For Optimal Fat Loss - HITT vs Low Intensity Cardio

[fatburner2007]

Recently had surgery and have been out of the gym for about 2 months now. Getting back into it starting next weekend and will be doing a cutting stack; Shred-XS, Lean Xtreme, DCP, Sesamin, Fish Oil, Green Tea, and CLA, as well as watching my diet, increasing my water intake, and BCAAs before and after the gym.

For my workouts, I am interested in feedback on what is the best approach to focus on fat loss including:

• HITT for about 20 mins vs. Low Intensity Cardio for about 40 mins
• Doing a combination of HIIT (3 times per week) and Low Intenstiy (2-3 times per week)
• Morning Cardio vs. Cardio anytime of the day
• Focusing mainly on cardio workouts vs. high rep/light weight workouts
• Cardio and Weights on the same day vs. always doing them on separate days
• Type of cardio machine setting such as Interval Training or Manual

I generally workout around 5pm during the week, but first thing in the morning if it is Saturday or Sunday.

[VolcomX311]

* HITT for about 20 mins vs. Low Intensity Cardio for about 40 mins.
HIIT is reported to have a greater "fat loss" effect, where low intensity has a greater "weight loss." Fat loss is specific to fat, where weight loss is both fat and muscle. Traditional cardio burns more calories during the workout, where HIIT has a greater post exercise caloric burn, so in summation, HIIT will create a greater calorie deficit. With my biased for fat loss leaning toward HIIT, doing BOTH would be prime. If you're willing to do both, then do both for primed loss of body fat.

* Doing a combination of HITT (3 times per week) and Low Intenstiy (2-3 times per week)
There you go, this would be perfect. As long as you meant "and" not "or"

* Morning Cardio vs. Cardio anytime of the day
Morning is best. Anytime of the day is good, but the morning is best.

* Focusing mainly on cardio workouts vs. high rep/light weight workouts
Keep your workouts in the hypertrophy zone, 8-12 reps, 3-4 sets.

* Cardio and Weights on the same day vs. always doing them on separate days
If you can handle both in the same day, do them in the same day. However, if your primary goal is weight loss, do cardio first, then lift. Which ever you do first will get the bulk of your energy and focused effort, so invest in cardio first if weight loss is your primary goal.

* Type of cardio machine setting such as Interval Training or Manual
Stairclimber and BOTH and if you get the time and the opportunity, do your HIIT on a field. You can't really reach peak output running or moving on a machine like you can physically sprinting.

Here's a personal favorite HIIT on a field.
Pick two points, 50 yards in distance.
Back peddle 50 yards, right into 50 yard forward sprint. that's one set. Count to 10 sec or 20 sec before you start back up. Do 10 sets. It should only take 15-20 min and you'll be straight.

Good luck

[fatburner2007]

Thanks for the feedback.

Came across this great article on HIIT (aka as Guerrilla Cardio): Guerrilla Cardio

As for weights and cardio, sounds like doing HIIT for 20 mins and then following it with weights.

How would you apply the HIIT approach to lifting?

[VolcomX311]

Thanks for the feedback.

Came across this great article on HITT (aka as Guerrilla Cardio): Guerrilla Cardio

As for weights and cardio, sounds like doing HITT for 20 mins and then following it with weights.

How would you apply the HITT approach to lifting?

Power lifts have the closest correlation to HIIT. Research shows that movements that the faster you perform an exercise, the more fat it burns. Power movements are first and foremost based on the principle of velocity. Velocity infers nicely into the HIIT principle of traing.

The safest and most practical form of a power movement is the one arm dumbbell snatch. Start with something like 30lbs. You're standing with your feet shoulder width apart the. Db is placed in front of you, in the middle of your stance. Reach down (lower back tight, like dead lift, squats tight, bend your knees down) with your right arm and quickly pull the weight up and over your head to a steadied position and back down, 10-12 times, switch hands 10-12 times. Take a 30 second rest and repeat.

Another simple, safe and practical power movement are double dumbbell cleans.

