For those of you who ask how they can drop their body fat while still maintaining muscle the most important piece of advice that I can give is to always keep cardio as part of your routine but make sure you doing high intensity interval training. To drop body fat you need to add some type of cardiovascular routine on top of your strength training and muscle building activities. I have to say the personally I have never really enjoy doing cardio but recently I’ve been adding a 45 minute high-intensity interval training routine about 3 to 4 times a week in the gym. I like to do that on the treadmill with a combination of walking and sprinting as well as a variety of different incline levels to target various parts of the lower body. Throughout the 45 minutes I am constantly changing the speed and the incline of the treadmill to keep my body guessing an impact different parts of the body and I have to say that I always wind up leaving feeling really good and sweaty.
HIIT Treadmill Circuit
1-5 min walk 3.5 @ 2 incline
5-10 min walk 4.0 @ 6.5
10-25 min sprint :30 walk 1 min (6.5 / 3.5)
25-30 walk 3.5 @ 10-13
30-35 run 4.0 @ 2.0
35-40 walk 3.5 @ 6
40-45 cool down
When I am lifting heavy in the wintertime I usually don’t do a whole lot of cardio but for some reason the last two weeks I’ve been wanting to drop a little bit of body fat and adding this into my routine has definitely made a big impact on that. Not everyone wants to do 45 minutes on the treadmill and I for one am not a huge fan of running indoors but because the weather has been pretty finicky I find that running indoors just gets the job done. I like to vary between walking and running and I find that walking at a high incline makes me sweat just as much as running at a fast pace.
The goal with any cardio is to get your heart rate up and your blood pumping and whatever it takes to get a sweat going is what you’d like to do. I also find varying the workout on the treadmill every five minutes or so helps the time to go by rather quickly because you’re not doing the same monotonous thing for the 45 minute routine. Also if you’re looking to make sure that you keep your games that you’re getting by lifting heavy weight for your lower body walking at a high incline will not affect the games that you’re making every day in the gym. Check to see if your treadmill has a setting for interval training so that you can set your walk speed and your running speed and toggle between the two with one easy push of a button. As with any cardio activity make sure you spend some time warming up and cooling down and incorporating a 5 to 10 minutes set of stretching after to avoid any cramping or injuries. To make the time go by even quicker I like to find videos on YouTube to watch or setting a really fun musical playlist that will change songs every few moments with a different pace and songs that you really enjoy that get you motivated.
This routine usually makes me burn around 300 calories and is around 3.15 miles when I am done.
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Where did you get the wine glass thing for your phone?!
This is great and definitely going to try it out!
it’s awesome isn’t it, and makes for great gifts: http://amzn.to/1RwDYBy
What incline is the sprint/walk on?
I am in the Air Force, our fitness tests only consist of push-ups, sit ups and a 1.5 mile run. My (Air Force) goal is to improve on my push-ups (I am horrible) and also to get a better running time. I also just started lifting weights too (personal goal is to get stronger). What would be a good way to incorporate some long distance running and also weight lifting? And too, if my legs are still sore from a leg workout, is it a good idea to run? or should you wait until they aren’t as sore?
I am currently doing a day of lower body weight lifting, a day of upper body lifting (just basic stuff for both until I can figure out form) and then hoping to have just a day of running.
Since our legs are the largest muscle group we train you will be sore usually up to 2 days after lifting, so usually for me if i lift heavy on day 1, next day i do upper body and some running to keep my legs from cramping up. the next day i will do a circuit workout that has SOME leg exercise but not a full blown leg day. then day 4 is back to legs. you can continue your long distance running but keep in mind all those calories you are burning can impact your muscle gains if you are looking to put on size
Usually i do 1.5-2.5