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I'm starting a 5-week cutting phase, trying to lose about 5 lbs of fat while keeping all my muscle. I've been doing high intensity circuit training. I do pushups, jumping jacks, high-stepping in place, crunches, etc, at high intensity with minimal rest... My heart rate is 160+ bpm for the entire time (30 min).
But then I read that low intensity (65% of max heart rate) is better at burning fat because the body can't burn fat fast enough during high-intensity cardio , so it uses muscle as supplemental fuel.
For you guys who are fairy cut and have muscle, what way do you prefer?
Low intensity is what is generally recommended for cutting for several reasons. First, your carb and calorie intake has dropped, as well as for preserving your muscle mass. You could throw in a couple days of high intensity but it should only be for a short 20 min period, and stick to low intensity most of the time.
Low intensity with low calorie cuts 200 macro balance of 40/30/30. If stalled incorporate HIIT for fat burning for a couple weeks and go back to low intensity within 2-4 weeks.
Preserve your mass with the 40/30/30 intake and lift heavier than what you do now with longer resting periods between you heavy lifting. Do some reading on low rep high weight for bulking to help guide you. Give yourself more time than 5 weeks too if 5 lbs of fat is the goal. I would double that. Rushing to cut never works well because it either will eat up your lean tissue more than you wanted, can stall you, lose skin, and intensity may make you skip workouts. But more than anything the lean tissue loss can take time in some bodies to build back up. Good luck.
It honestly probably doesn't make as much difference as you might think, as long as you create a calorie deficit somehow. It's true that lower intensity exercise burns a higher percentage of calories from fat than higher intensity exercise, but higher intensity may burn dramatically more total calories and thus contribute more to creating a deficit. Here are a few thoughts to consider:
-when you're on a cutting diet, it will be more difficult to maintain a high-intensity workout regime for any length of time. Lower intensity would be more practical in this sense, depending on your diet and just how quickly you're trying to lose weight.
-If your schedule has significant time constraints, high-intensity exercise will make better use of your available workout time.
-Boredom can sometimes be less of a factor with high intensity workouts as well
-low intensity cardio is less likely to interfere with your weight-training regime if you are using one
Consider these factors in weighing which option is better for you in the context of your diet, lifestyle, and other exercise and physical activities. Do you play any sports?
Hey fellas, I'm actually doing both low- and high-intensity workouts now. I'm switching to a cyclical ketogenic diet, with 6 days of low-carbing combined with low intensity cardio and some high intensity circuit training. Then followed by 3 days of carb-up and strength training (for muscle preservation). This training routine and diet seems to be the favored way to cut for people who are fairly lean to begin with (I'm 10.xx% bf trying to get to 9%).
I just finished the low-carb + cardio phase. Everyone said it'd be really difficult to work out while glycogen-depleted but it wasnt THAT bad. Today I'm loading up with carbs and creatine for high-intensity resistance training tomorrow
I think you right with doing it mixed.
When I do it I put the priority in the high intensity, and use the recovery time in between for low intensity. for example day 1 high, day 2 and 3 low, day 4 high etc.
lost almost 18 lbs the past 10 weeks, and the strengh is still maintained as high as it was 10 weeks ago.
Low intensity burns the most calories during the exercise, but NOT overall. Higher intensity is the better route since it burns the most calories overall, you'll be burning for hours on end.
I'm starting a 5-week cutting phase, trying to lose about 5 lbs of fat while keeping all my muscle. I've been doing high intensity circuit training. I do pushups, jumping jacks, high-stepping in place, crunches, etc, at high intensity with minimal rest... My heart rate is 160+ bpm for the entire time (30 min).
But then I read that low intensity (65% of max heart rate) is better at burning fat because the body can't burn fat fast enough during high-intensity cardio , so it uses muscle as supplemental fuel.
For you guys who are fairy cut and have muscle, what way do you prefer?
Regardless of your age, weight or sex, adding a CrossFit routine to your workout will guarantee that you'll achieve your goal.
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Add a CrossFit workout to your "cutting phase"
