How to mix cardio and strength training for fat loss
stephaniejmnz
Posts: 30 Member
I was wondering if there was an effective method to mixing cardio and weight lifting that helps lose fat, while maintaining a little muscle. I know everyone says that you have to pick either or, but I've been hearing mixed responses lately.
I'm not looking to lose a lot of weight, the only fat that's sticking to me is my belly fat. I've seen muscle gains in my legs and arms and back, but my belly fat goes nowhere. I am currently doing strength training (I.e squats, deadlifts, barbell rows etc) with no cardio 3x a week. I am afraid of cardio because I don't want to lose the little muscle I've gained, but I'm also frustrated that my belly fat doesn't decrease
I'm not looking to lose a lot of weight, the only fat that's sticking to me is my belly fat. I've seen muscle gains in my legs and arms and back, but my belly fat goes nowhere. I am currently doing strength training (I.e squats, deadlifts, barbell rows etc) with no cardio 3x a week. I am afraid of cardio because I don't want to lose the little muscle I've gained, but I'm also frustrated that my belly fat doesn't decrease
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Replies
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As long as you maintain what you're doing with strength training, cardio won't make you lose muscle.0
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photolovr12 wrote: »As long as you maintain what you're doing with strength training, cardio won't make you lose muscle.
Depends on the type of cardio done actually.
http://www.biolayne.com/contest-prep/best-form-of-cardio-for-bodybuilding/0 -
joleneee421 wrote: »A calorie deficit regardless of exercise is what will allow you to lose fat because your body will turn for itself for fuel. I enjoy cardio. It's what clears my head and relieves stress, so I do that 5-6 times a week. But I also do strength training 3-4 times a week so I retain the muscle I already have. Unfortunately you can't spot reduce. Which sucks because I would love to get rid of these saddle bags and love handles. The fat around your midsection will come off eventually based on genetics and your body type.
all this….0 -
photolovr12 wrote: »As long as you maintain what you're doing with strength training, cardio won't make you lose muscle.
nope…
if you are in a calorie deficit and doing cardio and strength training you are going to lose muscle….it is inevitable….0 -
Okay, I have no science, just personal anecdote. I do 10-20 minutes of cardio as a warmup, then strength training for an additional 40-60 minutes 5 or 6 times a week. This has been my routine since I started exercising to lose weight back in December. I strive for a 45% protein macro daily, but usually call it a win if I hit 35%. I have lost 20 pounds (ish) and am definitely increasing my lifting ability. Some of my lifts are only 2.5# more (iso-lat incline machine), while my thigh lifts have increased about 30#. I can do a pushup now, where I could not when I started. In my body, it seems possible to be in calorie deficit and build muscle at the same time.0
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Ms_LisaKay wrote: »Okay, I have no science, just personal anecdote. I do 10-20 minutes of cardio as a warmup, then strength training for an additional 40-60 minutes 5 or 6 times a week. This has been my routine since I started exercising to lose weight back in December. I strive for a 45% protein macro daily, but usually call it a win if I hit 35%. I have lost 20 pounds (ish) and am definitely increasing my lifting ability. Some of my lifts are only 2.5# more (iso-lat incline machine), while my thigh lifts have increased about 30#. I can do a pushup now, where I could not when I started. In my body, it seems possible to be in calorie deficit and build muscle at the same time.
Strength and building muscle are different things. You can get stronger by utilizing your existing muscle better. Many threads on these forums discussing losing fat and building muscle and under certain circumstances can happen at the same time, but for the leaner and/or more trained person...generally, not going to happen. But again, strength gains can happen for quite some time.
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Ms_LisaKay wrote: »Okay, I have no science, just personal anecdote. I do 10-20 minutes of cardio as a warmup, then strength training for an additional 40-60 minutes 5 or 6 times a week. This has been my routine since I started exercising to lose weight back in December. I strive for a 45% protein macro daily, but usually call it a win if I hit 35%. I have lost 20 pounds (ish) and am definitely increasing my lifting ability. Some of my lifts are only 2.5# more (iso-lat incline machine), while my thigh lifts have increased about 30#. I can do a pushup now, where I could not when I started. In my body, it seems possible to be in calorie deficit and build muscle at the same time.
Strength and building muscle are different things. You can get stronger by utilizing your existing muscle better. Many threads on these forums discussing losing fat and building muscle and under certain circumstances can happen at the same time, but for the leaner and/or more trained person...generally, not going to happen. But again, strength gains can happen for quite some time.
this…
strength gains do not equal muscle gains….
what you have done is make your existing muscle more efficient.0 -
stephaniejmnz wrote: »I was wondering if there was an effective method to mixing cardio and weight lifting that helps lose fat, while maintaining a little muscle. I know everyone says that you have to pick either or, but I've been hearing mixed responses lately.
I started out like probably everybody else by walking... a lot. It helped strip fat off like crazy in the beginning. I lost enough weight that a few months ago that I decided to add running to my weekly routine.
It was a mistake. I continued to loose weight as I was still eating at a caloric deficit, but running (or any longer-duration medium-intensity cardio like running) pretty much destroyed my ability to recover properly from weight lifting. I also noticed that for the month or so I was running that the rate at which I was shedding weight went up a bit, but I began start to loose raw strength. (my condititioning was great!).stephaniejmnz wrote: »I'm not looking to lose a lot of weight, the only fat that's sticking to me is my belly fat. I've seen muscle gains in my legs and arms and back, but my belly fat goes nowhere. I am currently doing strength training (I.e squats, deadlifts, barbell rows etc) with no cardio 3x a week. I am afraid of cardio because I don't want to lose the little muscle I've gained, but I'm also frustrated that my belly fat doesn't decrease
If your focus is simply to loose fat and spare muscle (pretty much my goal too), I'd just do lots of low-intensity cardio, lift like you mean it and milk what gains you can. Oh and eat TONS of protein.
