I'm trying to cut right now, so I've lightened my lifting and stepped up the aerobic activity. What I'd like to know is if it's possible to go overboard on the aerobics. I've been doing 30-90 minutes on an elliptical daily. Do I need to take a day off from aerobics?

I do a bunch of aerobics so I can afford to eat more :eat:

If you are doing 60-90 minutes on an elliptical for a workout, I'd say you are wasting about... oh, 30-60 minutes of your life everyday. The benefit you are going to get from doing that same exercise after 30-45 minutes is going to drop of significantly. I'd recommend doing LISS cardio in the 30-45 minute range, but I think some HIIT would probably take you a long way toward your goals and would be more interesting, exhausting, and would save you a lot of time.

Alright, cool. Guess I'll just pick up the pace and cut the time. I just like to sweat a lot ~ makes me feel like I'm getting a good workout. I do HIIT also - 8 minutes on a ROM machine.

I'm trying to cut right now, so I've lightened my lifting and stepped up the aerobic activity. What I'd like to know is if it's possible to go overboard on the aerobics. I've been doing 30-90 minutes on an elliptical daily. Do I need to take a day off from aerobics?

I do a bunch of aerobics so I can afford to eat more :eat:

Hypothecially speaking, if I knew that you were going to compete with me up onstage in an upcoming bodybuilding show, and you posed this question up on this site, or another bodybuilding/fitness oriented site, I would immediately come on and say:

"Yes! You've got it right buddy!!:nod: I would actually do more cardio than you are doing and drop the weights even lower than what you're lifting now!! No need to take any time off from cardio at all!!:nono: And YES....you can afford to eat more! MUCH MORE!!!:tucool:
Remember to keep those reps high, and those weights ultra light!"

;)

I'm trying to cut right now, so I've lightened my lifting and stepped up the aerobic activity. What I'd like to know is if it's possible to go overboard on the aerobics. I've been doing 30-90 minutes on an elliptical daily. Do I need to take a day off from aerobics?

I do a bunch of aerobics so I can afford to eat more :eat:

It is possible to go overboard on aerobics, but it's hard to say if you are doing that. 30 minutes a day should be hardly noticable if you are in good cardiovascular fitness. The 90 minutes a day would have to have a reason behind it. 90 minutes of LISS is usually not a good choice if you are trying to lose fat. Short HIIT sessions would be more effective for most people.

By the way, you usually want to avoid working out every day of the week. Your full rest days are important.

Why are you lightening your lifting? That one sounds like a mistake to me, unless you need to deload for a week or so.

I'm trying to cut right now, so I've lightened my lifting and stepped up the aerobic activity. What I'd like to know is if it's possible to go overboard on the aerobics. I've been doing 30-90 minutes on an elliptical daily. Do I need to take a day off from aerobics?

I do a bunch of aerobics so I can afford to eat more :eat:

Diet->Diet->Resistance Training->Higher intensity cardio->Lower intensity cardio

IMO, that's the order of importance for getting rid of fat and preserving muscle.

Just think of the people you see in the gym on the the treadmills slogging away for months (if they stick with it), scrupulously hanging in the "fat burning heart rate zone", yet making no progress. Do you want to be one of them? :)

I love this (http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1526539&cr=) article because it's so right.

Thanks for the article, Mannishboy ~ Good stuff! I think what I'm doing now could qualify as MISS. A few days ago, I upped the intensity of my aerobics so that I was sweating within 5 minutes (as opposed to 15 min before), and pretty well beat by 20 minutes. I've been pushing myself an extra minute each day, and will until I'm doing 45 min MISS.

I started tracking my food intake yesterday. I had about 1850 calories, and my protein/carb/fat split was about 41/41/18. I did 21 minutes MISS yesterday, and I'm currently debating whether or not I should take today off completely. I keep wanting to take a day off, but I find myself craving exercise by the evening and that's a craving I really dont want to suppress...

My BF scale tells me I'm 157.6 @ 19% BF, though I posted pictures and got one response that guesstimated 12%. I'm aiming to cut until I have a 6 pack, enjoying it for a bit, and then bulking again.



Zen - I'm lightening my lifts because A. I stopped taking creatine, and B. I significantly reduced my caloric intake. I simply can't do what I was doing a week ago. I noticed it first in my curls, so I stepped back weights on other lifts where going to failure would be more dangerous (i.e. skull crushers).

Once I've achieved my 6 pack, I intend to take a full week off lifting and aerobics. By that time, I'll be overdue for a rest week, anyway.


Mastover - More cardio, lighter weights, and more food? I don't think I have the muscle mass for that to work for me. I'm going to post my food and workout record in a few days to see what the JSF guru's (such as you & Zen) think :)

Mastover - More cardio, lighter weights, and more food? I don't think I have the muscle mass for that to work for me. I'm going to post my food and workout record in a few days to see what the JSF guru's (such as you & Zen) think :)
I think he was being sarcastic.... ;)

I think he was being sarcastic.... ;)

:blank:
It's hard enough for me to pick up on vocal sarcasm. Textual communications that are not explicitly implied tend to be lost on me...

:blank:
It's hard enough for me to pick up on vocal sarcasm. Textual communications that are not explicitly implied tend to be lost on me...

LOL, I don't know if I was being sarcastic, but simply trying to relate a story. :) Read it again a few times to decipher my message ;)

In other words.... HEAVY WEIGHT, LESS CARDIO, STRICTER DIETING!

