HIIT on workout days?

[stoopid]

Well I'm mostly cutting. I was taking in about 2k calories a day while cutting but I decided to start doing some HIIT so I can burn fat and still boost my calories to make sure it's fat and not muscle I'm losing.

My HIIT is jumping jacks. I go balls out, but I doubt it's as good as sprinting. The reason I'm doing jumping jacks is because I use little hand weights to work my shoulders to get them toned up. That is the main muscle I'm wanting to get toned up since I've never really been proud of it compared to the rest of my upper body.

But would it be bad to do that on days that I lift weights for my shoulders(1 day a week)? I want to make sure it can recover, but what I'm doing is mostly a light workout just to get it toned up, not to really add strength.

[chrisaus]

I think you have your info a little mixed up here.

a) Fat distribution is not upto you and will not be determined by the specific exercises or ROM you use. So utilizing your shoulders with resistance during cardio will not shred fat just from that area.

b) Upping the calories and offsetting them with cardio is fine, if you want to prevent muscle break down, make sure you're getting an adequate amount of protein.

c) If you want more upper body mass, shoulder mass, any mass.. you're going to have to bulk, not cut. Obviously muscle mass comes from weight training, but your DIET will depict whether you pack it on, maintain it, or lose it. So don't count on building muscle anywhere if you're on a calorie deficit diet, in fact, be happy if you are able to maintain what you have.

d) Don't tell me you're a "light weight high rep to cut up" person. I'm not even going to start on that.

e) You can do your jumping jack cardio or whatever with the shoulder work incorporated into it, so long as you have adequate recovery from any workout where you used your shoulders previously. Don't go doing shoulders on a monday then doing these jumping jack things on the tuesday. I don't recommend combining heavy weight resistance whilst the heart rate and respatory system are constantly elevated. Doing cardio after weights is fine imo, but it's debated to no end. Glycogen levels are depleted, so I don't agree with doing high intensity cardio after weights, I know I'd pass out, but moderate is fine... Whatever works for you.


Good luck on the CUT or BULK, not tone.

[Lee_5]

Well I'm mostly cutting. I was taking in about 2k calories a day while cutting but I decided to start doing some HIIT so I can burn fat and still boost my calories to make sure it's fat and not muscle I'm losing.

My HIIT is jumping jacks. I go balls out, but I doubt it's as good as sprinting. The reason I'm doing jumping jacks is because I use little hand weights to work my shoulders to get them toned up. That is the main muscle I'm wanting to get toned up since I've never really been proud of it compared to the rest of my upper body.

But would it be bad to do that on days that I lift weights for my shoulders(1 day a week)? I want to make sure it can recover, but what I'm doing is mostly a light workout just to get it toned up, not to really add strength.

HIIT isnt going 'balls out'. its intervening high intensity with lower intensity. so if you;re going balls out on jumping jacks its just high intensity training, not high intensity interval training.

heres a good link about HIIT http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/wotw40.htm

also holding hand weights doing jumping jacks wont 'tone' your shoulders.

work your shoulders when you lift weights along with the rest of your muscles obviously. do HIIT to lose fat and do something simple like jogging/ sprints, cycling, stairmaster, swimming, rowing machine. don't attempt to add weight when you do cardio to concentrate on a certain muslce.

weights are for muslces. HIIt is to lose fat, improve endurance.

also, you may need to up your calories. 2000cals seems pretty low to me.