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Advice to drop body fat

D

domo87

New member
Hey guys,

i'm new to the forum but ive been doing weights for about 18 months now and definetly see the results. however i want to cut my body fat which is at 20% down to 12%. most of my fat is featured on the glutes and love handles (kind of odd for a bloke) and oviously a bit of a flabby gut.

i used to do 3 weights sessions per week but i've now cut that down to 2 weights but added two cardio sessions per week.

basically i really need advise in the type of cardio i should be doing to maximise fat loss. this is meant to be my current cardio routine

2kms on the rower (takes 9 mins)
15 sec sprints on the treadmill, 8 reps (takes 4 mins)
20sec sprint 10 sec recovery on the bike for 10 mins.

10 min rest and repeat

the thing is when i get to the excercise bike the lower part of my quads really ache rather than me feeling out of breath, will my body get used to this or should i push through the pain barrier.

another thing is diet, i've read on another post that it would be a good idea to have a journal to note the foods i eat and the workouts i complete. i'll be doing this.

any advice will be great,

cheers
 
Cardio is not the answer to fat loss. Go back to 3 or even 4 weight sessions per week and modify diet.

More stats required.
Weight, height, current diet, age, etc.
Thanks.
 
Shrek said:
Cardio is not the answer to fat loss. Go back to 3 or even 4 weight sessions per week and modify diet.

More stats required.
Weight, height, current diet, age, etc.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
iam not a trainer or any thing but cardio would have to be the best thing for fat loss i do 30min on the rower do about 4000 mtrs and then 30 min on the cross trainer with a full body weight session 3 times a week domo you need to do way more cardio then what you are doing.
set a gold get to it then set another one this what my trainer gets me to do and iam having great results
 
Cardio will initiate weight loss, muscle and fat, so if you want to be no muscular definition and be a skinny rake by all means do cardio, also a heavy leg session will burn more calories than 30 min cardio session.
Less cardio more weights.
 
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All for Shrek's advice! You don't want to lose the muscle that you have gained. Go back to three weight sessions a week. Keep your cardio to 2-3 sessions. Personally find that two interval sessions of 30 mins and one 45 at a medium pace work best. Saying that have also had great results with just doing three hardcore interval sessions at 20 mins. Find that skipping is great for this because it is bloody hard to skip for more than 20mins in one go. If you have good cardio fitness go the first one, if not, go for option two.

All the cardio in the world won't help you if your diet is bad, so make sure you get that sorted first. If you are lucky, the weight sessions and good diet might be enough.
 
gavin said:
iam not a trainer or any thing but cardio would have to be the best thing for fat loss i do 30min on the rower do about 4000 mtrs and then 30 min on the cross trainer with a full body weight session 3 times a week domo you need to do way more cardio then what you are doing.
Click to expand...

You would never see a competition BB doing all this cardio to get BF down. Depends on what physique you are after. To loose my 25kg, it took three weight sessions a week and easy cardio sessions for 30-45 mins. When I lost the weight and wanted to get cut, upped my cardio to 10 sessions a week0 20 mins HIIT in the mornings and 60 mins slower sessions in evenings. Result was chronic tiredness, loss of strength and gaining body fat. Now I'm back to the old way to get it back off.
 
For me to go from 18% bf to 7%, i dieted my arse off for 16 weeks, ate carbs once a week (the rest of my energy came from good fats), did an hour (sometimes more) of gentle to moderate cardio every day, 4-5 weight sessions a week & stuck to the plan.


I've seen some pretty skinny marathon runners before. They have low body fat. To me, they look yuck...if that's the type of physique you want, do tons & tons of cardio
 
yea, i agree with Shrek.

When I did cardio, i lost a lot of both. Plus cardio and weights made recovery very difficult. Now i only do weights, 4 times a week. Fat loss is occurring at a reasonable rate, and there's no muscle loss. Furthermore, although I haven't increased in muscle size, i've definitely gained in muscle strength and become more defined..

