Pittspeed Fitness & Nutrition thread update:

For me I would go to a track and stretch, jog 2 laps for warm up, then start m workout. I would sprint 100 meters and walk the rounded part (100 meers), do this 10 times. I then would go over tot he bleachers and sprint up them and walk back down 8-10 times. The concept is to sprint then slow down and repeat. You can do this on an elliptical, bike, stepper, etc.

cardio also helps raise your metabloism, it does work, and the results from good cardio last longer then just diet.

HIIT with weight training is the #1 way to increase your metabolism. You body will burn muscle (along with fat) mass for fuel while doing moderate continuous paced cardio…which is what most people do for “cardio” If one is able o do HIIT it is superior to doing regular cardio in regards to burning fat and keeping it off. Then you add in the fact that after a HIIT session your body will continue to burn fat and with regular cardio you will not. I am not saying cardio has no purpose but if one’s goal is to lose fat and keep it off HIIT with weight training is a better choice. If one’s main goal is to strengthen your heart and lungs and improves the cardiovascular system the cardio would be a good route to take.

its a good program, works great, ive never done it, dont like the idea of losing muscle at all

Not sure what you are saying…never done cardio or HIIT. HIIT will let one keep their muscle mass while burning fat and with cardio one would lose muscle and fat.

i do cardio a lot, but do mild intensity. i know everyone has a different body, buy i do the eleptical for 45 minutes, on setting 8(lifefitness models), and do it 4-5 days per week. it keeps my weight stable, and if i want to drop a few pounds quick, i do i higher intensity. HIIT works great, but it can cause some, not a lot, of muscle loss. when you raise your metabolism too fast, your body will use anything for fule, fat, muscle, etc. low to medium intensity cardio will take longer to get the results, but your metabolism also raises slowly, and therefore will mostly use fat as a energy source, not any muscle. i lift different then most people, for 99% of people, HIIT is great, for 1% like me who want to gain size without putting on too much weight, regular cardio is good.

I think you have it backwards…there are a ton of studies that prove HIIT does not burn muscle…it is cardio that does. Here is an exaggerated example I used earlier in this thread. Think of a marathon/long distance runner’s body…typically very skinny and not so much muscle mass…now think of a typical sprinter’s body, usually very low body fat but most have a muscular build. You can even look at a lot of NHL players…they run a lot of sprint drills and their practices are some sort of HIIT…and there are linebackers weighing 260 with 8%BF running 4.6 40’s. The only downfall to HIIT that I can think of it may be to hard for people who are older or have some kind of handicap.

I gotta dip back in here… I’ve been liftiing maybe 2-3 days/week since late August and have noticed quite a bit of weight loss/muscle tone in my shoulders/back… Now I just need to get my core area some weight loss…

I def. gotta get into more sprinting stuff rather than just running because I’m starting to get bored. I lost about 15 lbs in 6 weeks on a steady running program, but then put on about 25 in the following weeks when I stopped.

Crazy

That is pretty crazy…all within 2-3 months? Well I am sure you know by now it is all about staying consistant…but like you said when you get bored it is hard. I am at the point now where it is part of my life, but for a lot of people that is hard to do. I know a while back when I had a lifting partner it helped a lot to keep at it.

I can not believe somebody has not actually stated what the HIIT acronym stands for, HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING.

I want to just interject for a quick second.

The thing that this thread does not address is the differing skill level and experience of the people posting in it. A beginner/novice is always going to respond faster and better to basic training principals compared to somebody who has been doing it for years and years. A beginner will always shed body fat and build muscle at the same time. There is not such a need to worry about focusing on one or the other while you are wet behind the ears.

I have been lifting weights, speed training and all of that good stuff for about ten years. I have needed little in the way of advanced techniques to keep growing. Even with all of the experience I have training myself personally or other people, I still barely consider myself anything more than a beginner.

If anyone thinks this thread is really doing anything but scratching the surface of bodybuilding and fitness theories and techniques, you are sorely mistaken.

I did a few times in this thread and just a couple post up. I even gave a brief description of how it works.

I want to just interject for a quick second.