[fatburner2007]

Was thinking something like this:

Monday - Full Body Weight Training

Tuesday - HIIT Workout
30 Seconds Brisk Walk, 30 Seconds Sprint, Repeat 9 More Times (10 Minutes Total)

Wednesday - Full Body Weight Training

Thursday - HIIT Workout
30 Seconds Brisk Walk, 30 Seconds Sprint, Repeat 9 More Times (10 Minutes Total)

Friday - Full Body Weight Training

Saturday and Sunday - Rest (maybe a HIIT session on Saturday)

Power lifts have the closest correlation to HIIT. Research shows that movements that the faster you perform an exercise, the more fat it burns. Power movements are first and foremost based on the principle of velocity. Velocity infers nicely into the HIIT principle of traing.

The safest and most practical form of a power movement is the one arm dumbbell snatch. Start with something like 30lbs. You're standing with your feet shoulder width apart the. Db is placed in front of you, in the middle of your stance. Reach down (lower back tight, like dead lift, squats tight, bend your knees down) with your right arm and quickly pull the weight up and over your head to a steadied position and back down, 10-12 times, switch hands 10-12 times. Take a 30 second rest and repeat.

Another simple, safe and practical power movement are double dumbbell cleans.

[VolcomX311]

Your exercise program looks good and so does your supplementation plan.

I would take a look at the Yohimbine HCL being sold at the top of the MMA forum, Yhcl is really effective and they're practically giving them away, it's a clearance sale. the Yhcl is half price and two for one.

[CodyMartin]

I started some HIIT today... I began with about a 4 minute jog for warmup followed by stretching.

I balls-to-the-wall sprinted for about 16 seconds followed by 20 seconds rest.

After 4 iterations of this, I felt like my heart was going to asplode!

You may be in better cardio shape than I am (I thought I was in decent cardio shape... but I've never done ANYTHING like this before) but be aware! I was assuming I could go for 8 iterations just fine... but was I wrong!

Well, at least this give me another goal to attain! Maybe I can be making 8 iterations in 2 weeks?

[EasyEJL]

I agree with everything volcom said, including the yohimbine. take it precardio with only bcaas, no solid meals.

[Neil5585]

I'm gonna be an ******* here. Do both. Along with full body circuits done in rep ranges that you gain muscle.

The cardio vs. HIIT debate in my opinion is just as lame as "what number of reps is best for gaining muscle?"

[VolcomX311]

I'm gonna be an ******* here. Do both. Along with full body circuits done in rep ranges that you gain muscle.

The cardio vs. HIIT debate in my opinion is just as lame as "what number of reps is best for gaining muscle?"

You're not being an *****, the advice given here was to do BOTH.

Number of sets and reps is less of a debate and more of a science of exercise physiology. Intensity and volume quantities in your lift will excite very particular adaption(s). Lifting for power adaption(s), lifting for strength adaption(s) lifting for hypertrophy adaption(s) or lifting for endurance adaption(s) have their respective protocols. This is why we can put together effective sports performance programs, because we can predict and manipulate physical adaption(s) to particular styles of training.

[fatburner2007]

Have tried Yohimbine HCL a couple of times before and each time it has always made me feel nauseous even at minimal doses.

Your exercise program looks good and so does your supplementation plan.

I would take a look at the Yohimbine HCL being sold at the top of the MMA forum, Yhcl is really effective and they're practically giving them away, it's a clearance sale. the Yhcl is half price and two for one.

[fatburner2007]

Yeah, you definitely want to start slow based on what shape you are in and gradually increase as your body adjust to it.

I started some HIIT today... I began with about a 4 minute jog for warmup followed by stretching.

I balls-to-the-wall sprinted for about 16 seconds followed by 20 seconds rest.

After 4 iterations of this, I felt like my heart was going to asplode!

You may be in better cardio shape than I am (I thought I was in decent cardio shape... but I've never done ANYTHING like this before) but be aware! I was assuming I could go for 8 iterations just fine... but was I wrong!

Well, at least this give me another goal to attain! Maybe I can be making 8 iterations in 2 weeks?

[fatburner2007]

I thought with Weight HIIT training, you would do one set of each exercise, more along the 10-12 rep range, and then repeat the entire sequence instead of doing a couple of sets of the same exercise and then moving onto the next exercise?

* Focusing mainly on cardio workouts vs. high rep/light weight workouts
Keep your workouts in the hypertrophy zone, 8-12 reps, 3-4 sets.

