Myth, Myth, Myth and a question on my cardiovascular output
Two questions from yesterday to answer.
1) So, its better to add more cardio and less weight training to my workouts then right? And also, I just have to keep using roughly the same weights and not focus on making too much progress right? Just need to maintain my current muscles. I should focus more on keeping the fats down.I'm currently about 19~20% bf. Thanks for the input.
Myth, Myth, Myth......
Myth number 1- I don't think it is better to emphasize your cardio over your weight training when trying to drop body fat. You need to strength train to help maintain muscle mass, use it or lose it, as well as to help keep your metabolism up. Cardio is a tool in the toolbox when you are trying to lose fat. I like to do interval work because I hate the long/slow stuff. Although, I have done some of it at times. I don't think it is awful as it can be beneficial sometimes as a "recovery" workout when you are totally beat (which happens at times when you are trying to train hard and are in a caloric deficit.
Myth number 2 up there is keeping the weights the same workout to workout. If you aren't putting more weight on the bar, you aren't making improvement! If you aren't making improvement you aren't giving your body any reason to adapt and grow stronger or increase work capacity or burn more calories. Always strive for progress. If you aren't progressing, then you are standing still or worse regressing and neither of those two scenarios are good or beneficial.
Myth number 3- Don't keep your fats down. Fats have many beneficial properties when it comes to dieting and even overal health. They help to delay digestion (gastric emptying) of our meal, they are needed to support cell structures, they are building blocks of hormones, etc....If you are looking to diet down, first find out your protein requirements for the day. I usually recommed somewhere between 1.2-1.5g per lb of lean body weight. After you figure out your protein requirements, figure out how many calories you need to start losing weight. From there, set up your other macronutrients (carbs and fats) and make sure that along with that protein, you make it a priority to get in quality essential fatty acids, especially omega-3 fatty acides (like fish oil).
2) You train like a athlete, using HIIT for your cardio with that being said ......do you think you could knock out 3 miles run without training for it or would you need to focus on it for a few weeks?
My cardio is not always high intensity interval training (HIIT). Sometimes I will do longer bouts of cardio with longer duration intervals (1:2 work to rest ratio) like 20min. of 1min. fast followed by 2min. slow on the stairmill.
To answer your question, can I run 3 miles.....Yes, I am sure I can go out and run 3 miles if I wanted to. Chances are I would never want to though. I am not a big fan of distance running. But, I could do 3 miles if I had too. Could I do it in under 20min? Probably not. Could I do it in under 30min. Probably. The problem I have with distance running is that my mechanics are always going to hold me back. I waste a lot of energy. Distance running was never really my thing. I like to sprint short distances and I can keep my form a lot better. But as soon as I start to jog, the mechanics change and things go down hill fast. Also, I am terrible at pacing myself out on runs like that. I always start out way to fast and can't maintain the pace for a great amount of time. I pretty much just try and sprint everything. So, yes I can run it, but I can not run it as fast as someone who trains to run that distance consistantly. Just like they could run a 50yrd dash, but probably not as fast as I could. ;)
Patrick
1) So, its better to add more cardio and less weight training to my workouts then right? And also, I just have to keep using roughly the same weights and not focus on making too much progress right? Just need to maintain my current muscles. I should focus more on keeping the fats down.I'm currently about 19~20% bf. Thanks for the input.
Myth, Myth, Myth......
Myth number 1- I don't think it is better to emphasize your cardio over your weight training when trying to drop body fat. You need to strength train to help maintain muscle mass, use it or lose it, as well as to help keep your metabolism up. Cardio is a tool in the toolbox when you are trying to lose fat. I like to do interval work because I hate the long/slow stuff. Although, I have done some of it at times. I don't think it is awful as it can be beneficial sometimes as a "recovery" workout when you are totally beat (which happens at times when you are trying to train hard and are in a caloric deficit.
