Doublebase

an HIIT workout is best for sustaining muscle mass and lose body fat? I would like to get my body fat % down but can't afford to lose muscle mass. I was thinking HIIT may be best for this. How much should I cut down my carb intake?

CowPimp

Depends on how much lifting you are doing and how you organize your training. Interval training is useful, but keep in mind it is more stressful on the nervous system than traditional steady state cardio, so you have to consider that when desigining a program that involves HIIT cardio. I usually only include 1-2 sessions of that per week depending on what my resistance training looks like at the time.

Also, what's more important is an appopriately designed diet, and continuing to lift heavy while on a cut. I think that doing cardio at the level most people do it is going to have a pretty insignificant impact on muscle mass for most, though I have heard otherwise from some.

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Gazhole

I think its more helpful that steady state for this, at least thats what i've found myself. I think the whole issue is still really up in the air.

Like CP said, its just gonna be supplementary to your lifting and diet programs.

http://sdatrainingprograms.blogspot.com - Updated 25/04/08

Doublebase

I was thinking about moving to some sort of full body circuit training. I currently have been concentrating on the big compound movements. I also add in unilaterals and some iso core training. I really want to get my bf% down. I know 85% of that is diet but if a certain type of training would help then I will try it. Any program ideas?

goob

100 m sprints 95%+ effort.
rest 30-45 seconds.
Repeat x 10.

That should work. Over in 8-10 minutes.

Gazhole

I think you've got the right idea.

Put as much unilateral work in as you can, stick to mechanical (repeated) effort stuff rather than ME or DE, big compounds.

I always go for fullbody splits in this case aswell, im starting to think theyre the best split for most things tbh with you.

Perhaps add in some stuff like supersets or trisets. Get a lot of metabolic activity going on by supersetting an upper body movement with a lower body movement.

Something like a full body 3x week, 3 supersets per session, each superset contains an upper body and a lower body, and each superset also contains a unilateral and bilateral movement.

Just have different types of movements each day.

I always liked doing a different rep range each superset aswell. I did a program where the first superset was something like 3x8, the second was 3x10, and the third was 3x12.

Add in some HIIT like goob said, and you've got a pretty tough program on your hands.

http://sdatrainingprograms.blogspot.com - Updated 25/04/08

Witchblade

@ main question: no. Steady state and HIIT are different, HIIT isn't better per se.

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thewicked

best advice in this thread i've read composed together.. all solid advice has been offered... but this one sums it up all the way around.

I loved rest/pause when i was bodybuilding (aka taking up the powerliter's plates ) due to its high intensity and highly motivating training style. DC and HIIT are close to the same thing. Find a program that you enjoy...that works for you..and stick with it.

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