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2005/05/31, 10:58 PM
I have been flipping through these forums for about a day now and have been making an attempt to plan a good work out regime. I filled out a workout profile and got a series of workouts to do each day which is great. Though I still have a few questions about different things I read from all of you pros on various subjects. If I could get some clarifacation it would be very much appreciated. From what I understand the best way to slim down and get abs is to A. Eat 6 clean meals a day keeping the calories down enough to cause a deficit, take a multi vitamin, and eat 1 pound protien for every pound of body weight. B. Do weights in the morning with a 5 minute warm up and stretch before lifting. Only lift each muscle group once a week and be sure to concentrate on the large muscles like back and legs because they burn the most calories C. Do 20 minutes of HIIT 3 times a week 6 hours after lifting. Or should it be you can do HIIT 5 times a week? Though Im confussed here because some of you seem to say 45 mins to 60 mins of cardio is just as good and HIIT is just in the case that your in a hurry and is no better no worse than long consistent cardio. While other people seem to say HIIT is the best hands down for burning fat. Allso I take it HIIT can be done on anysort of cario machine D. Should you do Abs 3 days a week, 5 days a week, or once a week? And should you do them for 5, 10, 15 minutes, half hour what? I really appreciate all the help i can get. I love this site though and it has tought me more in a day than I'v known about working out in the past 2 years. Thank you everyone for all your informative posts!
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2005/06/01, 04:54 AM
I'm not sure of the answer to all of your questions, but I'll address the ones about HIIT -
You are correct that you can do HIIT on any cardio machine.
HIIT done properly is VERY intense. It is perfectly normal to be crying for your mother during your final interval :)
If you haven't done it before, I would recommend starting by only doing it once a week, with steady pace cardio at other times. I would certainly not recommend doing it any more than 3 times a week, and avoid doing it on legs day.
HIIT is very good for burning fat because it burns a lot of calories at the time, and also raises your metabolism afterwards, causing further calorie burn (steady pace cardio has negligible effects on metabolism post workout).
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The path to righteousness is a cycle path
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2005/06/01, 06:27 AM
however you still need to incorporate regular cardio into your workout regimen.. it is good to build up endurance, and doing HIIT all week would be too much.
in terms of your ab program, you just have to find what works for you.. personally i train 3 times a week, about 15-20 mins per session, and i find this is good for me. some people can get by with once a week, some every day.
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2005/06/01, 09:26 AM
Think of cardio like this in terms of workouts:
V02 - Oxygen efficiency
LT - Lactate Threshhold
RE - Recovery / Economy
Textbook wise, you should only do 1 V02 workout and 1 LT workout a week. The rest of your workouts should be RE. Reason being is the same that you don't overtrain muscle groups while lifting.
Against my own words, I do HIIT 2 times/week. I hate it. It's intense and The Princess hit the nail on the head about crying for mommie. These are the workouts that I have come to dread - no fun at all. They also make a HUGE difference in your physcial and mental capabilities. I firmly believe that I have shown most of my improvement in pace and VO2 via HIIT workouts. One indication of a great HIIT workout is still sweating after my shower.
I would recommend doing your HIIT during your off-lifting days. Assuming lifting is going to be your primary focus, any cardio that you do during your lifting days, keep it to RE.
If your going to be doing your cardio on the treadmill, the following URL may help you determine appropriate paces:
http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/Running%20University/Article%201/calculator3.htm
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_Shane
I dont have to outrun the bear - just you....
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2005/06/01, 11:32 AM
Thanks for the advice everyone. I tried HIIT for the first time today and today is actully the second day of me making another attempt at quiting smoking. I have tried to quit a number of times, but never with hard core workouts. HIIT really did HIT me hard. My lungs feel great and I have way more energy than I usally do when I quit smoking. And man were you guys right about the sweating. I did an ab side crunch workout 2 or 3 minutes after my 5 minute cool down from a 20 minute HIIT workout and there was jsut sweat raining off of me. It was great. Thanks again! :big_smile:
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2005/06/01, 01:15 PM
Congrats! On both the HIIT and the quit smoking thing.
I quit nicotine a year ago (3rd time was the charm - so far) - the patch helped me get over the hump.
I can't imagine doing HIIT with smoker's lung - you've got my respect!
Keep it up!
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_Shane
I dont have to outrun the bear - just you....
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2005/06/01, 07:26 PM
Thanks spamalope! Congrats to you too for quiting. I think Iv tried over 20 times, but Im really hoping this will be the one. But ya know the weird thing is I have been able to do hour to hour and a half long workouts staying between 165 to 180 heart rate consistently for an hour and a half 5 days a week. I found out that was to long to be working out. But I tihnk somehow my lungs were still getting strong even with smoking and having smoked for 5 years. So with that doing HIIT was'nt the end of me and I could do the whole 5 min warm up and 5 min cool down and 20 mins of switching each minute from 4 miles an hour to 8.3 miles an hour. I don't understand it, but Id still rather not be smoking. Thanks for the motivation again. :)
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