. You are not supposed to train the same muscle group 2 days in a row. That is because u break down the muscle when you train and it takes at least 24 hrs for it to rebuild to a stronger leaner muscle. I have been overtraining, so I have actually spent less time working out and notice that my body is responding better when I do. Im starting to lose more inches! Thought that the more you did the better, but not always. You have to find your balance. When Im not taking her classes I try to do at least 5 miles on the bike everyday. I do it to keep stress levels down

nick1109

I have been with my trainer who is now my friend and she looks amazing. She teaches 60 min cardio kickboxing, 60 mins of strength training classes, and so on. We have become quite close over the past few months and she has told me u need a min of 30 cardio at least every other day. You are not supposed to train the same muscle group 2 days in a row. That is because u break down the muscle when you train and it takes at least 24 hrs for it to rebuild to a stronger leaner muscle. I have been overtraining, so I have actually spent less time working out and notice that my body is responding better when I do. Im starting to lose more inches! Thought that the more you did the better, but not always. You have to find your balance. When Im not taking her classes I try to do at least 5 miles on the bike everyday. I do it to keep stress levels down

Again it depends on what context. Why must you do minimum 30 mins cardio every other day? To simply lose weight a diet alone will suffice or even doing HIIT and weight training lasting less than 30 mins per session 3-4 days a week is fine effcetive with a strict diet (especially for somebody with a busy schedule).

On the flip side you could say 30 mins every other day is no where near enough, for marathon or long distance cycle athletes

heybales

How is HIIT not cardio? The term cardio in the exercise world is defined as an exercise that elevates the heart rate. If HIIT is done as its suppose to be it should be done at 'high intensity' which would normally see the heart rate well over 160bpm in most cases

In the context of the comment of the 3 types of exercises mentioned throughout the post, cardio, weight lifting, and intervals (HIIT). I understood she meant aerobic because HIIT was mentioned separately from that.

heybales

she has told me u need a min of 30 cardio at least every other day. You are not supposed to train the same muscle group 2 days in a row. That is because u break down the muscle when you train and it takes at least 24 hrs for it to rebuild to a stronger leaner muscle.

If this was true, the Tour de France riders would have no muscle to continue after probably the 3rd day.

Cardio, what in these posts seems to refer to something aerobic, can easily be done every day. Because it doesn't really build more muscle, because you don't really tear down like you are describing.

That is weight lifting that damages muscle, and then it grows back stronger. Unless you come back in again.

You can get stronger muscle from cardio, if you know how to push yourself really hard, that could use a break the next day, but not required. Otherwise you are just training your aerobic system better, and getting gains that way.

Now, you can overtrain for sure, especially if diet is too low and body isn't getting enough energy. Or you aren't sleeping enough, or not eating good foods. And the body does need a break, even from cardio, especially if not trained on doing slow days for recovery.