Thanks for clarifying to our friend DQ, Foley :)

Zen - I'm lightening my lifts because A. I stopped taking creatine, and B. I significantly reduced my caloric intake. I simply can't do what I was doing a week ago. I noticed it first in my curls, so I stepped back weights on other lifts where going to failure would be more dangerous (i.e. skull crushers).

Once I've achieved my 6 pack, I intend to take a full week off lifting and aerobics. By that time, I'll be overdue for a rest week, anyway.

IMO, if your getting weaker like that already, you've likely clamped down on the nutrition too much. IMO, you should nearly always try to be adding weight to the bar, doing more work at the same weight, increasing workout density, etc. There may be exceptions at extremely low bf manipulations, but to most of us, it's not worth it to lose much strength on a cut and not really necessary.

Progress will slow on a deficit, but it doesn't have to stop.

And creatine shouldn't make just huge amounts of difference. It might give that added edge to a workout by allowing more sets/reps, but it won't make you immediately significantly weaker when you stop taking it.

I don't stop taking it because I'm cutting, either. I don't really see the point other than some like to cycle a lot of their supplements. To me, it's just another nutrient my body needs.

Hmm... Well, today is a lifting day. I guess I'll shoot for what I was doing before. I'll give it a try and let y'all know what happens.

Zen - I'm lightening my lifts because A. I stopped taking creatine, and B. I significantly reduced my caloric intake. I simply can't do what I was doing a week ago. I noticed it first in my curls, so I stepped back weights on other lifts where going to failure would be more dangerous (i.e. skull crushers).

If you are consuming 1800 calories, or thereabouts, the strategy here would be not to lighten your lifts, but to reduce total work volume and train just as heavy (or heavier) as if you were on a bulk. Example: if you were doing 4 sets of squats with 225# for 6-10 reps, 3 sets of leg presses with 450# for 8-12 reps, 3 sets of leg curls with 90# for 8-10 reps, ending with 3 sets of SLD's with 135# for 10 reps, I'd keep all weights where they are but reduce the total volume by 25-50 percent without going to failure except possibly with the final set of an exercise. So with that said, here's what the new workout would probably look like:
Squats: 2 x 235 x 6-9
Leg Press: 2 x 470 x 9-11
Leg Curls: 2 x 90 x 8-10
SLD: 2 x 155 x 7-9

You've increased the weights, lowered total sets, reduced training to failure (except possibly on the last set) and forced your body into maintaining, and even possibly building muscle on a hypo-caloric diet.

Creatine is also a supplement I prefer using especially on a cut. Just something to consider.

Good luck whatever you decide. :)

If you are consuming 1800 calories, or thereabouts, the strategy here would be not to lighten your lifts, but to reduce total work volume and train just as heavy (or heavier) as if you were on a bulk. Example: if you were doing 4 sets of squats with 225# for 6-10 reps, 3 sets of leg presses with 450# for 8-12 reps, 3 sets of leg curls with 90# for 8-10 reps, ending with 3 sets of SLD's with 135# for 10 reps, I'd keep all weights where they are but reduce the total volume by 25-50 percent without going to failure except possibly with the final set of an exercise. So with that said, here's what the new workout would probably look like:
Squats: 2 x 235 x 6-9
Leg Press: 2 x 470 x 9-11
Leg Curls: 2 x 90 x 8-10
SLD: 2 x 155 x 7-9

You've increased the weights, lowered total sets, reduced training to failure (except possibly on the last set) and forced your body into maintaining, and even possibly building muscle on a hypo-caloric diet.

Creatine is also a supplement I prefer using especially on a cut. Just something to consider.

Good luck whatever you decide. :)


Another valuable lesson from Mastover. When might the book be published? I for one would buy it for sure,....:tucool:

>>>--->

If you are consuming 1800 calories, or thereabouts, the strategy here would be not to lighten your lifts, but to reduce total work volume and train just as heavy (or heavier) as if you were on a bulk.

I was going to say that.

The other approach is to keep lifting the same and reduce the cardio volume.

Another valuable lesson from Mastover. When might the book be published? I for one would buy it for sure,....:tucool:

>>>--->

LOL, not so much a "lesson", but simply a personal insight. I've got about 25 years of thoughts, ramblings, perspectives, musings, opinions, etc., jotted down on various pieces of scrap paper strewn all over the place. That's as close to a book as I'll get. :(

However, you've got guys like zen, chic, and actual published authors here on this site. Once I can learn enough to be on their level (which I doubt) I might write a children's book. :D

However, you've got guys like zen, chic, and actual published authors here on this site. Once I can learn enough to be on their level (which I doubt) I might write a children's book. :D

I certainly wouldn't put myself on your level yet.

My strength seems to only have dropped on a couple lifts. I failed at 2 pullups less than a week ago, and curls were harder. I actually did a full set more DB overhead pulls than the prior week simply because they felt so easy. Everything else was normal.

I changed up my cardio routine, too. Now I'm doing 20 min fasted LISS every morning, and 30 minutes MISS in the afternoon/evening. It's been going quite well for me ~ I trimmed an inch off my waist in 3 weeks while keeping my arms the exact same size.

With the purchase of a pocket-sized notebook, I have been tracking all my food intake, and found it fairly easy to stay within the 1800-2000 Cal range with a 40/40/20 split. I have not, however, been counting calories from veggies (most of the time). I will never limit my vegetable intake, cuz God made the stuff and I couldn't possibly eat enough of it to make it bad for me. I keep my fruits in check, though ;)