Cutting

[bmp]

If you were 6ft 194.8 lbs 15% body fat and cutting, what type of weight loss in lbs/week would you shoot for?

At this rate, what type of performance would you expect in the gym, as far as maintaining/gaining/losing strength is concerned?

Would you prefer slightly more calories and also more cardio, or just letting the caloric deficit due the work with minimal cardio?

Lastly, with all the above in mind, what if you were 19 years old, awful cardio (never do any besides walking couple miles/day), and never under 12% body fat in your life (thats me)?

I've come from ~202 to 194.8 over the course of the past 8 weeks. The majority of that weight loss occurred during the first 4 of the past 8 weeks, in which I switched to an intermittent fasting protocol and a caloric deficit. My steady state cardio also increased due to walking a lot more on campus. I've not lost any strength over this time, gained slightly on a lot of lifts. However I was starting to get weaker at around week 4 of dieting. Thats when I bumped up my calories and implemented some carb loading techniques...seemed to turn the train around. But also caused my weight loss to stagnate.

thx for your input. I know that is all pretty unorganized, sorry.

[bmp]

I think it may be time to really cut both training volume and calories down in order to get from the soft (15% body fat) look to the hard (10% body fat) look. Especially since I've never been that lean before. I'm interested as to what implementing cardio would do to my training though. I haven't gone for a run in years. My only cardio is weightlifting at the gym (minimal at best) and walking around campus (could be a couple miles/day, sometimes less sometimes more)

[mentalflex]

I wouldn't necessarily be concerned about weight loss, but overall body composition. I don't have the experience with IF, so I'd rather not touch it, but can comment of the cardio/training.

What days do you train and when would you be able to incorporate cardio? From my experience, incorporating cardio will not impede strength training (unless you are running sprints before leg day) and seems to aid in recovery (more oxygen and better CV health).

If fat loss is your goal, make that a main priority and look at your training numbers as secondary to that goal. However, it is still possible to go up in weight on your lifts while dieting if you have all of your ducks in a row.

[bmp]

Ideal training week would probably be

Monday - Back/Bis
Wednesday - Chest/Shoulders/Tris
Thursday - Legs
Fri - Arms

Maybe I could run sprints on saturday or sunday? Perhaps I will keep calories the same (~2500) and add in this one cardio session to see if that gets me losing weight again.

What would a sprint workout look like? Sprint 100 m, rest, repeat 7 more times?

[mentalflex]

Ideal training week would probably be

Monday - Back/Bis
Wednesday - Chest/Shoulders/Tris
Thursday - Legs
Fri - Arms

Maybe I could run sprints on saturday or sunday? Perhaps I will keep calories the same (~2500) and add in this one cardio session to see if that gets me losing weight again.

What would a sprint workout look like? Sprint 100 m, rest, repeat 7 more times?

Would you be able to work in some cardio during the week at all? Maybe do cardio on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday?

I prefer to do HIIT on a machine so I know how long I going for with both the sprints and easy pace, but if I was doing them outside I would shoot for something like sprint for 20-30 seconds and jog for for 40-60 sec. or sprint for 100m and jog for 100m and do that for 20-30 minutes.

[bmp]

Would you be able to work in some cardio during the week at all? Maybe do cardio on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday?

I prefer to do HIIT on a machine so I know how long I going for with both the sprints and easy pace, but if I was doing them outside I would shoot for something like sprint for 20-30 seconds and jog for for 40-60 sec. or sprint for 100m and jog for 100m and do that for 20-30 minutes.

cool. yeah ill add cardio on those days and bump up my calories a bit. Maybe I can "recomp", keep getting stronger/bigger/leaner at this bodyweight. So do you just do the cardio on a treadmill? How does that work? Do treadmills have an interval setting? excuse my ignorance lol

[mentalflex]

cool. yeah ill add cardio on those days and bump up my calories a bit. Maybe I can "recomp", keep getting stronger/bigger/leaner at this bodyweight. So do you just do the cardio on a treadmill? How does that work? Do treadmills have an interval setting? excuse my ignorance lol

No prob. I prefer the elliptical because I get nasty shin splints, which is also why I rarely do sprints outside. Just get those wheels cooking for a bit then take it easy for a bit. I also like the lower impact of doing the elliptical versus doing cardio outdoors.

