HIIT cardio and protein shake?

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Hi all,

New to the forum, first post here! Okay, I am trying to burn fat and try and build a bit of muscle. I'm happy with my size and weight, just want to get rid of a few round edges!!

So I've really intensified my cardio, always be a keen runner, over past while I have been doing long distances at a steady pace and lost a nice bit of weight. I'm now starting to do HIIT and I'm doing some resistance training and some core workouts (sit-ups, crunches and push-ups etc) but not really doing many free weights as I'm mainly looking to tone and build muscle in my stomach.

I was mainly wondering that after doing a general workout which includes about:

40 minutes HIIT,
3 sets of Arm Press,
3 sets of Leg Press,
2 sets of 20 push ups,
2 sets of 20 sit-ups,
2 sets of abdominal leg raises,
2 minute plank

Should I take a protein shake after this to help build the muscle or would it be counter-intuitive to losing weight?

Any help would be appreciated, so many contradicting views out there!!

Cheers,

Damian.

Replies

  • vertor81
    vertor81 Posts: 17
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    If your diet during the is not good enough then you won`t get the results you want.
    If you want to gain mucle you have to ensure a constant frow of protein during the day not only via a shake after the workout.

    If you want to het 6pack abs then you should add more ab exercises like crunves etc. because the list you provided below is rather a leg and arm workout.
  • The__Deflator
    The__Deflator Posts: 13 Member
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    If the shake fits into your macros, fit it in! Losing weight is all about living in a calorie deficit and patience. You can achieve a caloric deficit either with a good diet or a mediocre diet and hard training, but believe me the first one is a lot easier to achieve (having a bad diet cannot be outmatched by hard work though).

    @ vertor82: If you wanna have sixpack abs, you need to get low on your bodyfat, doing crunches and other ab exercises will not reduce the fatstores on that specific area. Just stay low on calories and be patient!!
  • Coltybhoy
    Coltybhoy Posts: 2
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    Yeah cool, I'll stick to my HIIT and my diet. I eat around 1300 calories a day on average and burn about 700 or so in a work-out so should be okay on the calorific deficit.

    At what point though should I start stopping to try and burn fat and instead build muscle? Or should I carry on doing cardio and also start doing weights and continue with crunches etc? Would building muscle and trying to burn fat counter each other?

    Regards,

    Damian
  • vertor81
    vertor81 Posts: 17
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    @Crosbyv2 I know that but my understanding is that our friend was targeting to build ab muscles and thus my post. I do not think a single shake after a workout is enough.

    @Coltybhoy don`t tell me you eat a nett of 600 calories a day :|
    You should do both if you want to build up muscle mass in other case you`ll lose muscle as well.