Hit Cardio

[Kaddi]

What would be some good examples of HIT Cardio, i guess i'm still stuck in the whole military mindframe for cardio to run as far as i can as fast as i can, pre bulking i was doing 4 miles in rite around 32 min 5 times a week, this is of course before i educated myself in muscle retention and i lost alot of strength but didnt seem to lose all that much fat with the weight, now after bulking 173-193lbs and doing no cardio for 4 months i want to do this rite and get a sample for how much muscle i have gained and so i figured to put myself into the mindframe of preparing for a contest as the best motivation. what are some suggestions i can get from the gurus here as far as the best means to cut hard for a contest even if its only a contest with myself for my own personal satisfaction.

thanks of lords of the muscle
kaddi

[Mark21087]

A good one would be the stair stepper b/c you can go really fast without worrying about falling off.

[freaker]

HIIT cardio is pretty easy as far as how to do it, it's the doing it that's hard. As far as running, do walk back sprints. Do 20 of them in 20 minutes and see how you feel. After warming up and stretching, sprint roughly 100 yards. Take the remaining 45-50 seconds to slow down and jog back. Then do the same thing 19 more times. Actually if you're just starting out, you might only want to do 10 sprints. I did 10 sprints on Saturday and my legs are still sore. You can do any kind of intense activity with HIIT cardio. You just do switch from high intensity to medium-low intensity. You get yourself winded with the high intensity interval and use the medium-low interval to catch your breath before you do another high intensity interval.

[Kaddi]

so the sprints are preferrable to say running the 4 miles, in 40 minutes?

[freaker]

Originally posted by Kaddi
so the sprints are preferrable to say running the 4 miles, in 40 minutes?

Definitely

[Kaddi]

about how often a week, should i be doing this cardio? Currently i do 15x100yd sprint/walkbacks per week in the morning before i eat, and then up it 2 sprints per week to keep the intensity high up till say 25ish after 25 i was plannin on just tryin to decrease my sprint time after that so my time wouldn't go over 25+/- minutes. Also i guess i need some more structure on my diet, i dont really know what i'm doing wrong, i've been keepin my protein high and carbs low with lots of greens as my veggies and my bf% just doesnt seem to be dropping after about 4 weeks. Any thoughts?

Thanks

[JMartin]

I was doing the same thing you were about one month ago with the 40 minute runs and had the same problem. Now I'm bulkinguntil Februaury, but really want to try what you're doing with the spints. I hope you succeeed! Keep posting I'm interested in your results.

[Kaddi]

well here i am a few weeks later, i'm dropping my bf pretty low now, i would say i'm around 9% from 14% last posting, 4 times a week, hardcore short cardio 25 min a shot. with 5 small meals a day, largest in the morning with smallest in the evening before bed. Its getting close to time to start hitting the tanning bed and showing off the six pack, i'm gonna crunch for 4 more weeks, of cutting and i should have my bf down to around 4-6% by then hopefully.

[Mark21087]

Originally posted by Kaddi
well here i am a few weeks later, i'm dropping my bf pretty low now, i would say i'm around 9% from 14% last posting, 4 times a week, hardcore short cardio 25 min a shot. with 5 small meals a day, largest in the morning with smallest in the evening before bed. Its getting close to time to start hitting the tanning bed and showing off the six pack, i'm gonna crunch for 4 more weeks, of cutting and i should have my bf down to around 4-6% by then hopefully.

If you aren't preparing for a contest, there is no need to get your bodyfat down to 4-5%.

[Kaddi]

well i've still got a layer all be it thinner now of fat over my abs as well as some grippable fat on my lower back that i'm aiming to get rid of. Aside from that i concede that there would probably be no realistic point outside of a competitional basis to do this, i see this as a competition with myself, to see where i stand on a muscular level, after this cutting cycle, i aim to slowly build on my frame and try to maintain as lean a body while doing so. thanks for the input though.

[jay1514929]

If your gym has spinning, I suggest you try a class.

[Kaddi]

spinning? whats that?

[pimphat]

Spinning are those classes with the minimalistic exercies bikes. Basically just pedals and a wheel with adjustable resistance. The classes have HIT incorporated usually.

[jay1514929]

Spinning is a type of bicycle training that is both incredibly cardio vascular and high intensity.

Actually it is more than a simply stationairy bike but you are pretty much right. The bike has a weighted flywheel and the objective is to pedal with resistance and then release resistance and pedal nearly as fast as possible. You follow circuits this way... Give it a try sometime.

[Kaddi]

sounds quite interesting, i'll have to give it a try.