Low intensity cardio vs high intensity cardio

[zebianal]

I'm losing fat way too slowly with the cardio i am doing. I am still at around 15% and would like to possibly go to 10% before summer starts. I currently weigh about 195 pounds if that helps and i am still getting newbie gains from weightlifting (this is around my 3rd month).

Did you guys find higher intensity cardio alot better for losing body fat than lower intensity cardio? I am thinking about switching to higher intensity cardio (i do cardio tuesday and thursday) and i would like to hear someone's input on it and if it worked for them.

My body is really stubborn about losing the extra fat and before anyone asks yeah i got my diet in check. I don't eat any junk food, fast food, pop or any of that stuff. Everything i eat is healthy and i keep bread to a minimal because i heard it is really bad for people trying to lose weight.

Which do you think is better for optimal fat loss?

 

[GFR]

I'm losing fat way too slowly with the cardio i am doing. I am still at around 15% and would like to possibly go to 10% before summer starts. I currently weigh about 195 pounds if that helps and i am still getting newbie gains from weightlifting (this is around my 3rd month).

Did you guys find higher intensity cardio alot better for losing body fat than lower intensity cardio? I am thinking about switching to higher intensity cardio (i do cardio tuesday and thursday) and i would like to hear someone's input on it and if it worked for them.

My body is really stubborn about losing the extra fat and before anyone asks yeah i got my diet in check. I don't eat any junk food, fast food, pop or any of that stuff. Everything i eat is healthy and i keep bread to a minimal because i heard it is really bad for people trying to lose weight.

Which do you think is better for optimal fat loss?

Weight loss is 95% diet

 

[mike456]

low intensity cardio for a minimum of 20 min in the morning be4 eating or after weight training

 

[mrmark]

low intensity cardio for a minimum of 20 min in the morning be4 eating or after weight training

that's a bad idea before eating in the morning. it will make yourself even more catabolic. to maintain muscle mass, perform cardio seperately to weights.

as foreman wisely said, it's down to diet as how to much fat you loose.

 

[P-funk]

low intensity cardio for a minimum of 20 min in the morning be4 eating or after weight training

nope.

 

[CowPimp]

Are you counting calories? If not, then worry about that before you worry about your cardio.

It seems to me that interval training is superior to solid state cardio for weight loss, but you should have no problem getting below 15% body fat without even worrying about all that. Your diet is probably not as good as you think it is. Post it in the diet & nutrition section.

 

[zapedy]

can u post a quick interval routine please, the seconds flat out / resting etc or give a link to one, thanks! sorry i tried searching but the search isnt great - u end up getting peoples journels and stuff coming up!

 

[CowPimp]

can u post a quick interval routine please, the seconds flat out / resting etc or give a link to one, thanks! sorry i tried searching but the search isnt great - u end up getting peoples journels and stuff coming up!

Do an advanced search. You can isolate the search to certain sections of the forum.

Anyway, interval training simply consists of periods of anaerobic exercise mixed with period of aerobic exercise. I like a 1:3 ratio of anaerobic activity:active rest. You could do 15 second sprints and 45 seconds of walking, or 1 minute of fast paced jogging with 3 minutes of light jogging, or any combination thereof. You could use different intervals if you prefer, but that is a decent starting place. As you become more conditioned you can reduce your active rest periods as a method of progression.

 

[zapedy]

jeez just tried those! i've always been quite fit from playin lots of sport but just doing 10 sprints using 15:45 seconds was a killer! is it best to do these 3 times a week or mix it up wiv some continuous cardio?

 

[CowPimp]

jeez just tried those! i've always been quite fit from playin lots of sport but just doing 10 sprints using 15:45 seconds was a killer! is it best to do these 3 times a week or mix it up wiv some continuous cardio?

Depends how many days per week you are lifting, and at what intensity you are lifting. Also, it depends on how frequently you train your legs. Sprinting can actually cause significant protein degradation. Probably a couple times per week is as much as I would do it, but if you're only training legs once per week then you might be able to do it for an extra session. Conversely, if you train legs three times per week then you might only want to do it once per week.

If you want to perform cardio another day or two each week then some solid state cardio would probably be fine. You may also consider some low intensity (In terms of weight moved) circuit training; this would allow you to ramp up your heart rate pretty high without the microtrauma that you would experience during bouts of sprinting.