Workout questions

[onlyatest]

I've been lifting for years and had great success last year putting on quite a bit of muscle. With the muscle came the fat though. I am at a point where for health reasons, I have to lose weight bad! heres my question. Whats the best type of workout? high reps/light weight or low reps, heavy weights. My passion has always been the heavy lifting but I'd rather lift light and be healthy than be fat and worried. Heres my thread about dieting that i've been getting great info on.

http://forums.anabolicreview.com/sho...02#post3300802

here's my stats

Male
5'9"
22yrs old
263- 28.8% bf!!!

I would love to get my body fat around 10-12% but do not want to lose the size that I have worked hard to gain. what do you suggest?

[MuscleScience]

Cardio my friend, 55-65 of max heart rate. for at least 30 mins 4-7 days a week. Lower intensities of cardio will not strip muscle as some people believe. Only severe caloric restrictions with crazy amounts of cardio will strip muscle. Your body burns less than 4% of its total caloric expenditure using proteins. So if you do cardio and have a good diet and are not running 20 miles a day. You shouldnt lose very much muscle.

[Lavinco]

read the diet threads.

Go with lighter weight. Just enough to reach 15 reps or so for 6 sets per muscle group. You can split the workout/per muscle group into 2 different excercises for 3 sets each and still get a total of 6 sets in.

Get your ass on the treadmill for 45 - 90 minutes 4 -5 days a week on an empty stomach in the AM before breakfast. If you get on the treadmill after meals, you will burn mostly calories from your last meal instead of stored bodyfat. Usually AM is best because it's the longest span of time since your last meal (usually the night before).

Did I mention read the diet forums?

[onlyatest]

I have been reading the diet forums. I have hypothryoidism and i haven't found really any threads that don't contradict what i have read about dieting with this disease. example, the internet said to eat low carbs. this website says hell no to that! lol.

I am planning on trying the higher reps and see how i feel after a month or so. I have 188lbs or lean mass and hope to only go higher.

[Lavinco]

I have been reading the diet forums. I have hypothryoidism and i haven't found really any threads that don't contradict what i have read about dieting with this disease. example, the internet said to eat low carbs. this website says hell no to that! lol.

I am planning on trying the higher reps and see how i feel after a month or so. I have 188lbs or lean mass and hope to only go higher.

Tell the Internet to eat shit then! There's no "One diet fits all". Diets are people specific. This forum offers example info and tons of diets that work for members according to their goals.

Hyperthyroidism is not my specialty. But I'm sure someone out here in the bodybuilding forums knows about it.

Ask DocSust. He might know.

[zodiac666]

whenever i diet down i pretty much keep my workout schedule the same as any other time. if you are trying to lose bodyfat quickly a slightly higher volume is good because you will burn a lot more calories. i think it is also good to combine low rep sets and high rep sets in the same workout because each does have its own benefits. for example if you are doing 4 sets of barbell rows you would do 2 sets where you fail around 4 reps and then do 2 sets where you fail around 12 reps.

and as with your diet, doing everything consistently week after week is by far the most important thing.

[Lavinco]

whenever i diet down i pretty much keep my workout schedule the same as any other time. if you are trying to lose bodyfat quickly a slightly higher volume is good because you will burn a lot more calories. i think it is also good to combine low rep sets and high rep sets in the same workout because each does have its own benefits. for example if you are doing 4 sets of barbell rows you would do 2 sets where you fail around 4 reps and then do 2 sets where you fail around 12 reps.

and as with your diet, doing everything consistently week after week is by far the most important thing.

I have to disagree with you on this one. At least according to his goal of dropping weight. This may work ok for someone who is already in tip top shape like yourself but not for this person who wants to drop so much weight.

I feel it is best to stick with the same reps and sets for an entire phase of your workout. Like 10-12 weeks then switch it up completely different for that shock to your system.

If you combine low reps and high reps, your body will acclimate (adjust) and leave no new results when you change your workout after you complete a phase.

Figure out what your goals are and workout according to that.

High reps (12-15) to lose weight and low reps to gain weight (5-7). Adjusting lifting weight accordingly so that that last rep is the hardest rep of the set.

[onlyatest]

good input guys. I am going to adjust my workout for higher reps as of tomorrow. I will dieting as soon as a week from tomorrow since i'm waiting for my friday paycheck and i have a fridge full of non-lean proteins.

[zodiac666]

I have to disagree with you on this one. At least according to his goal of dropping weight. This may work ok for someone who is already in tip top shape like yourself but not for this person who wants to drop so much weight.

I feel it is best to stick with the same reps and sets for an entire phase of your workout. Like 10-12 weeks then switch it up completely different for that shock to your system.

If you combine low reps and high reps, your body will acclimate (adjust) and leave no new results when you change your workout after you complete a phase. i disagree with this paragraph, there are always plenty of things you can do to shock your muscles. just change exercises, change tempo or use some of the many intensity techniques, drop sets, rest/pause, forced reps....etc

Figure out what your goals are and workout according to that.

High reps (12-15) to lose weight and low reps to gain weight (5-7). Adjusting lifting weight accordingly so that that last rep is the hardest rep of the set.

i do agree with most of what you said, if you have a lot of weight to lose you will burn more calories if you use higher reps. of course the workout isn't a very big factor on whether you get lean or not, the biggest factor would be how good you're following your diet and cardio schedule.

also if i am dieting down my main concern is to not lose any muscle. and if i am trying to add muscle, higher reps usually don't work that well for me, so i figured why not try to work out to add muscle by doing a few heavy weight/low rep sets while you diet down, then at the very least you will probably lose less muscle.

of course if you are close to 30% bodyfat it might be a good idea to just workout with a high volume and high reps so you burn more calories during your workout.

also www.fitday.com is the site that can help you get the macros and calories for your diet.

[Doc.Sust]

you can still lift heavy and lose weight,i have done itfor years competitively, all you have to do is cardio and watch your diet

[Lavinco]

i do agree with most of what you said, if you have a lot of weight to lose you will burn more calories if you use higher reps. of course the workout isn't a very big factor on whether you get lean or not, the biggest factor would be how good you're following your diet and cardio schedule.

also if i am dieting down my main concern is to not lose any muscle. and if i am trying to add muscle, higher reps usually don't work that well for me, so i figured why not try to work out to add muscle by doing a few heavy weight/low rep sets while you diet down, then at the very least you will probably lose less muscle.

of course if you are close to 30% bodyfat it might be a good idea to just workout with a high volume and high reps so you burn more calories during your workout.

also www.fitday.com is the site that can help you get the macros and calories for your diet.

Bold Red = I agree

Bold Black = Good friggin point!

[JJP480]

Go checkout crossfit .com .
Wicked workouts and you will get in killer shape.