heres plan

[thebearnecessities]

Anyone have a minute to let me know what they think?

First about me: 35 yr old @ 6ft 2". I'm now down from nearly 18 to 15 stone over the summer by stopping eating sugar, pasta, bread, wheat & potatoes, and by running, hill running or sprint training a couple times a week.

What I want to do now is continue losing weight but concentrate a bit more on muscle.

So I'm thinking of alternating each night between HIIT and bodyweight. One night HIIT and the next night bodyweight for about 25 minutes.

So, paleo diet, HIIT & bodyweight.

Combined with long sleep, plenty water and reducing stress does this sound like a good plan?

I'm thinking of doing supramaximal HIT (same as HIT but a bit more strict and intense than it is generally done) ie 30 on, 30 off, 30 on, 30 off, 3 minute rest. That's 5 minutes and I would repeat that 2 or 3 times.

Will this plan get rid of more fat (think I'm at about 22% body fat), and get me some muscle definition?

[Boss Man]

Hi BN, good to speak to you.

firstly be proud of what you have done so far, because you deserve to be, that's a good job to lose 3 stone, (42lbs) and it shows how committed you are, because losing that much shows you're not going through what seems to be a never ending lose weight and rebound cycle .

The plan would seem to be sound enough for what you're trying to do, but out of interest why only body weight stuff. Are yo unable to use a gym, or do you just not want to?

[thebearnecessities]

Yeah I'd rather spend £30 per month on other things instead of the gym. Plus I'm a single dad so i need an exercise program I can do in the house when the kids are in bed for the evening.

I'd like to get into weight lifting ultimately (to get muscle, for easthetics, but also to help burn the calries) but considering I have virtually no muscle right now I think bodyweight exercises as best bet for now at least for 6 months or so. Almost like a first stage.

I imagine after doing body weight exercise for a while body might get used to it, and I may move onto weightlifting at that stage?

[Boss Man]

Yes that would potentially happen, because the body might get a bit stronger, but you would lose a bit of fat based on calories burned each day and by having a bit more muscle, but then you'd probably get a similar body weight, but a better composition, however that way of doing tings would eventually potentially cause stagnation, so you'd need to then consider gong to a gym.

[thebearnecessities]

i don't unserstand what you are saying about stagnation. what way of doing things may lead to stagnation?

what i was trying to explain is that for the next few months aim is to lost body fat - so plan is alternating between HIIT cardio one night and bodyweight workouts the next.

Over the next few months as I gradually lose another stone or two and i'm no longer overweight, then i change gradually transition approach to focus more on building muscle - by switching out HIIT cardio and replacing it with weight lifting (at home or in the gym).

what part do you think may result in stagnation? thanks for taking the time to offer your thoughts, much appreciated.

[Boss Man]

By stagnation I meant eventually the body weight workouts, could lead to little or no improvement, because barring a slight change in body composition due to a small increase in muscle mass, coupled with a small increase in fat loss, you could eventually find you have limited progress and eventually stagnate, where no change becomes possible.

However as you want to eventually switch to weighted workouts, then I don't see this as being any sort of real issue.

[thebearnecessities]

You mean body will get used to the routine because I will be unable to increase the weight/resistance?

[Boss Man]

It's not the notion of the body getting used to the routine per se, but more the lack of added resistance that eventually could stall progress.