Running a fast mile as cardio?

[Buddybot111]

I'm 5'6" and 147 pounds. I want that lean and mean look and I'm down from 210 pounds from September 2007. I want to keep losing weight and hopefully get to the single digits in bf % (not sure what I'm at right now, but I'd guess around 13-14%). I currently lift twice a week, and do cardio three times a week. On Tuesdays and Fridays I do a one mile run to kickoff my 45 minute cardio session. I've always been dissapointed with my mile time back from middle school in gym class so to get a fast mile has always been one of my goals from losing weight. Right now I run the mile in a little under 7:30. I've heard mixed things on doing such an intense run as my heart rate gets pretty up there. I seem to be stalling on the weight gain so I want to know if maybe running is the problem.

For me info...

my Fitday profile:
http://www.fitday.com/WebFit/PublicJournals.html?Owner=mcFreid

my most recent picture (around a week ago):
http://www.freidproductions.com/images/bodybuilding/6-26-08.jpg


Thanks much,
Michael

 

[mwm5]

Bro you aren't eating enough cals at all. You need to do some research in the diet section. Get your diet in check with the right amount and right foods first. I see you say you only work out twice a week????? You will no way get lean and mean this route. Research a program like the 5x5 and start with that.

Congrats on the weight loss though

 

[Buddybot111]

1750 for cutting? I've tried eating more than that and either I go into maintenance or even worse, start gaining weight. Also, I will eventually switch to three times a week for lifting, but my goal right now is still to shed the fat while maintaining muscle so cardio is the priority.

 

[automaticj5]

ya no kiddin -- get the right cals up and in your body and hit the gym 3-4x a week...

gl and congrats

 

[jiggagold]

u wont maintain muscle eating 700 cals a day, youll just end up looking like a 6th grader

 

[highlander555]

Okay, I'm not even giong to touch your cal intake, that's already been done.

I'll just hit up the original question about the quick mile before you cardio.

First of all, 45 min of cardio is more than enough on it's own, but for arguments sake lets say you just really enjoy cardio and want to add something else to the mix. A fast mile is definately not the way to go. When you run a fast mile (assuming by fast you mean at a high, all-out intensity) it is more of an anaerobic workout than an aerobic one. It's the diffrence between a slow, long run, and a short, fast sprint. Yes, it will burn plenty of calories, but it's also going to eat up some muscle mass. I'd suggest that if you want to run a mile before you start your cardio session, that's fine. Just keep it to 70-85% of your max heart rate. Or you could even do it in intervals of 2 or 3 fast and slow legs mixed together as in interval training.

Good luck.

 

[NJL52]

Best tools I have found for losing fat are:
A. Workout your normal strength gaining routine. You burn a ridiculous amount of calories while doing this along with influencing your body that you still need the muscle. I know people who can effectively lose weight without running at all. Just doing a full schedule of weight lifting.
B. HIIT. Spring, jog, spring, jog, spring, jog. Tried and true.

 

[Buddybot111]

I think there's some confusion with my calories. If your looking at the Fitday profile for TODAY its obviously only showing what I've entered so far for TODAY. Look at the general average amount for the previous days: it's around 1750 (not 700). I think it might be a slightly above average cut, but nevertheless it works best for me if I shoot for that amount. If you look at the charts my progress is still fairly slow with losing weight these days and any more calories cuts off any results, and any less brings me near that scary area where your body might go into "starvation mode" and conserve fat.

As for the running, well it seems like I'm getting slightly mixed results here. I know HIIT is the tried and true method, and I do do HIIT on Wed as my main calorie burner. But, I used to do HIIT solely and just got bored of it, I need the variety... In all, it doesn't seem that running a mile, though maybe not the most efficient, is really effecting my very small results in weight loss. At least that's what I'm gathering from this conversation. I should point out as I may have done earlier though that yes this is an intense mile run, intense as in I run it as fast as I can.

 

[highlander555]

Your weight loss has slowed (IMO) as a result of your slowed metabolism, which is a result of your low calorie intake (1750).

Here's some food for thought.

A pound of fat is 3500 calories. To burn a pound in a week, you need a calorie deficite of 500 cals a day.

Muscle has to burn calories just to exist. Just sitting on the couch, doing nothing, your body (muscles) have to burn so much just to support itself (known as your resting metabolic rate). So... the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn.

You've done really well to lose the weight you have to this point. However, as you said, you still have some fat you want to lose. So, there comes the calorie deficite thing again. No matter what workout program you have, you're going to need a deficite of 500 a day to shed a pound of fat a week.

In all that time you were losing your chubby fat, you were also loseing some muscle mass. That happens to everyone who loses weight-- no biggy.

I think your body finally got to a tipping point where your metabolism (the amount of calories your existing muscle mass burned just to exist) is so low (because you don't have that much muscle mass anymore) that you'd have to cut more that a healthy amount of calories just to continue your weight loss.

My recomendation:
I don't think you can maintain an even larger calorie deficite that you already are. So what do you do? I really think you need to put on about 10-15lbs of muscle (which will increase the amount of calories your body needs to stay exactly the same). If you do it slowly, you can do it without adding too much fat, but know that you will add some. Not much, but some (don't freak out, it happens to all of us).

After that, your resting metabolic rate will be high enough again that you can put yourself into a calorie deficite without having to drop below 2000 calories. Now you have some good muscle mass, and when you diet down in an intelligent and informed manner (which you'll be able to do because you'll be doing more research through this whole process) you'll be able to maintain the majority of the mucsle you built, and lower your bodyfat at the same time. With the increased lean muscle tissue, and lowered bodyfat, you'll have a way better chance of seeing your abs. (IMO)

Good luck.