[VolcomX311]

I thought with Weight HIIT training, you would do one set of each exercise, more along the 10-12 rep range, and then repeat the entire sequence instead of doing a couple of sets of the same exercise and then moving onto the next exercise?

That would be circuit training. That style of almost no rest moving from exercise to exercise is good for fat burn, but the exercises you would perform would be like, bicep curls, straight to shoulder press, to dips, which is fine, but they have real velocity involved. Problem number two is, unless VERY few people attend your gym, have the liberty to move from exercise station to exercise station is limited.

As far as your question, again, what you're describing is circuit training. Power movements correlate much closer to HIIT and if performed in those short rests would have a greater fat loss potential then circuit training. However, do whatever you feel the most comfortable with.

[EasyEJL]

You're not being an *****, the advice given here was to do BOTH.

Number of sets and reps is less of a debate and more of a science of exercise physiology. Intensity and volume quantities in your lift will excite very particular adaption(s). Lifting for power adaption(s), lifting for strength adaption(s) lifting for hypertrophy adaption(s) or lifting for endurance adaption(s) have their respective protocols. This is why we can put together effective sports performance programs, because we can predict and manipulate physical adaption(s) to particular styles of training.

Plus I find that body type and personal physiology has a good bit to do with it. A short small frame ectomorph can have different ranges that work best vs a tall big framed endomorph.

[Neil5585]

Well since this came up I'll just quickly explain what I meant. Yes there are rep ranges that are supposed to work for certain things and generally it's true, but depending on different factors it varies a lot. Someone that's very fast twitch may get hypertrophy from 3-4 reps, and the rep range for hypertrophy can change depending on experience. Sure, 12 reps may be great for many people, but hell, try 50+ reps on leg press and see if your legs don't grow. My bench never progressed hardly at all until I started doing 10x3 and it exploded.

Then you have the topic of sarcomeric and sarcoplasmic hypertrophy. Well shoot of course reps in the 5-8 range are going to do more hypertrophy to the actual contractile protein while reps in the 12+ range are going to do more to the sarcoplasm. So what's best? It's silly. I do many different rep ranges to hit many aspects because they all serve different functions. This is especially true of muscles that contain a lot of different fibers, such as delts, lats, quads, and calves.

[fatburner2007]

Can you give me an example of a typical power movement workout and what kind of exercises these would involve?

That would be circuit training. That style of almost no rest moving from exercise to exercise is good for fat burn, but the exercises you would perform would be like, bicep curls, straight to shoulder press, to dips, which is fine, but they have real velocity involved. Problem number two is, unless VERY few people attend your gym, have the liberty to move from exercise station to exercise station is limited.

As far as your question, again, what you're describing is circuit training. Power movements correlate much closer to HIIT and if performed in those short rests would have a greater fat loss potential then circuit training. However, do whatever you feel the most comfortable with.

[EasyEJL]

I think he means some of the olympic moves like clean and jerks. could be any of the moves that use a lot of the core though, deadlifts come to mind.

[Highlanda01602]

Can you give me an example of a typical power movement workout and what kind of exercises these would involve?

Crossfit.com and Navy Seal Crossfit bring these ideas to their daily workouts. Here's a few examples..

21-15-9 reps, with a running clock (do the work as fast as possible, no breaks between anything if possible)
Powercleans + Pullups
You could hit 21 cleans, then 21 pullups, 15 cleans, 15 pullups.. ect.

Someone mentioned DB snatches earlier..
20 Left Snatch + 20 Right Snatch + 20 Pushups
3 sets for time

You can get real creative, and those sites can really help you develop some really challenging workouts that will dramatically increase athletic performance (not to mention burn fat).

[Neil5585]

In my opinion, for fat loss, lighter lifts like DB snatches suck. I think the goal should be to struggle against heavy loads involving large muscle groups, pushing as fast as you can. For example, squat variations, deadlifts, cleans, C&J, C&P, heavy pullup or row varations, heavy pressing, with an explosive tempo (while controlling the eccentric of course).

It should also be done for reps that are good for you for hypertrophy. For example a real fast twitch guy should do 5 reps to failure, while a less fast twitch guy should do sets of 10-12, and a more slower twitch guy sets much higher. And yeah, I like every set to be to failure for better results. If you get borderline sick from the workouts, all the better.