Cutting question

K

Kiwi

New Member
I can afford time to train once per day, five or six days per week. I also split my workouts, as I find full body workouts too long.

In order to cut for a few weeks, would I be best to reduce the frequency of my weight workouts in order to introduce some cardio training sessions each week, or should I skip the cardio altogether and just rely on the HST workouts and change in diet to get me lean?

From a pure calorie burning perspective I'm sure that my HST workouts burn as many calories as a cardio session. I just wonder whether for the purpose of cutting if there are any other advantages to cardio over and above a weight workout? For instance does cardio have any blood flow advantages in terms of increasing blood flow to fatty tissue, as I know fatty tissue can tend to have poor circulation.

Thanks.
 
I'm currently cutting but I'm also rather dismayed at how unfit I've got over the last couples of years as I never do cardio...much prefer doing weights :D

So my solution is to ensure that my weights workout only lasts 40 mins max and then I do 20 mins cardio, not at fat burning pace but fairly intense, I'm relying on my diet to reduce calories and cardio to get me fit and increase my fat burning potential at rest...I'm still taking in carbs with my pre and post workout shakes (especially as I'm working out in the morning) and a lot of carbs in my first meal and then eating a lot less carbs in the rest of my meals. Working out 6 x a week.

I've never been a fan of doing cardio at 'fat burning' pace although I know it's very popular with a lot of bodybuilders.

If you're looking for a more scientific response then I'm sure others will chime in, just thought I'd let you know what I was doing and what my preference would be in your situation!

Cheers

Rob
 
I too hate cardio! That being said some people have to have it, but in my opinion unless you are wanting to get down to like 5 % bf, I would prolong it as long as i could and stick with the weights. I would workout 6 days a week keeping sets to normal and upping the frequency of my training. I would keep my rest periods only to 30 seconds between sets and my routine would consist of supersets and compound movements.

The key is to keep as much muscle as possible b/c if you are truely cutting face it you are not going to gain any muscle unless you are steroids.

other than that keep it simple eat clean and if you start dreading the gym or feel burnt out simple cut your sets back but keep up your frequency!
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Joe.Muscle @ Sep. 28 2005,6:12)]I would keep my rest periods only to 30 seconds between sets and my routine would consist of supersets and compound movements.
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Good point - I've also changed my routine into circuit training with mini circuits - I do one set of deads then one set of a chest exercise then one of a back, then I repeat that circuit followed by a compound shoulder exercise, then i do isolations for chest, back and shoulder, then I superset bis and tris...gets the workout done quicker and keeps my hear rate a lot higher as I'm just going straight from one set to another but as each bodypart gets time to rest there shouldn't be any reduction in strength whereas that happens to me if I reduce time between sets for the same exercise.
 
I agree with the other guys. In my experience, high frequency has been a valuable tool when trying to cut. Go 6x a week, watch your diet and let your training do the rest. Adjust your caloric intake accordingly to your current rate of weight loss. This way you should be able to preserve as much muscle as possible.
 
High frequency

Heavy weights - 5s range

High protein intake

Low sugars - I don't know why it makes a difference, but it just seems to work

Cardio - not sure on this, I just increase w/o freq

Keep sessions to 40mins or so, don't overload on metabolic work or anything. You'll prob. find your strength is still there, it just doesn't feel as though it is.
 
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