Burning Fat - Recommendations?

Phatelement · 10-09-2008, 11:59 AM

Hey guys, Im a newbie here

How many days a week for cardio do you guys recommend for effective fat burning?

I weigh 188 and im 5 6" so im a fatty

But i do have a good amount of muscle on me.

My goal is to cut down to 160 without sacraficing my strength, so hopefully my muscles will show through and look bigger!

jon8105 · 10-09-2008, 12:03 PM

Why not just pick a good weight training workout program and change your diet? Just doing cardio will cause you to loose strength, but you can loose fat by weight-lifting and eating right. Or at least it has worked for me.

Phatelement · 10-09-2008, 12:24 PM

I do weight training and diet.

My routine at the gym is 10 minutes of warming up. then lifting for 30-45 minutes, then back to the treadmill for 30-45 minutes.

I just wanna know how many days a week other people are doing cardio and still burning fat. I feel like i can do cardio everyday, or 6 days/week but im wondering if its too much.

Through diet and exercise ive gone from 199 to 188 in 4 weeks. I would like to speed up the process, or see if theres anything slowing it down

Tyler44 · 10-09-2008, 12:30 PM

Do cardio everyday, it wont hurt you. Youll notice yourself leaning out and getting bigger @ the sametime.

Ashysda1 · 10-09-2008, 01:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phatelement

Hey guys, Im a newbie here

How many days a week for cardio do you guys recommend for effective fat burning?

I weigh 188 and im 5 6" so im a fatty

But i do have a good amount of muscle on me.

My goal is to cut down to 160 without sacraficing my strength, so hopefully my muscles will show through and look bigger!

Any sort of lifting will get your bodyfat percent down but if you do less weight more reps youll be cutting down bodyfat even faster, especially if you do it with cardio. The question your asking basically is what i asked myself and google a bunch of times, Can you lose fat and gain muscle at the same time? The answer is yes, but its a much slower process then if you were to do one at a time. If you want faster results... lift light and do cardio everyday..

rolla20z · 10-09-2008, 01:55 PM

For cardio that will really shed fat instead of the traditional 45-60 minutes of steady state cardio in your "target heart rate" for fat burning (which is a myth for true fat loss anyway) I want you to go for interval training. If you're not sure what interval training is, it's when you take train at high levels of intensity, broken up with short bouts of "recovery" between. This works excellent for melting off body fat while maintaining-or even building-lean muscle mass. Look at sprinters physiques; lean, muscular, well built. Not exactly the size of a body builder but that's not their goal either.

Ashysda1 · 10-09-2008, 02:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rolla20z

For cardio that will really shed fat instead of the traditional 45-60 minutes of steady state cardio in your "target heart rate" for fat burning (which is a myth for true fat loss anyway) I want you to go for interval training. If you're not sure what interval training is, it's when you take train at high levels of intensity, broken up with short bouts of "recovery" between. This works excellent for melting off body fat while maintaining-or even building-lean muscle mass. Look at sprinters physiques; lean, muscular, well built. Not exactly the size of a body builder but that's not their goal either.

It isn't a myth of steady state cardio, ive lost 25 lbs like that.. but hit a brick wall and started doing HIIT cardio... Id say its better to start getting your endurance up with long amounts of steady upscale running then high intensity.. high intensity interval training can be difficult for beginners.

Phatelement · 10-09-2008, 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyler44

Do cardio everyday, it wont hurt you. Youll notice yourself leaning out and getting bigger @ the sametime.

cool just what i needed to hear

Phatelement · 10-09-2008, 02:10 PM

and yeah ive been switching to lighter weights lately. like one week i did 3 sets of 20 reps. and now i switched it up to 3 x 8-12 repts

i try not to keep my cardio steady, its usually mixed with running and then walking. Thats the only way i can get the sweat going.

I hate how some people say "you cant build muscle and burn fat at the same time, you should do only cardio". It bugs the crap outta me. Im like youre retarded, youve never had to worry about losing weight in your life, so dont give me advice you know nothing about

Ashysda1 · 10-09-2008, 02:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phatelement

and yeah ive been switching to lighter weights lately. like one week i did 3 sets of 20 reps. and now i switched it up to 3 x 8-12 repts

i try not to keep my cardio steady, its usually mixed with running and then walking. Thats the only way i can get the sweat going.

I hate how some people say "you cant build muscle and burn fat at the same time, you should do only cardio". It bugs the crap outta me. Im like youre retarded, youve never had to worry about losing weight in your life, so dont give me advice you know nothing about

lol i was 240 LBS at 26% bodyfat... i ran and lifted.. and slowly but surely.. im at 195 lbs.. 15% Bf now.. 1 year later. (never had the smallest bit of muscle in my life.)