Hypothetically, if I were to use the treadmill I would just crank up the setting to as fast as I could run for a set period of time and then turn it back low for a given period of time. It could be a PITA to keep hitting the button up and down when you are going at full steam though.

IMO, I wouldn't change your kcals just yet. As you said in your first post, your weight loss has stalled, so rather than doing two things at once, just bump up the cardio and see where your weight and strength goes after a few weeks. If strength is declining and you are dropping bodyfat like a machine, then you'd probably be able to add in some nutrition around your weight training to aid in recovery and rebuilding.

[dram360]

Would you be able to work in some cardio during the week at all? Maybe do cardio on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday?

I prefer to do HIIT on a machine so I know how long I going for with both the sprints and easy pace, but if I was doing them outside I would shoot for something like sprint for 20-30 seconds and jog for for 40-60 sec. or sprint for 100m and jog for 100m and do that for 20-30 minutes.

Mentalflex, at a pace that fast do you not worry about muscle loss?

[Barbatron]

No prob. I prefer the elliptical because I get nasty shin splints, which is also why I rarely do sprints outside. Just get those wheels cooking for a bit then take it easy for a bit. I also like the lower impact of doing the elliptical versus doing cardio outdoors.

Hypothetically, if I were to use the treadmill I would just crank up the setting to as fast as I could run for a set period of time and then turn it back low for a given period of time. It could be a PITA to keep hitting the button up and down when you are going at full steam though.

IMO, I wouldn't change your kcals just yet. As you said in your first post, your weight loss has stalled, so rather than doing two things at once, just bump up the cardio and see where your weight and strength goes after a few weeks. If strength is declining and you are dropping bodyfat like a machine, then you'd probably be able to add in some nutrition around your weight training to aid in recovery and rebuilding.

Usually when I do HIIT on a treadmill I put it at a faster speed for myself, run on it for a minute or so (maybe less) and then just jump onto the sides of the treadmill when I have my cool down. Wastes less time and makes life a little easier. When I tried increasing and decreasing the speed each interval I nearly killed myself by falling LOL.

[mentalflex]

Mentalflex, at a pace that fast do you not worry about muscle loss?

How would one lose muscle from cardio when nutrition is adequate?

[dakoose]

If you or your gym has newer treadmills you can make custom interval programs. I attached a photo of the screen from the treadmills at my gym; if your's has that kind you kind go ahead and design an interval routine.

Now....the customization isn't perfect, as I think the intervals have to be 2 minutes and sprinting all out for 2 minutes is very hard, so you'll have to lower the intensity a bit, but it's still decent and it takes away the issue of having to slow down and speed up the treadmill every minute.

[bmp]

Awesome advice, thank you everyone !!

So I guess I'll experiment with this cardio, see where it takes me. I figure I'll be close to 10% body fat if I can drop 10 lbs and retain my muscle.

What is an acceptable rate of lbs dropped/week? I think 1-1.5 lbs/week seems like a decent goal? To ensure one isn't losing muscle...

[Barbatron]

Yeah that seems about right. People vary, though. So you never know....

I have a friend who dropped like 2-3 pounds per week while he dieted and retained almost all his muscle.

Me on the other hand, I usually drop around 1 pound a week, maybe 1.5. At least that's what happened my last comp I was in. Hope I was some help.

[mentalflex]

Awesome advice, thank you everyone !!

So I guess I'll experiment with this cardio, see where it takes me. I figure I'll be close to 10% body fat if I can drop 10 lbs and retain my muscle.

What is an acceptable rate of lbs dropped/week? I think 1-1.5 lbs/week seems like a decent goal? To ensure one isn't losing muscle...

Get yourself one of these calipers: http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Healt.../dp/B000NN9SDO

Dirt cheap and you can check your skinfolds on your own. Skinfolds going down = losing BF.

Take progress pics or yourself as well. Yeah, the scale means something, but it is how you hold that weight that really matters.

[dram360]

How would one lose muscle from cardio when nutrition is adequate?

So you must keep carbs pretty reasonable then and not cut them out