cardio?

[at1010]

ok heres my situation people i weight right around 195-200 and i eat fairly healthy...i tend to drop weight even if i do eat often...i was doing cardio all the time because i was trying to get my perfect body but i found my self loosing more weight then i wanted to...how can i keep getting more defined but continue to keep my weight up....just to give you an idea im stonger now also then i ever have been im 195 and i squat over 400 and bench over 300..so not bad for 18 but any tips can help

[CrazyChemist]

The number on your scale is less relevant than the reflection in the mirror, you know? So I think what you really mean to say is that you don't want to lose size but you want definition. Unfortunately, most cutting diets and cutting supplements result in some loss in size. You can minimize the size loss by properly training and eating the correct macros. How much weight were you losing when you tried to cut up? What is your current bf %? Regardless, most find the best success by alternating cutting and bulking. 200lbs. at 5'10" is pretty nice bro. Try focusing on cutting for 10-16 weeks, without worrying about the scale and expect to lose a little size / strength. Then bulk for 10-16 weeks and expect a little fat gain.

I'm going to dinner with the wife now but I'll get back on later and post tips on how to minimize muscle loss while decrease bf%.

[youngandfree]

Do you know how many calories you were actually eating? And how much specific cardio were you doing? You might be able to scale back some cardio if you are going overboard on it.

[at1010]

thanks guys....i dont know calories and stuff like that honestly how to explain my body is to say i look like an average middle linebacker at the higschool level...i am strong but just am the type of person who is never happy with results and always wants more....i used to run about 5 days a week for 30-40 mins then i tuned that down and stopped doing cardio but i felt fat again...so im thinking about doing cardio 4-5 days a week for just ten mintues but at a high intensity?

[keeper]

Do a search here on HIIT and/or interval training. You may already know the process, but I've broken a plateau, dropping 4% bf, down to 15.24 after only a five weeks of HIIT, yet lost no weight. I ate well and continued my weight routine. I can feel and see more muscle without the fat to hide definition. Being female might make a difference, I'm not sure.

[at1010]

thanks people all of your tips have helped and anymore out there would be great

[CrazyChemist]

thanks guys....i dont know calories and stuff like that honestly how to explain my body is to say i look like an average middle linebacker at the higschool level...i am strong but just am the type of person who is never happy with results and always wants more....i used to run about 5 days a week for 30-40 mins then i tuned that down and stopped doing cardio but i felt fat again...so im thinking about doing cardio 4-5 days a week for just ten mintues but at a high intensity?

well there is your problem. if you don't know calories then you also don't know your macros. the most important part of bulking, cutting, recomp, or breaking through a plateau is diet diet diet. If youre losing size quickly while cutting youre probably either not eating enough calories or not eating enough protein. You need to figure out your BMR (basal metabolism rate), i.e. how many calories you burn in a day. Next step is to construct a diet with that many calories and containing the correct ratio of protein:carbs:fat. This varies depending on who you talk to and what your goals are. To cut, slowly decrease your calories till you start to see weight loss. Don't increase below that point too much or you start to see muscle loss.

Do a search here on HIIT and/or interval training. You may already know the process, but I've broken a plateau, dropping 4% bf, down to 15.24 after only a five weeks of HIIT, yet lost no weight. I ate well and continued my weight routine. I can feel and see more muscle without the fat to hide definition. Being female might make a difference, I'm not sure.

Next after diet is training. I started my fourth week of a cut today and I've been doing HIIT with rather impressive results so far. I'm actually up in weight about a pound but I can see my abs better. Keeper knows her stuff when it comes to HIIT so pick her brain (I'm sure she won't mind).


Lastly, after diet and training is supplements. Supplements that decrease the rate of catabolism include: l-glutamine, casein protein, lean xtreme, BCAAs, and creatine. These will assist you in holding onto your mass while cutting but remember the majority is diet, followed by training. These supplements give you a little extra assistance but are not needed.

[keeper]

Heck, no I won't mind. I'm so sold on HIIT, I'm glad to share what it's done for me. I've turned a lot of people on to it at my gym, just from the word getting around about my last bf calculation. One of the guys brought me a t-shirt that read "15.24%" front and back. I'm kind of the poster-child for interval training, which is still surprisingly obscure here in my area.