Lifting heavy /30 day shred question

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vickiaf
vickiaf Posts: 59 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
So I started out doing stronglifts 5x5 last week. I have finally come to realise that I need to maintain the muscle I have and not just rely on cardio to drop weight (and muscle)

So when people do 30 day shred they lose inches. Their weight stays the same or sometimes increases. Some people drop a few pounds. So am I right in thinking that this workout is "shredding" fat and preserving muscle? Similar but not to the same degree as heavy lifting? Or is there another reason for the inch loss with not much apparent weight loss?

I only ask as I am doing stronglifts from home and am running out of weight. I am ordering more but wondered if 30 day shred would be a good filler, or is it still essentially cardio and will burn fat and muscle?

Wow reading this back it sounds kind of complicated, any opinions?

Replies

  • Gunsentry
    Gunsentry Posts: 121 Member
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    If you are lifting heavy you will not lose muscle doing cardio on your off days, cardio on off days is conditioning.

    Fat loss is done in the kitchen.

    If you want to build muscle you need to be on a calorie surplus to feed the growth.

    So to answer your question: Lift heavy 3x per week will maintain your muscle mass.

    However once you get really heavy on SL you may find your progress stalling due to the cardio interfering with your recovery times.

    May want to look at a different program to allow progress and fat loss, 5\3\1 is a excellent program for cutting as it is highly configurable while keeping your main compound lifts with off days adding in your own conditioning while still progressing in your lifts and strength.
  • OwenEvan
    OwenEvan Posts: 34 Member
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    Cardio will not burn muscle unless you body has no calories and or fat stores to burn. With that said Cardio will also not help you build muscle but you should not throw out all cardio due to concern over loosing muscle.

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