Hey guys, I just had a few questions I wanted to ask. I currently weight 280, and im down from 310. I've been doing 45-50 mins of cardio a day on an elyptical machine and eating healthy. I tried the HIIT program out yesterday and today, and it feels pretty good. I did 20 second sprint, 1 min rest, etc.. Now my question is. Since im so high up in weight should i even bother about doing weight training yet? or should i focus on getting the weight off with HIIT and than incorporate weight training. Before i use to do cardio 4 times a week, and weight lift the other 3. But i wont see any of the muscle until i get all that weight off. What do you guys think?

any suggestions?

From what I've heard - whether you see the muscles or not, they burn calories 24 hours a day. It's good to do cardio and weight training for weight loss.

add the weight training in, the poster is correct above, the muscle will burn more calories as opposed to fat, So you will lose more faster.

I normally do strength M, W and F, and Cardio T and TH.

I recommend for you, doing Cardio M, T, W, TH, and F, with strength added on M, W, F. For Cardio what you are doing is fine, just add a nice weight routine and it will work well

The diet is the key to it all, but it sounds like you ahve a good handle, you have lost some good weight already. Kudos to you!

I am no expert, just a person that has been on the board for a few months, but we have some real good experts on here. But in a nutshell, add the weight training and keep the cardio up! Best of luck and you are doing great so far!

If you want to use weight training to lose weight, do low intensity, high repetition workouts. For example, keep the number of reps on the bench press at around 45-60. It would be a bad idea to start doing high intensity workouts at this point. All they're going to do is make you gain weight.

You are not going to gain weight without having a sufficient level of caloric intake, no matter what your resistance training program looks like. Please stop giving bad advice.

Yes, but if he keeps his caloric intake at the moderate level and does low intensity workouts (rather than high intensity workouts) he will lose fat faster than if he did high intensity workouts. And high intensity workouts will make you gain weight, there's no arguing that. He'll be gaining muscle, yes, but he wants to lose weight, not add weight.

Dude, in your original post, you specifically said if weight loss is your goal, do low intensity, high rep resistance training. That is just wrong, every angle you look at it.

Fat=weight. If you're losing fat then you're losing weight as well. I went by the assumption that most people would realize that.

What are you trying to say here? I don't get it. I still don't understand how you are suggesting high rep work for fat loss?

So.. whats the deal? Just lose the weight doing HIIT cardio sessions and then work on weight lifting? or do both during the week. EX: m/w/f HIIT, Sun tue thurs weights? I keep getting mixed responses and not really a clear answer. Eat less on the cardio days, more on the weight lifting days? I don't know. I just dont see how i can build muscle with a caloric deficit while losing weight. I use to do 4-5 days a week of 50 min LISS cardio. But i was told HIIT is way better. Can anyone clear up all this confusing for me please?? THANKS!

Focus on one goal at a time. You are not going to build any significant amount of muscle, if any, during a caloric deficit. If your nutrition is spot on, you should lose fat with 2 HIIT sessions per week on on top of a solid resistance training program. If you are going to weight train 3 days per week, I hope you are following a full body split.

You would perform your HIIT preferably on non-weight training days.

If you are not losing weight by following this, I would bet something is off in your diet. However, if you would prefer, you could add a day or two of LISS. That is not the route I would take though.

So what is a solid training resistance program?

Thats a whole other topic. and one for the weight training forum not the HIIT forum.


You should look at your HIIT workout.

20sec sprint with 1 min rest is not HIIT.
You need to be sprinting for a min to get your heart rate up, then keep moving at a slower intensity, not rest.
read the HIIT sticky at the top of the forum.

I dont think so. You can't really sprint at full speed for a minute. Thats like running full speed up and down a football field 4 times. And if my heartrate is up at max sprinting for 20 seconds, why should i go another 40? If you're really sprinting you wont last sprinting a whole minute every other minute.