Quote:
Originally Posted by Depalma
I don't read Oxygen so I don't see exactly what the trainer is saying, but if it is what I think it is, she is targeting overall body fat and trying to reduce overall lower body size.
1. Intervals are great for fat loss. They are also good for building explosive power as they require heavy use of the type II muscle fibers. Type II are also the fibers with the most ability for growth, so even in the lack of resistance training you are not going to see much strength losses over a short term. You may see some loss of muscle girth from lack of resistance training but stimulating the fast twitch fibers should keep it reasonable and it sounds like he/she is probably basing the stipulation of thigh size as being a combination of too much fat AND too much muscle (using the Valerie Waters definition of too much muscle as "any muscle that a woman doesn't want"). Many woman do not want heavily muscled legs (don't ask me why not. Maybe some of you woman can explain it to us men although the ladies on this forum are not as muscle-phobic as the general population), so a loss of some (not a lot) muscle to go with the fat is actually going to give the look that the trainer is probably going for here. (again I'm speculating here not having read the article)
2. Also, this HIIT fat loss program means 5 high intensity workouts involving the legs. Do you really think your body and Central Nervous System could add some more high intensity workouts for the legs after that? Not without quickly burning out. It's a trade-off. You want to do more HIIT, you have to reduce the volume of your leg workouts. Basically 5 is pretty much the limit. Instead of doing 3 HIIT workouts and 2 lower body workouts, this trainer opted for 5 HIIT workouts, as again, it appears to be targeting overall body fat loss and reduction of leg size.
The only thing that worries me with workouts like this is that someone is going to read this and try to use it as a long-term plan in which case your body will eventually look very top heavy. someone else will read it and think they can subsitute the HIIT for regular cardio and get similiar results. Wrong! Or a third person will read it and come away with the message that cardio is sufficient for building and maintaining lower body muscle. Which is, of course, incorrect.
Thanks for the feedback. I'm looking to lose this 15lbs of fat and recently have found my way back to the gym. When I was at my best, I was doing HIIT, but maybe only 2x a week. I don't even know that I could do it 5x a week, especially now that I'm not in as good of shape as I used to be. I find it so hard to fit everything in, but this schedule appeals to me.
I don't have a problem with muscular thighs and kind of need that muscle as someone who has gone from 210 to 136 at my best. I had better thighs than I ever thought I could have and wasn't bulky at all. The muscle helped minimize the icky look of loose skin!
All of that said, I agree with you that what they were suggesting can't be a long term solution. Even as a pear, I'm concerned for balance with that plan. I'm now leaning towards being reasonable with at least 3 days of cardio and weights twice, including legs and being patient!