DANGEROUS WORKOUT FADS

[pw5470]

Sounds like your on the right track overall. You may stretch out your cardio even if it eats into your weight training time if slimming down is more of a priority than adding muscle. Cardio is far more effective at burning calories than weight training.

Unfortunately there is no magic bullet for belly fat. (Or any specific area of body fat for that matter). Fat comes and goes from whatever areas at whatever rate your body determines. All of the products that claim to do otherwise are BS. Just keep on burning more calories than you consume, and you'll get there.

Cut down on beer - that seems to help.

Thanks! Not much of a beer drinker, more mixed drinks so I have been cutting down on those or using sugar free mixes when possible. May try to do some more cardio, ideally would like to build more muscle and slim down at the same time but doesn't seem to work all that well. May have to focus on slimming down first and then get work more on building muscle.

A few years ago I went from 230 down to 160 and that was all cardio and calorie counting. I think I did it too fast without trying to gain muscle and was skinny but still had belly fat. Got lazy over the last year and went up to 180 in Jan. Joined a new gym and dropped down to about 173 or so since then, mainly hitting the weights and watching calories. Just started doing some HIIT cardio about 2 weeks ago about 3-4 times a week. Will up that to 5 times a week and still lift weights 3-4 times hopefully. I'll get there again, just hate the stubborn belly fat.

 

[jbj]

Sorry to hijack Howie but can I ask for your advice? What do you know or recommend for building muscle and losing fat? I lift weights 3 to 4 times a week and do about 20 mins of HIIT cardio after lifting. I have upped my protein intake a lot and try to stay around 1600-1900 calries a day. Noticed increased muscle mass but having a hard time getting rid of my belly fat.

EDIT: I've just seen that you've only started the HIIT over the past 2 weeks, give it another 2 and see how it goes before you take switch things up. I tend to find that it's between the 2-3 week mark that i start noticing gains when I switch stuff up.

I'm not an expert by any means but I do read a lot of health and fitness stuff and can only advise on what I've seen to work.

The long and short of it is, just like women tend to store fat in their hips and ass, men store theirs in their stomach, neck and face so those are the last places we lose the fat last. My arms, back, legs and shoulders are in pretty good shape just now but I've still got a bit of baby fat around my gut because I like the booze. I'm makign slow gains on it and will get there but it's really a waiting game, you've just got to keep at it.

What will help:

If you're looking for serious abs then you need to work them out too. There's a tonne of ab exercises online just make sure you hit the 4 main groups 3 times a week.

Also your diet plays a huge part. As I said, I like my beer too much hence why it's the one area I struggle to make full gains with. You want a low fat diet and I've dropped my carb intake recently (not atkins like but dropped a good bunch of it) and I've been really impressed with the added definition I've got in my arms, chest and stomach. I'm only talking 2 weeks too and since I've not 100% cut carbs out, I'm not craving them or low on energy so maybe try that.

As far as calorie intake goes, I don't really watch mine that much, some days I'm probably around 1300 some I'm well over 2000 and I've never noticed much difference in results week to week. What does matter is how you're getting those calories. You could take in 1600 calories a day every day but if you're getting it from coke and mars bars then you'll still be "flabby" as in you'll be a skinny soft bodied guy.



For building muscle as in gaining mass, you want to keep your range between 6-10 reps per set and I mean until failure. If you get to 10 and it's a struggle but you can go on for a few more, up the weight.

and try to switch the workouts for each muscle group every few weeks to stop plateauing.

Maybe try alternating lifting and HIIT cardio days so you can do say 45-60 minutes (I know that's a lot for HIIT but fat and muscle loss is all about calories burned v calories taken in...) plus doing high intensity cardio after lifting might actually reduce the gains you make when lifting.

Are you doing your HIIT on a treadmill? I find running outside is a lot better for gaining a burn even though I'm more of a middle distance jogger than a high intensity runner.

 

[jbj]

i'm 180. i need to be 160. totally out of shape, so baby steps. but i'm also incredibly uncoordinated. so it makes things like the squat thrusts hilariously bad.

essentially, i know what i have to do. i need to move. every day, rain or shine. i just hate running.

Mix up your cardio.

I really need to be in the mood for running. If I'm not I won't do it so I need some form of cardio. That's where the bike comes in (if we got there weather I'd ride it 365) failing that I'll crack out the skipping ropes or something else to get the heart pumping.