 

[dabuffguy]

Bro, I get 1400 calories a day from protein alone. another 1200 from carbs and 1000 from fats. And that's for right now as I am LOSING WEIGHT. Of course I weigh 210 lbs.

My mother eats 1750 calories a day and she weigh 110 lbs and doesn't excerise. You'll like a woman, or a smooth and skinny kid, like someone else said, a 6th grader.

you gotta eat lots of protein man. MEAT!!!!!

 

[highlander555]

Thats more of what I get too, and I can see my abs. It's all about metabolism.

I'd even say that the amount of calories you burn inside the gym isn't near as important as the amount you burn outside (as in your resting metabolic rate).

 

[billfred]

I'm 5'6" and 147 pounds. I want that lean and mean look and I'm down from 210 pounds from September 2007. I want to keep losing weight and hopefully get to the single digits in bf % (not sure what I'm at right now, but I'd guess around 13-14%). I currently lift twice a week, and do cardio three times a week. On Tuesdays and Fridays I do a one mile run to kickoff my 45 minute cardio session. I've always been dissapointed with my mile time back from middle school in gym class so to get a fast mile has always been one of my goals from losing weight. Right now I run the mile in a little under 7:30. I've heard mixed things on doing such an intense run as my heart rate gets pretty up there. I seem to be stalling on the weight gain so I want to know if maybe running is the problem.

For me info...

my Fitday profile:
http://www.fitday.com/WebFit/PublicJournals.html?Owner=mcFreid

my most recent picture (around a week ago):
http://www.freidproductions.com/images/bodybuilding/6-26-08.jpg


Thanks much,
Michael

I am going to read this a little different than what you are putting out there. Running a mile fast is a good goal as it will take a lot lean body to get it done.
Looking at your pictures - I think a 6:00 minute mile would be a good goal.

Running a fast mile and doing a 45 minute cardio are two different workouts. Get those on different days.

Here is what I would suggest, not touching your weight training, have one day of cardio being your Long Slow Day (LSD) of 45 minutes. Have another cardio day being some interval training - 6 -7 minute mile pace. You pick the distance but make sure you don't go anarobic. Then have another day as tempo day - say 3 miles at 7:30 - 8:00 minute miles.

OK - then start entering in some mile road races to see if you can hit your goal time.

Good luck and congrats on the weight loss.

 

[keasbey]

i agree with the 10lb of muscle idea. at your weight with 10 more lbs of muscle i think u will get more of the look your going for then trying to cut now. id say jump on a 3x a week full body workout program maybe the 3x5 and start aiming for a solid 150-200g of protein a day with mod carbs and mod fat. tbh your at a good weight now and anylower i think wouldnt do you justice. thats my 2 cents

 

[Buddybot111]

I'm getting tons of good information from this thread! In fact I'm learning much more than what I originally asked for and am really glad to have started this conversation. Right now I'm traveling pretty much all of summer (I start my first year of college in late August). For that reason, just for now, I am not going to change up my diet or exercise plan drastically as I'm having a hard enough time right now just staying with a consistent schedule while on moving around from place to place over the United States. With that said, it definitely seems unequivocal, at least on this board, that I should increase my calories and gain some muscle before cutting again. I will try this as soon as I get back on stable ground.

A few things mentioned here on the side... As for eating protein & "MEAT", I do! I'm not sure where I ever gave the impression that I don't, but 50% of my calories comes from protein. This means I'm eating around 200-250g a day of protein. This comes from whey powder, cottage cheese, cheese (in general), chicken, turkey, and tuna (that is in no particular order).

As for running and why I do the 45 minute cardio on the same days as I do the one mile run. At first I thought logically as you did and tried to do the one-mile high intensity run on the same day as my 20 minute HIIT session on the elliptical. It simply didn't work. Either the HIIT would tare me down so much that I couldn't complete the mile at a decent pace or the other way around. For this reason I split up the two so now I do the really intense run followed by a low to moderate intense elliptical session for 20 minutes and then a 4mph walk on an incline for the last 10 minutes. Then on the HIIT days I just do a 10 minute walk as before to end the session.

You also talk about running 3 miles at 7:30 - 8:00 min paces. I don't think so! My fastest mile right now is a little under 7:30, and I can guarantee you that afterward there is no way I could keep going for even one mile let alone two!

For interval training, configuring the treadmill is always a pain for me while running so I like to use the elliptical. It goes by RPMs instead of "mile pace" so I'll describe my HIIT in detail using it's units. I start by warming up at 70rpm. I do a "level 1" resistance for 2 minutes than switch to "level 2" for 2 minutes. At the 4 minute mark I up the machine to "level 3" and sprint at 85-90rpm for 1.25 minutes. I then rest for 45 seconds at 70rpm. At the 6 minute mark I up the resistance to "level 5" and go on with the next interval. This goes up to the last interval, "level 10", which ends at the 20 minute mark.

I want to say thanks again and I will keep constantly checking this thread and the rest of the forum for more information. I'm learning tons and am interested in anything else anyone has to input.

 

[timtim]

time to add some muscle now. your too skinny. add the muscle and the fat will come off and youll be lean and mean. not enough muscle there to be lean and mean.

 

[jiggagold]

squats deadlifts bench rows and pull ups/dips is all u need for now and FOOD

 

[keasbey]

i think the running idea he talked about with the 730-800 min mile could be a goal to aim for.. maybe now that u have a good mile time u should try seeing how low u can get a 2 mile time and then a 3