Myth number 2 up there is keeping the weights the same workout to workout. If you aren't putting more weight on the bar, you aren't making improvement! If you aren't making improvement you aren't giving your body any reason to adapt and grow stronger or increase work capacity or burn more calories. Always strive for progress. If you aren't progressing, then you are standing still or worse regressing and neither of those two scenarios are good or beneficial.
Myth number 3- Don't keep your fats down. Fats have many beneficial properties when it comes to dieting and even overal health. They help to delay digestion (gastric emptying) of our meal, they are needed to support cell structures, they are building blocks of hormones, etc....If you are looking to diet down, first find out your protein requirements for the day. I usually recommed somewhere between 1.2-1.5g per lb of lean body weight. After you figure out your protein requirements, figure out how many calories you need to start losing weight. From there, set up your other macronutrients (carbs and fats) and make sure that along with that protein, you make it a priority to get in quality essential fatty acids, especially omega-3 fatty acides (like fish oil).
2) You train like a athlete, using HIIT for your cardio with that being said ......do you think you could knock out 3 miles run without training for it or would you need to focus on it for a few weeks?
My cardio is not always high intensity interval training (HIIT). Sometimes I will do longer bouts of cardio with longer duration intervals (1:2 work to rest ratio) like 20min. of 1min. fast followed by 2min. slow on the stairmill.
To answer your question, can I run 3 miles.....Yes, I am sure I can go out and run 3 miles if I wanted to. Chances are I would never want to though. I am not a big fan of distance running. But, I could do 3 miles if I had too. Could I do it in under 20min? Probably not. Could I do it in under 30min. Probably. The problem I have with distance running is that my mechanics are always going to hold me back. I waste a lot of energy. Distance running was never really my thing. I like to sprint short distances and I can keep my form a lot better. But as soon as I start to jog, the mechanics change and things go down hill fast. Also, I am terrible at pacing myself out on runs like that. I always start out way to fast and can't maintain the pace for a great amount of time. I pretty much just try and sprint everything. So, yes I can run it, but I can not run it as fast as someone who trains to run that distance consistantly. Just like they could run a 50yrd dash, but probably not as fast as I could. ;)
Patrick
“I like to do interval work because I hate the long/slow stuff.”
Care to elaborate a little? Just to give your readers a rough idea? Are you saying that most of the time you use HIIT instead of the long (45 ~60 min) low intensity cardio workout?
"If you aren't putting more weight on the bar, you aren't making improvement! If you aren't making improvement you aren't giving your body any reason to adapt and grow stronger or increase work capacity or burn more calories."
When trying to loose body fat, I’m under the impression that we should cut our calorie intake slightly. So, my question is how to keep improving when we are down on calories? Unless of course by this you mean I calculate my LBM every two weeks or so and adjust my calorie intake. Eg: Week one I eat 2500 kcal per day and do my exercises, then two weeks later I eat say 2700 kcal a day to make up for my increased LBM gained in the first two weeks; all the while maintaining a calorie deficiency but at the same time gradually increasing my calorie intake to make up for my increased LBM, thus having the energy in order to have improvement like you say above.
I think I just answered my own question, LOL, but what do you think? Am I remotely right?
"Myth number 3- Don't keep your fats down. Fats have many beneficial properties when it comes to dieting and even overall health."
No, no, no, I’m not keeping my fats down, LOL. Far from it. My BF% is about 19% now, far from low. I just want to reach about 12% BF by the end of the year and I’ll be happy to keep it there. But my short term target is 15% by end of June. I don’t want to go below 10%, I think it would be difficult to maintain and also its not in line with my goals, my target is not to become a bodybuilder and enter competitions and stuff. I just want to keep it at 12%, lean enough to see some muscle definition, and be able to take off my shirt and not worry about having man boobs. LOL
Thanks for all the helpful info bro :)
Posted by
wrecked_porsche |
March 29, 2007 at 4:36 AM
Patrick wants to chase people down, not run away from them!
Court
Posted by
Court Wing |
April 5, 2007 at 7:51 AM