Weight loss is really just a game of perseverance. You just need to keep going and when you fall off the wagon which we all do, you need to have the mentality of, well i had a crap week / weekend but I'm going to get right back into it today instead of, bah this week is a write off, I'll start it up again next week because it makes it that much harder.

 

[pw5470]

EDIT: I've just seen that you've only started the HIIT over the past 2 weeks, give it another 2 and see how it goes before you take switch things up. I tend to find that it's between the 2-3 week mark that i start noticing gains when I switch stuff up.

I'm not an expert by any means but I do read a lot of health and fitness stuff and can only advise on what I've seen to work.

The long and short of it is, just like women tend to store fat in their hips and ass, men store theirs in their stomach, neck and face so those are the last places we lose the fat last. My arms, back, legs and shoulders are in pretty good shape just now but I've still got a bit of baby fat around my gut because I like the booze. I'm makign slow gains on it and will get there but it's really a waiting game, you've just got to keep at it.

What will help:

If you're looking for serious abs then you need to work them out too. There's a tonne of ab exercises online just make sure you hit the 4 main groups 3 times a week.

Also your diet plays a huge part. As I said, I like my beer too much hence why it's the one area I struggle to make full gains with. You want a low fat diet and I've dropped my carb intake recently (not atkins like but dropped a good bunch of it) and I've been really impressed with the added definition I've got in my arms, chest and stomach. I'm only talking 2 weeks too and since I've not 100% cut carbs out, I'm not craving them or low on energy so maybe try that.

As far as calorie intake goes, I don't really watch mine that much, some days I'm probably around 1300 some I'm well over 2000 and I've never noticed much difference in results week to week. What does matter is how you're getting those calories. You could take in 1600 calories a day every day but if you're getting it from coke and mars bars then you'll still be "flabby" as in you'll be a skinny soft bodied guy.



For building muscle as in gaining mass, you want to keep your range between 6-10 reps per set and I mean until failure. If you get to 10 and it's a struggle but you can go on for a few more, up the weight.

and try to switch the workouts for each muscle group every few weeks to stop plateauing.

Maybe try alternating lifting and HIIT cardio days so you can do say 45-60 minutes (I know that's a lot for HIIT but fat and muscle loss is all about calories burned v calories taken in...) plus doing high intensity cardio after lifting might actually reduce the gains you make when lifting.

Are you doing your HIIT on a treadmill? I find running outside is a lot better for gaining a burn even though I'm more of a middle distance jogger than a high intensity runner.

Thanks for the reply, I really appreciate the good advice. I think I will do the HIIT on alternate days with my lifting and increase the time. I do it on a treadmill as it easier on my knees and feet than running outside. Will try to mix it up and do some outside running. I have a treadmill at home and just got done with a 30 min run, not all of it was HIIT.

We have been much better about what we are eating, hardly anything processed, lean meats and veggies and whole grains. Beer isn't a problem for me, even cut of diet sodas and drinking lots of water and green tea. Do need to cut back on carbs though.

Will give it some more time, I think I will see better results when I change to cardio only and weights only days.

Thanks again!

 

[jbj]

Switching the weights and cardio on seperate days should help. Doing high intensity cardio after weights can limit your muscle gains. Aside from that, if you've really hit the weights, you won't be able to give 100% on your HIIT straight after. Nothing wrong with some short light cardio though.

I've just cut out diet soda / anything with aspertame in it last week so all I'm drinking is water, my protein shakes, light cranberry juice and the odd black tea or coffee with no sugar. I already feel better. It's like when you cut the booze out of your diet, after a while you just feel great and more healthier, in a better mood, have more energy etc...

I have a medical condition where I don't retain water as well as I should so I need to drink a tonne anyway. What I do is take a 2 litre bottle of it to work and drink it throughout the day (that'll usually last me to lunch) and that's me already met the suggested amount of 8 glasses. Then at home I fill my shaker (500 mls) and keep it around for when I want a swig instead of going to the fridge and fancying something bad for me.

I don't really make a point of doing it but drinking a glass or 2 of water before meals will fill you up and make you eat less too if portion control is an issue.

I don't think you need to go nuts on cutting out the carbs btw. It is our main type of fuel after all, if you're looking to gain muscle as well as lose fat you literally NEED them. Cutting them out completely is a fad that won't produce any long term results. I just have a chicken salad for lunch now instead of a sammich and don't have as much chips, potatoes, pasta or whatever else I'm having for dinner and it's doing the trick.