Successful De-Bulk??

S

Stacy

Cathlete
I want to decrease my muscle mass as my clothes are getting too tight. (It's not fat) I want to maintain my strength but not sure how to go about doing this. I thought about laying off the weights for a few weeks but I dont want to undo all my hard work and I don't want to become too soft and mushy.

I have been researching this and find conflicting answers which is no big surprise. I was researching how gymnasts train, thinking they are super strong with dense muscle but alot of them do not have particularly large muscle girth. I didn't come up with anything specific there.

Anyone do a successful de-bulk without losing too much strength, yet maintaining nice, hard looking muscles??
 
When I was in college I took a personal training class and gained A LOT of mass with lifting heavy while my body fat percentage went down. When the class was over, I was anxious to return to my former size as all shirts were too tight in the shoulders/biceps and all pants were too tight in the thighs. I found that pushups and pull-ups maintained my upper body strength nicely and I did barre type exercises for the lower body. For cardio, I switched to more steady state workouts instead of mostly plyometrics. It took about a month and then I was comfortable with my smaller size once again...yet I still had visible "cut" muscles.:)
 
I gain mass in my upper body easily. What helped me debulk was doing horizontal conditioning workouts. These are the only workouts I've done that have made my upper body lean and defined.
 
Maybe focus on circuit training that incorporates weights rather than splits, and total body workouts aimed at endurance rather than strength. And for cardio, interval training like the imaxes, running, and steady state cardio. Running and hill walking/hiking with weight bearing (use weighted vest to replace loaded backpack) leaves me the leanest.

Clare
 
bmccartney said:
When I was in college I took a personal training class and gained A LOT of mass with lifting heavy while my body fat percentage went down. When the class was over, I was anxious to return to my former size as all shirts were too tight in the shoulders/biceps and all pants were too tight in the thighs. I found that pushups and pull-ups maintained my upper body strength nicely and I did barre type exercises for the lower body. For cardio, I switched to more steady state workouts instead of mostly plyometrics. It took about a month and then I was comfortable with my smaller size once again...yet I still had visible "cut" muscles.:)
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While I wasn't in college I did have a similar experience and also switched to doing more barre, Tracey Anderson, and lots of steady state cardio. I agree it took about a month and my clothes fit again.
 
Phyllis, besides your clothes fitting again, did you like your body composition? I'm trying to avoid losing muscle mass at the expense of having my measurements just being smaller if that makes sense. I like the body fat to muscle ratio I have I just the overall girth to be smaller.

I have been doing circuits and splitting upper and lower into 2 days for the past few weeks, I've also been running once a week and doing at least one plyo workout.

I'm thinking of trying the barre + steady state cardio for awhile.

I now have 6 barre workouts in my collection :)
 
Stacy said:
I want to decrease my muscle mass as my clothes are getting too tight. (It's not fat) I want to maintain my strength but not sure how to go about doing this. I thought about laying off the weights for a few weeks but I dont want to undo all my hard work and I don't want to become too soft and mushy.

I have been researching this and find conflicting answers which is no big surprise. I was researching how gymnasts train, thinking they are super strong with dense muscle but alot of them do not have particularly large muscle girth. I didn't come up with anything specific there.

Anyone do a successful de-bulk without losing too much strength, yet maintaining nice, hard looking muscles??
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I'm thinking for you, Jillian Michaels, in that latest one of hers she looks absolutely painted into those capris. Over the last couple years, I don't know of anyone who looks as consistently slim, strong, and toned as she does.

Possible exception, Tracy Anderson, but then you knew I was going to say that. It doesn't take near as much to maintain as it does to build muscle in the first place. You're a JM fan are you not?
 
My "bulk" really became noticeable midway thru STS Meso 2 and definitely by the end of M3, at that point I was do 30 lb dumbbell flies and benching 100+ lb so I'm hesistent to continue lifting heavy. I'd describe my body type as Meso-Endo and I'm 5'2" I was starting to feel like a short and stocky Hulk.

I think JM is okay, I have a few of her workouts and I cant seem to make myself do them consistently.

Thanks for the link to the Wrist info. My wrists dont hurt when I used hex dumbbells for pushups etc, just find it hard to work with them that way for all the exercises in the HC workouts.