The thing that this thread does not address is the differing skill level and experience of the people posting in it. A beginner/novice is always going to respond faster and better to basic training principals compared to somebody who has been doing it for years and years. A beginner will always shed body fat and build muscle at the same time. There is not such a need to worry about focusing on one or the other while you are wet behind the ears.

I have been lifting weights, speed training and all of that good stuff for about ten years. I have needed little in the way of advanced techniques to keep growing. Even with all of the experience I have training myself personally or other people, I still barely consider myself anything more than a beginner.

If anyone thinks this thread is really doing anything but scratching the surface of bodybuilding and fitness theories and techniques, you are sorely mistaken.

I am not too sure how to take this? I think this thread is fine. People giving advise from what they have learned and at the same time trying to help motivate people. I have been into fitness since I can remember and I learn new things all the time. I don’t think anyone on here is trying to take the role of the person who knows everything…but we all just like to share what we have learned.

As for the pretty much everyone can burn fat and build muscle at the same time (since everyone in this thread including you are all beginners) I have to disagree with. I think there are a lot of people that can do so when they first start out, but when you have been into this for a while and are pretty lean it becomes a lot harder. At the beginning of spring when I was @ 225 lbs and roughly 17-18% BF I wanted to shed down to 10-12%. My main goal was to merely keep the strength and muscle I gained during the winter. I took a slow cut approach and I pretty much kept even (strength/muscle wise) for the most part and cut down to my gaol of 10-12% BF and 210 lbs. But to actually gain muscle mass and strength while losing fat I did not do at least at a noticeable level. I think it can be done to an extent so I gues I can’t disagree 1–%. If one has a close to perfect diet, good genetics, has a solid HIIT routine, and a solid muscle building routine it can be done with some success…but for most of us “intermediate” people it is a tough task to achieve.

In the end everyone is different and some have an easier time than others with gaining clean weight, losing fat fast, and even doing both at the same time…but the fun of it is learning as much as you can about fitness and at the same time learning what works for you.

I need to get my ass back into a gym … I used to work out all of the time … but I havn’t in a few years. I have gained some weight (I weigh 170lbs right now) … Im not heavy by any means … just not as cut and tone as I used to be.

yep, its a good thread with a lot of good info, and helpful tips. everyone has their own ways, and what works for them. i personally do better with regular cardio, i can lose weight pretty easy. every person is different.

one of the hardest things i ever did was called gorilla cardio…
>run full speed for 15 seconds, then jog 15 seconds, run full speed 15 seconds, walk 15 seconds, do this for 10-12 minutes non-stop, it was soo hard, saw it in m&f, i could barley do it

That is a perfect example of HIIT

and the hardest workout i have ever done, ever, either weight or cardio. i know high intensity volume training works great, it makes me lose weight, idk, my body is weird

well, im excited to say the least. i received my new bench shirt in the mail, went to my buddies house to do some real heavy benching, and got a 650lb. with a pause at the bottom, im going to see if i can hit it again next week, and if i do, im going to try 700lb. at the pgh monster meet in moon this march/april

insane man!

how long has it been since i posted? i shed like 30lb… was a 36 waist, but just bought 32 waist jeans the other day. Its amazing how if you man up, stop eating sh!t and be active, weight falls off. I definitly need to start lifting to perserve my angry bald man persona…

Congrats!

well i got dragged into fitness 19 last night cuz my girlfriend wants to work out and wants me too also…
Im perfectly fine lifting a beer and a remote…

since i gotta do it then I wanna lose 20-30lbs and I’ll be happy with that, after that I just wanna build. My abs and stomach need the most work, legs are still fine, I can still leg press 350 and dead lift 400, arms could use a little work.

what should my routine be?

A leg press of only 350 and a Dead Lift of 400 is kinda odd…pulling 4 plates on each side is solid. For what routine for you to use it all depends on a few variables. How many days/week do you plan on getting into the gym? If you want to do a “split” routine (breaking up muscle groups on different days) then the # of days you lift/week could alter what kind of split you do. You could also try a full body or upper/lower split. For example now I am on a 4 day split where one day I do chest, next day I do back, next day I do legs/traps, and the next day I do shoulder/arms…then I have a day or two of rest somewhere every week. There are a bunch of different ways to break it up.