The important thing is to find what works for you though. If you can get away with lots of cardio then go for it. I suggest simply adding some into your routine and see how you respond.
I'm going to continue to do what seems to be working for me. My "cardio" is at least 2 miles of brisk walking every single day, and an intense 10 minute jump-rope warmup before I touch the barbell. If I start running out of air while squatting or deadlifting and feel like I need to improve my conditioning, I'll do a couple of weeks of something "awesome" like hill sprints or prowler pushes after deadlifting. Basicly 10 minutes of something intense after squat/deadlifting training sessions that make me wanna puke.
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Strength and building muscle are different things. You can get stronger by utilizing your existing muscle better. Many threads on these forums discussing losing fat and building muscle and under certain circumstances can happen at the same time, but for the leaner and/or more trained person...generally, not going to happen. But again, strength gains can happen for quite some time.
this…
strength gains do not equal muscle gains….
what you have done is make your existing muscle more efficient.
Fair enough point. But does the point mean that if the OP incorporates cardio at all that they will then -lose- the muscle they have gained? That seems to be the fear, that any cardio incorporation will strip away muscle. Is this what you are saying?
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The Best cardio is as follows : running, cycling, swimming
RUNNING through these hoes
CYCLING through this pre workout
SWIMMING in *kitten*0 -
I always start up my training session with a 10 minute warm up on the treadmill, at a walk. My knees are terrible, so I can't run anymore. If I choose to, I can go back to the treadmill when my session is done with my trainer. I used to do water aerobics, but my feet were reacting to the pool chemicals, so I get my cardio by walking and rowing, mostly.0
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Ms_LisaKay wrote: »Strength and building muscle are different things. You can get stronger by utilizing your existing muscle better. Many threads on these forums discussing losing fat and building muscle and under certain circumstances can happen at the same time, but for the leaner and/or more trained person...generally, not going to happen. But again, strength gains can happen for quite some time.
this…
strength gains do not equal muscle gains….
what you have done is make your existing muscle more efficient.
Fair enough point. But does the point mean that if the OP incorporates cardio at all that they will then -lose- the muscle they have gained? That seems to be the fear, that any cardio incorporation will strip away muscle. Is this what you are saying?
Depends. There are many discussions on these forums about losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time, so since this has been discussed ad nauseum, I will let you do your own research. But the gist of it is, if you are new to lifting or other stimuli that you are not used to doing and depending on how much bodyfat you have, you can gain muscle in a caloric deficit (Google Lyle McDonald and losing fat while gaining muscle for more scientific detailed explanation on these circumstances). Outside of this scenario, in a caloric deficit, your body is put into a both a hormonal state that is catabolic (one hand tied behind your back) and a energy deficit (second hand tied behind your back). To build muscle, there needs to be a surplus, because the key word here is "BUILD". You have nothing to build with. So at this point, your body does not care where it makes up the balance for its energy needs to be at equalibrium...fat or muscle (or glycogen...i.e.. Carbs). When you lift, you are stimulating your muscle, thus telling your body "hey, you need to spend time on this process of repair, because I use this, so it must be important." Thus as long as you don't go crazy with your calorie (energy) deficit, most of the balance of energy used will be fat. Again, notice I used the word, most. The less of a deficit you have (and provide proper muscle stimuli and adequate protein intake), the less muscle you potentially lose. The higher the deficit, the more muscle you potentially lose. So what is the answer...the answer has been found that to maximize the most muscle retention, only lose between .5-1% bodyweight on average weekly.
All of that to give a little context on your question about cardio, since cardio creates additional energy deficit. HIIT has been shown to burn the most fat, but because of its short duration, does not have as much impact on muscle.
http://www.biolayne.com/contest-prep/best-form-of-cardio-for-bodybuilding/
Just note, how you generally maintain as much muscle as you can is also the same as how you build muscle (just maybe not as much volume of work since you don't have the energy (calories) to do it).0 -
Ms_LisaKay wrote: »Strength and building muscle are different things. You can get stronger by utilizing your existing muscle better. Many threads on these forums discussing losing fat and building muscle and under certain circumstances can happen at the same time, but for the leaner and/or more trained person...generally, not going to happen. But again, strength gains can happen for quite some time.
this…
strength gains do not equal muscle gains….
what you have done is make your existing muscle more efficient.
Fair enough point. But does the point mean that if the OP incorporates cardio at all that they will then -lose- the muscle they have gained? That seems to be the fear, that any cardio incorporation will strip away muscle. Is this what you are saying?
If OP is eating in a deficit and continues to do cardio and strength training then yes, SOME muscle loss is inevitable.
IF op is eating at maintenance or n a surplus and doing cardio and strength training then the answer would be no …
at the end of the day muscle lost/maintained/gained is going to come down to calorie level = deficit/maintenance/surplus
at least that is my understanding…
I believe people say that cardio leads to muscle loss because it results in increased calorie burns, and if one does not make up for said calorie burns then they will lose muscle because the higher calorie burns put them in an energy deficit…
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Calisthenics.0
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