Keep the replies and suggestions coming I really appreciate them!
 
Stacy said:
Phyllis, besides your clothes fitting again, did you like your body composition? I'm trying to avoid losing muscle mass at the expense of having my measurements just being smaller if that makes sense. I like the body fat to muscle ratio I have I just the overall girth to be smaller.

Stacy. I did a 2 month rotation of FeFit and was surprised at how effective it was for slimming down and tightening everything. Six days a week and often 2 half hour workouts back to back.
I followed that up with P57 which is my all time favorite barre workouts. I am finishing again a 2 month rotation and am really happy with the results.
Maybe you would like something from DreamBody. They are too fast for me but many find them very effective.
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Stacy said:
Thanks for sharing your experience! How much cardio did you do each week?
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I think it was 3-4 60 min sessions/week. I was running at that time.

Currently what seems to work for me per week is: 1 total body strengthening with weights and body weight; 1 kick box; 1 barre; 1 power yoga; 1 Hiit; 1 bootcamp/circuit. I have a pull-up bar in a doorway and use it most days along with handstands just for fun. Of course it changes a little week to week, but I found that splits bulk me up so fast. STS Meso 1 was fine but then by Meso 2 I was thicker than I liked.
 
Bethany, thanks for the info

Phyllis, I have the Dream Body Cardio set and have so far made it through 2 of the workouts. I'm working my way through them slowly. So far the first too are crazy fast! Not sure yet what I think about them yet. I tend to try one on a day I have some time to mentally learn a new workout.

I'm not interested in purchasing any new workouts at this time. Do you know what workouts out there might be similar to FeFit?? I'm not too familiar with these. Are they cardio & weights in the same workout??
 
FeFit is similar but slower and not so frantic. I bought DreamBody but returned it. Just too fast for me. FeFit is more barre I guess. Uses light weights has simple cardio intervals like jumping jacks and are about half hour in length. At first glacé They seem easy but I really started enjoying them and doubling up. There are many 10 min. Clips on YouTube that you can check out. I also thought I would find the instructor annoying but really ended up liking her.
 
Stacy said:
I want to decrease my muscle mass as my clothes are getting too tight. (It's not fat) I want to maintain my strength but not sure how to go about doing this. I thought about laying off the weights for a few weeks but I dont want to undo all my hard work and I don't want to become too soft and mushy.

I have been researching this and find conflicting answers which is no big surprise. I was researching how gymnasts train, thinking they are super strong with dense muscle but alot of them do not have particularly large muscle girth. I didn't come up with anything specific there.

Anyone do a successful de-bulk without losing too much strength, yet maintaining nice, hard looking muscles??
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Stacy,

How do you feel about Jari Love? I've been doing her Get Ripped 1000 and Get Extremely Ripped 1000 for the past few months and really enjoy them. I also do Ripped to the Core, and Slim and Lean. Those might be good to help you get lean while maintaining strength. Most of my Cathe workouts are limited to cardio work: X10, Imaxes, Cardio Core Circuit, Hiit.

I also do Horizontal Conditioning, Tonique, Dream Body and the Classic Firms (Vols. 1-4). The Classic Firms might be good, too, if you aren't bothered by the dated look of them and use weights that challenge you (not super heavy, though).

I put on muscle easily and have tended to bulk in the past, so I have to be very careful about the strength training I do. Plus I never do splits, always total body workouts. I've had success with these workouts. I've gotten much stronger, my cardio endurance is up, yet I'm still lean with some muscle definition.
 
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Stacy said:
I'd describe my body type as Meso-Endo and I'm 5'2" I was starting to feel like a short and stocky Hulk.
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Hi Stacy,

I have never experienced a "bulk" and I have not felt , at any point I needed to decrease mass. My body type has not got endomorphism as such so I presume that is the reason I have never had this issue.

Now based on your body description above, I would recommend high reps weight training 1or 2 per week.(total body such as power hour, CTX and high reps, circuits with light weight) and long cardio maximum twice per week. No plyometric, at least till you get the issue described resolved.:cool:

Wish you the best of luck.

Kind Regards,
 
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