Do you have any guidelines for how much conditioning while doing a cut? Is there some amount that is too much such that it results unnecessary muscle loss?
I’m not obese, just trying to lose a bit of fat and waist size. What other information would you need to determine an answer?
We recommend starting with the lowest amount needed for your goals. So if you are currently doing none and have a small amount of weight to lose, you might just add 1 session of steady state per week and see how that goes for a couple of weeks. Then you will be able to tritrate up from that as needed. There is not a set limit as it will all depend on how much someone actually needs to lose and how quickly they are going to do that.
That makes sense, thanks.
My current plan is to titrate up to two 30 minute LISS sessions per week, then add one HIIT (20s on, 100s slow, x6-8), then add another LISS, all on non-lifting days. With luck by then I’ll have hit my goals. Does that sound reasonable?
Leah,
Would you please explain what you mean by “small amount of weight”.
Not really, but since he is giving the indication here that he is not morbidly obese or anything, I am going with the assumption that he doesn’t need to lose a large amount of weigh quickly.
What are you wondering?
I can’t comment on how reasonable this is without know your stats and knowing what you nutrition plan is as well. If you need to lose weight, I’d start by getting your food in order, adding in that one day of steady state, and then make adjustments on both sides to see continued progress.
FWIW, I’m looking to lose about a pound a week for a month or three and and to lose some waistline. I’m cutting calories by about 400-500 per day, while retaining about a gram/pound of protein. I’m keeping my current training program, with a major effort to maintain volume if I start having problems.
Given that my weight can vary by a pound or more a day (presumably mainly due to water fluctuations and how thoroughly I empty my bowels before weighing), judging progress over a short period is not easy, which complicates adjustments. I suppose all I can do is attempt to monitor the trend.
Those weight variations are TOTALLY normal, and that’s why we’d have you look at your weekly weight average over a daily trend. Have you read To Be a Beast? The advice there to take in all the relevant data and alter things only when needed is very appropriate here.
Not meant to be flippant I promise. I am wondering what is considered a small amount of weight. Is there say a percentage of total body weight that would be considered small? For example: would a 200-pound man losing 10 pounds (5%) be considered a little weight?
Thanks,
B
Understand the above! However can you think of some factors here that might affect my answer? What variables would make this difficult to simply provide a strict category?