Routine?
The solution is to eat less.
Workout plays a huge role in developing a lean muscular healthy physique. I know you are not a fan of cardio. Typing this in bed so I don't have the study from the Journal of Applied Physiology but I will find it to cite at another time that had two groups attempting to lose fat. The study was focused on dangerous visceral fat that is behind the abs surrounding organs that can even act as a hormone producer. The dangerous internal fat that is responsible for diabetes, high triglycerides, high blood sugar and heart disease. One group dieted and the other did cardio. Both lost fat. The diet only group lost mainly subcutaneous fat while the cardio group lost both subcutaneous and visceral.
In an interesting study at Duke University that was cited in Men's Health magazine on August 2012 tracked two groups. One using only cardio for 8 months and the other only resistance training. The cardio group using the equivalent of jogging 12 miles a week lost 8% of their visceral fat while the weight only group saw no change. I will be the first to say how often these studies are flawed in their design.
A study by St. John's hospital in Minnesota along with Arizona University did a study on if lifting afforded a cardio training effect. The results were reported in the April, 1985 issue of the Physician and Sport Medicine. They used 14 Nautilus machines and rushed the trainers through one set to failure on a whole body routine. While a high heart rate was maintained with peaks and valleys the mean oxygen uptake wasn't there as in cardio exercise. Some would say this is an example of anaerobic training so it won't have an aerobic training effect. The oxygen uptake was far short of the recommended minimum for Vo2 training. The calories used was relatively low at 171 for the men.
What point am I driving? A hard weight workout might burn 170 to 350 calories dependent upon effort, time, intensity and muscular endurance used. A hard cardio session can use 300 to 500 calories or more. A pound of fat is 3500 calories. Calculating calories burnt through exertion for a month can give you a rough idea of how much fat can be burned through activity alone.
To get ripped you need both weights, cardio and diet. Even Mentzer who was dead set against cardio in his retirement preaching use to write how he use to both run and bike prior to a contest. Many ripped guys who use only weights use volume and plenty of it. Arnold, Franco, and Zane all did cardio. I don't believe high intensity weight lifting is a good plan to get lean.
