HIIT and changing body composition.

lilsassymom
lilsassymom Posts: 407 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I don't need to lose any more weight (female, 31, 5'1, 115-116 lbs), but I'd still like to change my body composition a bit, i.e. reduce my body fat percentage. I would like to see my abs a bit better. I've read that HIIT is good for losing body fat, so I am just starting ZWOW by Zuzka (from Bodyrock). The average workout is 10-15 min + warmup/cool down. I have 2 questions:

1) Should I work with a calorie deficit or not? If so, small one? Big one? Or should I be eating at/close to maintenance?

2) How should I combine my other exercise with HIIT? I like lifting to ChaLean Extreme. Also, should I be doing more cardio on top of HIIT?

Following the calendar she provides in the dvd set I will be doing HIIT ZCUT 5x a week and I am thinking about adding ChaLean Extreme heavy lifting onto 2 or 3 of those days as well. Which leaves at least two total rest days a week. Will that be too much?

Thanks for any advice/info:flowerforyou:

Replies

  • blodk66
    blodk66 Posts: 60 Member
    I looked at this and it says the videos are 50 minutes and are yoga based. If it is the same one you are talking about?
  • lilsassymom
    lilsassymom Posts: 407 Member
    I looked at this and it says the videos are 50 minutes and are yoga based. If it is the same one you are talking about?
    These are the HIIT dvds I am talking about:
    http://www.amazon.com/ZCUT-Power-Cardio-Series-Dvd/dp/B00AY5JB92/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1365128157&sr=8-1&keywords=zcut
    They are definitely not yoga based and are definitely not longer than 30 minutes:smile: .
  • lilsassymom
    lilsassymom Posts: 407 Member
    I guess basically it doesn't matter what workouts I am doing if my goal is still to lose body fat, correct? How do I tone up/lose body fat? Eat at a deficit? Eat at/close to maintenance? I am down to the weight range I want to be, but I still want to tone up....thanks:flowerforyou: .
  • dixiewhiskey
    dixiewhiskey Posts: 3,333 Member
    Add lifting + HIIT will really help your goals. Days you do lifting, eat more. Days that you don't, eat at a deficit. Or you could embark on a period of bulking (eating more, pref protein sources while lifting to gain muscle mass) then a period of cutting where you eat a deficit
  • upgetupgetup
    upgetupgetup Posts: 749 Member
    If you're doing HIIT anywhere close to how it's done in the studies, time it to work with lower body lifting you're doing (bc it is probably relying on your quads & hams). You could do *intervals* (probably not HIIT) the same day as squats and deadlifts. Otherwise, leave 48 hrs in between.
  • upgetupgetup
    upgetupgetup Posts: 749 Member
    I don't need to lose any more weight (female, 31, 5'1, 115-116 lbs), but I'd still like to change my body composition a bit, i.e. reduce my body fat percentage. I would like to see my abs a bit better. I've read that HIIT is good for losing body fat, so I am just starting ZWOW by Zuzka (from Bodyrock). The average workout is 10-15 min + warmup/cool down. I have 2 questions:

    1) Should I work with a calorie deficit or not? If so, small one? Big one? Or should I be eating at/close to maintenance?

    2) How should I combine my other exercise with HIIT? I like lifting to ChaLean Extreme. Also, should I be doing more cardio on top of HIIT?

    Following the calendar she provides in the dvd set I will be doing HIIT ZCUT 5x a week and I am thinking about adding ChaLean Extreme heavy lifting onto 2 or 3 of those days as well. Which leaves at least two total rest days a week. Will that be too much?

    Thanks for any advice/info:flowerforyou:

    If you want your abs to show you have to lose body fat. If your body fat goes down your weight will go down, you won't shift muscle to fat at a 1 to 1 ratio. Since you have been working out for a while i wouldn't even expect you to put on any mass, so it would be all fat loss for you.

    HIIT is more convenient in terms of time, that's all. If you burn 300 calories doing HIIT compared to 300 calories doing low intensity. Calorie burn is the same. In a 24hr period you burn the same amount of fat.
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15052277

    Yes you need a calorie deficit, how much? It depends on your body fat. This will set you up
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/943139-weight-loss-cheat-sheet-ipoarm


    Everything your mentioning, ALL THE WORK OUTS are just justifying a calorie deficit. Have some cardio and some resistance training and call it a day.

    Yeah that's true, sorry. Zuzana does intervals, I think ChaLean is more like metabolic workouts. There shouldn't be a problem doing both if you're healthy and conditioned, even on the same day.

    But agree with Pu_239, heavy lifting + regular cardio
  • lilsassymom
    lilsassymom Posts: 407 Member
    Thank you everyone:flowerforyou: .

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