Experienced gym guy out of practice and needs HIIT, circuit and cardio advice

L

LondonGym

0
Hello,

This is my first post. I have 20 years' experience working out in the gym. Until 2 years ago I was in excellent shape (6 pack, excellent definition etc.). I worked out 5 days a week and designed my own diet and training plan aimed at body sculpting. It worked well and indeed several friends used my diet and training plan when they wanted to get in shape.

Unfortunately for various reasons I have not been to the gym for 2 years, I have eaten to excess and I have put on 20kgs / 45lbs / 3 stone.

I did this once before several years ago and i was able to get back in shape quite easily. However this time around I'm older and it is more difficult. My goal is to lose 20kgs/45lbs in 3 months.

Having consulted a personal trainer I was told that my usual training method used in earlier years is designed for body sculpting and not for weight loss and so he has designed the following circuit training plan for me:

Circuit One (1-5 performed consecutively in 3 sets with no break):

1. Bench Press
2. Assisted Pull
3. Shoulder Press
4. Goblet Squat
5. Leg Raises/Curls

Circuit Two (1-5 performed in 3 sets with no break):

1. Cable Fly
2. Cable Pull
3. Bar row/pull
4. DB lunges
5. Ab bicycle crunches

This is challenging but I have been doing it successfully for the past week and it certainly increases my heart rate and therefore calorie burn. I perform this every second day (one day of rest in between).

However, my question is the following: As my goal is weight loss for the next 3 months how do I incorporate cardio into my gym sessions.

Should I:

A: Perform stationary bicycle HIIT after my work out sessions, on the same day?
B: Perform stationary bicycle HIIT first thing in the morning on my rest day after my workout session? Would this leave no chance for recovery?
C: If I perform stationary bicycle HIIT after my work out sessions (on the same day) can I also perform steady state low intensity 45 minute elliptical trainer cardio sessions on my rest days?

For HIIT I am using the Little Method -- 60 seconds high intensity with high resistance (at 90%VoMax) followed by 75 seconds low/medium intensity with low resistance. I can currently do 6 cycles of this but am working up to the recommended 8 - 12 cycles.

Again, my goal now is to lose 20kgs / 45llbs ASAP. After that I will return to body building in order to build and define muscle. But first I need to burn the fat.

Any and all advice greatly appreciated.

Thanks and kind regards.
 
Before I answer your question, I have to say I think you've got some false premises here, perhaps due to the PT's input. Weight loss is about calories in vs calories out. It's about lining up what you eat with what you do. Therefore there's no inherently right or wrong way to train to lose weight. Fat loss is about targeting your weight loss to get rid of fat and not muscle, which is achieved by offsetting your calories so that you're losing weight...while training as though muscle mass is important. Therefore there's no need to train differently from building muscle whilst aiming to lose fat (other than a few possible adjustments to make recovery easier).

As well as that, circuit training is cardio.

Now, if I were doing HIIT, I'd do it on the same day as strength training, most likely after strength training. Doing 45min LISS on something low impact like the elliptical could be beneficial for recovery. I wouldn't vote against it unless you're in need of a deload.
 
Thank you for your prompt and helpful reply. I imagine the PT (who merely provided me with a one-time assessment and training plan) believed that my old routine was not performed as a fast-paced circuit (instead, 3 sets per machine with rests in between) which is why he said that changing to a circuit would be better for losing weight (because it is cardio, as you have said).

Back to my main question. Thanks for the reply -- my concern is that because I am so exhausted after performing the circuit strength training I will not be able to push myself fully doing HIIT immediately afterwards and won't be able to do as many cycles (I'm aiming for 8 - 12 of the Little Method but currently can only do 6 max.).

So, in light of that, am I likely to burn more calories if I do HIIT on my rest days rather than after my strength training?

I'm a bit unclear of one thing you wrote "elliptical could be beneficial for recovery". I do HIIT training on a stationary exercise bike. If I do HIIT immediately after strength training and then on my rest days do LISS on an eliptical trainer will this not be too much for my legs? (I.E. if I'm using my legs 5 or 6 days a week on HIIT bike and LISS elliptical trainer will my legs have sufficient recovery time). Thanks for your advice/help.
 
What you can push yourself to do is, naturally, dependant on you. But I know there have been times where I've spent an hour or so doing high intensity cardio, rested 10 min, then gone ahead and done an hour of strength training. A little bit of rest between activities, as well as good pre-exercise nutrition, can often allow you to do much more than you'd expect.

I don't know if the difference in the number of calories you can burn will be significantly different doing HIIT on your non-circuit days, but HIIT will cut into recovery a lot more than LISS will. In fact, LISS is often used specifically for recovery, which feeds back into what I said previously about LISS elliptical on your off-days being potentially beneficial for recovery. Whether you do HIIT or LISS on your non-circuit days, you'll be using your legs. Using them at a lower intensity might aid recovery, whilst using them at a high intensity is almost guaranteed to create a greater need for recovery.
 
Think I may be in love with this.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top