My routine

[Zuxzux]

I just started trying to cut some weight recently along with gaining muscle mass. I thought I'd post up my current routine to see what people think about how it will affect me burning fat.

Monday, Wednesday, Friday: Weight Training followed by about 30 min of cardio.
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday: About 20 min of HIIT

I'm about 5'8" 170lbs and I try to eat between 2000-2500 calories a day of fairly healthy food, low sugar intake.

So, what do you guys think?

I'm open to any input or criticism.

 

[stroutman81]

My first suggestion would be to consolidate your high intensity bouts of exercise. This means lump your resistance training and HIIT on the same days if possible.

When dieting, recovery ability is shortchanged given the energy deficit. That said, "implanting" as much room for recovery goes a long way.

What you're doing in terms of resistance training should also be looked over.

 

[Zuxzux]

So do you think it would be better to do one day of HIIT for 20 min and give myself 2 extra rest days?

My weight training consists of 2 muscles each day: Biceps, chest on monday; Shoulders, legs wednesday; Back, triceps firday.

 

[stroutman81]

Okay...

Firstly, by consolidating your high intensity stuff, I'm talking about switching this:

Monday: Weights and Cardio
Tuesday: HIIT
Wednesday: Weight and Cardio
Thursday: HIIT
Friday: Weights and Cardio
Saturday: HIIT

To:

Monday: Weights and HIIT
Tuesday: Cardio
Wednesday: Weights
Thursday: Cardio
Friday: Weights and HIIT
Saturday: Cardio

Or something like that. Frankly, I'm of the opinion one doesn't even need to do HIIT while dieting. If you're not lifting crazy heavy weights or dieting terribly strictly, than sure, it can help with partitioning and things like that. But the longer/stricter you diet and/or the more intense your weight training is, the less recovery ability you have. In these instances, doing high intensity cardio simply isn't necessary... the bang for the buck isn't there.

In your particular case, it seems like you're relatively new to all of this. And you're not doing anything crazy in terms of caloric intake. In fact, we'll come back to this in a moment. That said, you should be fine with a handful of sessions of HIIT. I'd stick with two. If you're finding you need to do more than that, something is most likely off with your nutrition.

As for your calories, you say you're 170 lbs and you're eating 2000-2500 calories per day. That's 12-14ish calories per pound of BW which is on the high side for fat loss. If you're finding that this triggers a drop in fat, great. However, you should monitor your progress and if things aren't heading in the desired direction, know that you are on the high side. A more typical range might be something like 10-12 calories per pound for fat loss, but it varies.

Knowing how most people under-estimate their calorie intakes, this is something to keep in mind and adjust according to your progress, or lack thereof.

Also, the foods/nutrients that comprise said calories are also critically important. You indicated that your diet is in check. So hopefully that's the case. I know you also mentioned you're avoiding sugar. Assuming you're getting in adequate amounts of the essentials (protein, healthy fats, veggies, water, etc) I wouldn't sweat sugar terribly much unless you have some sort of intolerance I'm not aware of.

My weight training consists of 2 muscles each day: Biceps, chest on monday; Shoulders, legs wednesday; Back, triceps firday.

Here's a big suggestion.

Read my posts found in this sticky thread. Then compare and contrast your current training to what's presented there. I think you'll see some obvious differences.

The first thing that stands out to me is that you're training each major muscle group once per week. That's not optimal knowing what we know about muscle adaptation to training. Most of what we care about in terms of muscle growth is recovered within 48-72 hours at the peripheral level which means it would be prime to hit it again.

Something like a full body workout or some sort of upper/lower permutation would most likely be your best ticket.

 

[Zuxzux]

Thanks for all that, I think I'll look into changing my routine a little bit and I might actually just cut out the HIIT altogether. I am relatively new to cardio/HIIT training, I did some HIIT a couple years ago and it seems like knowledge about its affects has changed quite a bit from what I remember.

I used to weight train regularly working on maxing out two muscle groups a day and I saw decent results. I'll look into some other ideas though, really appreciate the help.

 

[stroutman81]

Thanks for all that, I think I'll look into changing my routine a little bit and I might actually just cut out the HIIT altogether. I am relatively new to cardio/HIIT training, I did some HIIT a couple years ago and it seems like knowledge about its affects has changed quite a bit from what I remember.

Don't get me wrong. There are some serious benefits associated with HIIT. But there are benefits associated with all forms of training. It's simply another tool in the toolbox and needs to be placed where it fits in programming.

I used to weight train regularly working on maxing out two muscle groups a day and I saw decent results. I'll look into some other ideas though, really appreciate the help.

That may be the case. But your muscles behave like my muscles b/c human skeletal muscle is the same across the board. That's not to say there isn't some individual variability and that's certainly not to say that there's on way of training that's right for everyone.

What it does say is there are some foundational principles that will apply to all of us.

Sure, you can realize progress with just about *anything* that progressively overloads your muscles while allowing for recovery. This holds especially true the newer you are to training.

This doesn't say anything, however, about optimality though.

And training to failure is sort of silly when muscle maintenance/growth while dieting is the goal.

 

[johnson]

The 30 Second HIIT workout is the ideal place to start with Interval training. If you are aiming at training above your lactate threshold you need to go fast enough to feel that the last few seconds feel almost impossible to keep running. Everything in your body should be burning..












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