cardio opinions

[muscle19]

Hey guys, I have a buddy I got dieting and training now after gaining little body fat, got him on a cardio regimen, what is the best type? I'm having him do 5 days a wk, 30 to 45 min, at about 80 percent max heart rate, going at 4 to 4.5 speed. Any suggestions, he is on a low carb diet, so that's on point. Thanks guys!

[Emmortal]

Cut it down to 15 minutes and switch to HIIT.

[Cap]

Hey guys, I have a buddy I got dieting and training now after gaining little body fat, got him on a cardio regimen, what is the best type? I'm having him do 5 days a wk, 30 to 45 min, at about 80 percent max heart rate, going at 4 to 4.5 speed. Any suggestions, he is on a low carb diet, so that's on point. Thanks guys!

Definitely shorter periods.  I like interval training, which could be done on a bike, treadmill, elliptical.  Alternate 1 minute balls out with 1 minute recovery.

I personally opt for longer runs b/c of personal goals but for what you described, I have used interval training.  Crossfit.com has many good options as well.  Check it out.

[pumpster]

Hey guys, I have a buddy I got dieting and training now after gaining little body fat, got him on a cardio regimen, what is the best type? I'm having him do 5 days a wk, 30 to 45 min, at about 80 percent max heart rate, going at 4 to 4.5 speed. Any suggestions, he is on a low carb diet, so that's on point. Thanks guys!

What you've suggested is excellent.

The other suggestions here are just other options. You can either do what you're doing, or do shorter HIIT intervals, or variations that combine both. Some say HIIT is slightly more efficient, whereas some believe that HIIT is more taxing on the central nervous system, and more exhausting; i tend to believe the latter and use longer sessions, but it's just individual taste.

Both work, it's just personal taste-i like what you've suggested, it's always worked for me and for many others.

A variation that i like is to do longer sessions that include some mild HIIT within it; increasing the intensity over parts of it can make it less monotonous while upping the intensity. Step up & down on the intensity for 5 minutes or more within that 30-45 minutes. Not essential but a nice mix of both approaches that i'm using now.

[muscle19]

That's what I have also done too is little longer sessions, not too taxing on body! I thank you all for your opionions, I wanna see how his weight loss is and how he feels then make adjustments according to his progress! I will probably have him switch it up alittle so I like the other options, what does hiit stand for?

[Emmortal]

HIIT is High Intensity Interval Training.  There are many variations of it, mostly to do with timing, but it has worked in shedding fat for a lot of people I know and I always switch to it when I go into a cut phase.  You can find a ton of info on it out there, but as you mentioned, the best thing to do is see how he reacts first then make the appropriate adjustments.

[pumpster]

what does hiit stand for?

Relatively short sessions say 15 minutes, alternatiing between easier and extremely intense (high intensity) intervals. The durations of each can vary a lot, are fairly arbitrary.

[JackCheze]

WTF has this board come to???

What is your buddy trying to do? Is he getting ready for a show? Height/weight?

When you talk about max heart rate is that from a hr monitor or from a machine in a gym?

Is he a bb or a pl?