best way to keep trim stomach while bulking

[Romeoguy62]

I am 20yrs old, 215 lbs, 5'8, 20.7% BF. I have been lifting for a year, but only really seriously for about 6 months. I would say I have been doing a quality bulk for the last 3-4 months.I have quite a bit of belly fat, and pretty much always have. I would like to continue doing cardio but everyone advises against it. Would working my abdominals out hardcore 3x a week also help in reducing the body fat on my stomach? Or would I only see benefits once I cut? I was thinking this as far as abs go
4xfailure crunches
4xfailure bent knee inlcine board leg raises
4xfailure seated leg tucks
4xfailure hanging reverse cruncehs
Then finish with 4x10 (failure at 10) with weighted machine curls.
If I do this on MWF, will my waist line go down? I haven't see much drop in my waist line, however I am now more proportionate. Should I just quit bulking and get cut first and then try to add quality mass? Thanks!

[J.S.N.]

unfortunately you can't really spot reduce by working a muscle near you fat but you can tighten that area up.

really the best thing to do would be cut for a really long time and try to get to 10% or so. 20% is too high and hard on your body. i think about 15% is as high as one should let oneself get when bulking.

[Romeoguy62]

Ok. Well I will begin running more next week. I'll probably go for 45 min per day and bump it up to an hour a day later on. Say I cut my diet down to around 2200-2500 cal a day with the basic diet mentioned in the cutting sticky how long should it take to drop from 20% to 10%? Should I change my reps up as well? I am currently doing 3x8 for arms and 3x20 for legs (3x10 for squats tho)? Should I go up or down on reps? Maybe increase sets?

[Squatman51]

some cardio and clean diet

[Girlyman]

For fatloss don't do intense cardio like running, unless of course you are in such good cardio shape that running keeps you between 60-70% Max heart Rate, which is optimal for fat burn supposedly

[Romeoguy62]

Yes I read that in a seperate post yesterday. I began walking today at 3.5-4mph (changing to keep heart rate in check). My heartrate was ay 120-130 which is about 65%. I kept this pace for 45 minutes. I will try to bump it up to an hour down the road.

[1819]

j s n is right. you can do all the cruches and sit ups in the world and if you continue to hold high body fat you may actually increase your waist size.(muscles will get bigger with same amount of fat on top) check your diet and do your cardio.

[LoneLifter]

For fatloss don't do intense cardio like running, unless of course you are in such good cardio shape that running keeps you between 60-70% Max heart Rate, which is optimal for fat burn supposedly

Took the words right out of my mouth. Tons of info can be found online. Here are a couple links to check out.

http://www.fitzones.com/heartratecalc.htm
http://www.heartmonitors.com/heart_rate_basics.htm

Also, increasing the speed at which you run is not the only way to increase your heart rate while doing cardio. One tip I can suggest is to increase the incline at which you perform your cardio.

[LoneLifter]

Yes I read that in a seperate post yesterday. I began walking today at 3.5-4mph (changing to keep heart rate in check). My heartrate was ay 120-130 which is about 65%. I kept this pace for 45 minutes. I will try to bump it up to an hour down the road.

If you can...do this first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. If you eat prior to performing your cardio, your body will use calories from what you have eaten instead of using stored fat for energy. Remember, diet and cardio are essential when it comes to fat loss and cutting up. Good luck.

-LL

[Romeoguy62]

Yea I did my cardio as soon as I got out of bed. I ate about 30min afterwards.

[LoneLifter]

Yea I did my cardio as soon as I got out of bed. I ate about 30min afterwards.

In the other thread I had mentioned the HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) cycles...you may want to give them a try.

http://www.eas.com/training/hiit/index.asp

If you are in pretty good cardio-vascular shape already, I would go ahead and start out with 2 minute intervals. Also, as mentioned below...I feel that adjusting the grade at which you run/jog is a great way to vary the intensity level...that is if you are on a treadmill. If you are outdoors, running stadiums around a football field is fun.

-LL

[Romeoguy62]

Wow HIIT training sounds like my sorta thing. I'm gonna ask some other members what they think of it too.