I don't do low carb, just moderate carb.
My diet is basically 45% carbs, 35% protein 20% fat.
 
breebreerocks said:
You would never see a competition BB doing all this cardio to get BF down. Depends on what physique you are after. To loose my 25kg, it took three weight sessions a week and easy cardio sessions for 30-45 mins. When I lost the weight and wanted to get cut, upped my cardio to 10 sessions a week0 20 mins HIIT in the mornings and 60 mins slower sessions in evenings. Result was chronic tiredness, loss of strength and gaining body fat. Now I'm back to the old way to get it back off.
Click to expand...

well i have a mate who is a bb and came forth in the natural comp at the gold coast he does cardio to lose body fat and also diet and thats what this bb tranner told him to do
 
I'm not saying they don't do cardio. But 99.9% of BB you won't see heading off for a run. Either slow burn, keeping their heart rate slightly raised over a minimum of 45 mins or short periods of HIIT often on a bike. On top of that, long, hard cardio workouts raise cortisol levels, which make it more difficult to lose body fat. This is especially true if you are on a cutting diet, which tend to involve very low levels of carbs. Not eating a lot of carbs means that your body looks for the most ready source of energy (protein) while your heart rate is up. Fat is the last source of energy your body looks for, because it is so difficult to convert to energy.

If your mate is told to go and get his heart rate up to 75%-85% for an extended period to loose body fat for comp he is the exception, not the norm.
 
I would've thought that fat was the body's 2nd prefered source of energy, since the sparring the body's building blocks, protein, would be a top priority for itself. Fat dose turn into glucose, faster than amino acids (protein), via the kreb cycle
 
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thats what i thought to power builder and is what my trainer told me as well and see also did say if you have not fed your muscle with enough protein they will feed off the muscle that you did not work out on you last weights session.
so diet is as important as training
 
Shrek said:
Cardio is not the answer to fat loss. Go back to 3 or even 4 weight sessions per week and modify diet.

More stats required.
Weight, height, current diet, age, etc.
Thanks.
Click to expand...

weight:73kg
height:178cm
age:21

diet: well its not too bad but its not that flash either, i probably have take away 1-2wice a week, i only drink alchohol on the weekends typically 2-3 pints over the weekend and say once a month i'll have a bender.

i've got a maye who is a PT and he said similar things to whats been said here. i.e. doing cardio may waste muscle, and if your doing weight its better to do high intensity interval training rather than doing 30 mins on one machine than another than another as the body will adapt and be efficient. HIIT shocks the body as your constantly changing the intensity thus burning more calories.

probably 4 sessions a week (3-weights 1-cardio) is the most i can do being a uni student and having a part time job
 
i am definetly changing my diet, i started of today...it wont be extreme dieting rather a healthy lifestyle change
 
a good idea when changing diet ,dont neglect yourself remember you need energy to function,try small portions when your hungry,eg 2-3 hrly try to limit junk as much as possible ,if your going to the hot food shop (i know its hard to resist a loverly hamburger)try a banana roll from the supermarket heaps cheaper and you will feel good about yourself for resisting temtation.
while your there grab yourself a few nut bars ,musli bars maybe some fruit all for about 10 bucks that will cover your snacking for a few days .
 
at your size and age i wouldnt be overly worried so long as you eat properly ,
if you push weights with intencity your muscles will become more defined and the fat will seem to not be as noticable as if your doing cardio all the time tearing at your muscles.
 
a mate even told me to use L-carnatine, similar to the CLA mentioned above. its naturally available in red meat but i think it hapls with the breakdown it fatty acids during workouts
 
gruggy said:
at your size and age i wouldnt be overly worried so long as you eat properly ,
if you push weights with intencity your muscles will become more defined and the fat will seem to not be as noticable as if your doing cardio all the time tearing at your muscles.
Click to expand...

dont get me wrong i'm not concerned or anything about my weight...that side of its healthy. i'm just wanting to cut my body fat down to look mean for summer :p
 
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