more cardio or less for significant body fat reduction?

C

Cbelle

Cathlete
For a 12 week period to lose max body fat, which do you think is best?

1) circuits plus pure cardio

2) full body weights (ME, PH etc) plus 6x/week of cardio

3) PLB/PUB weights plus 6x/week of cardio

4) 3 day splits (GS, SH, PS) plus 6x/week of cardio

OR

Wk 1-3 circuits plus cardio
Wk 4-6 full body plus 6x/week cardio
Wk 7-9 PLB/PUB plus 6x/week of cardio
Wk 10-12 3 day split (GS I think) plus 6x/week of cardio

or is that not enough time to benefit from each format? I want to lose body fat but I don't want to become a skinny fat person. On the other hand, I also don't want to concentrate so much on building muscle that I don't lose any body fat. KWIM?
 
I think mixing up all of the above is the best option. Why the need to do 6 days a week of cardio? How much cardio? That seems like it might be excessive, IMO. You could probably cut that down to 3 or 4 even. I think many people tend to go way overboard on the cardio & think that is what you have to do to burn the fat. It has to be coupled with the weights in a more balanced fashion, along with clean eating. Pound for pound, lean muscle is a metabolizing machine.


Debbie


Peter: Oh my god, Brian, there's a message in my Alphabits. It says, 'Oooooo.'
Brian: Peter, those are Cheerios.
--Family Guy
 
Hi Cbelle - me again. To lose weight I had to drop my calories and REDUCE my cardio - go figure!

Lorrie

Pain is temporary - quitting lasts forever
Candace Grasso, CC-V-6
 
RE: more cardio or less for significant body fat reduct...

After many years of being a cardio junkie and being flat out afraid to take cardio down to less then 5 days a week, I have finally gotten brave and done it! I am doing 3 days of cardio which currently consist of one 30 min run, one 45-60 min run and one other cardio such as step, kickbox or spin for 45-60 mins. I am also doing 3 days of hard weight training. I am seeing fabulous results!!! I only lost 1.5 pounds in a month but my body fat % dropped by a full percentage point in that time! I am leaner and more defined! I am loving it!}(

The same thing will not work for everyone but I would consider upping the weights and reducing the cardio a bit for a while. Give it a chance and you could be pleasantly surprised! I sure was!:)
 
RE: more cardio or less for significant body fat reduct...

Wendy: Can you give us an example of what a typical week's rotation would be for you. I am trying this theory as well, and am not quite sure what will provide results.

Thanks,
lynda
 
RE: more cardio or less for significant body fat reduct...

I took everyone's advice from previous post re: upping weights and I got great results in 3 weeks and will be going into another 3 week course after this recovery week. I definitely feel that I see more definition now and am leaning out. I was doing cardio 4-5 days and total body weights for 2 days. Here was my last round which included 4 days weights and 2-3 cardio days.

Mon: Gym Style upperbody tapes (both of them)
Tues: Amy Bento kickbox extreme (long cardio)
Wed: Gym Style Legs
Thursday: Body Max 2 double upper body premix
Friday: Cardio Fusion (long cardio)
Saturday: Butt n Gutts + (short cardio if had time)
Sunday: Rest Rest

It could have been due to the fact that I probably completely shocked my body.
 
RE: more cardio or less for significant body fat reduct...

Thanks so much for posting this rotation. I build muscle very easily, but I also tend to hang on to the fat. After years of trying to "cardio" it away with 5-6 cardio days and 2-3 weight work days, I have finally conceded that it's not working for me. Your rotation will give me a starting point in creating a rotation to switch things up. How long is your long cardio versus your short cardio?

lynda

P.S. - I'm reading BFFM right now and am loving it!
 
RE: more cardio or less for significant body fat reduct...

Kickbox Extreme and Cardio fusion are both about 70 minutes of cardio. My short cardio would be a 1/2 hour run/walk and most weeks I didn't have time for it but I still got good results.

I think I am doing this one again or substituting 2 of the upper bodies with the P90x upperbody tapes....haven't decided yet.
 
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