i recently cut back my carbs to induction level (below 20). When I do that I have a terrible time with my HIIT. It is actually painful to try to maintain the cardio intensity i can normally perform at. MY poor performance at the gym keeps me from maintaining the induction-level carbs i would like to be at in order to help with my carb-cravings.
Has anyone else experienced this and what have you done to counteract it?

Oh, I totally know what you're going through! You feel like you're trying to run against the wind, don't you?

My suggestion: ditch the HIIT for a bit, until your body gets used to it. Switch to moderate intensity, longer duration cardio for a little while.

Your body WILL get used to your new diet. But you'll feel like a SLUG at first. I remember going through this climbing hills on my bike when I started induction.

Hey Built .. I'm so glad to hear that. I was hoping it would be the case that once my body got used to the low level of carbs that it would it would learn to pull energy from other sources (fat stores hopefully =D). Maybe I could just drop down the high level one or two levels. Maybe I'll also replace a cardio day or two with extra weight training. I currently do 5 days HIIT cardio and 5 days of 30 mins weight training. Okay enough of my rambling .. thanks again for your input and advice!!

katlo -

This seems like overtraining to me. Now, it's not clear from your post, but I hope you're doing cardio AFTER you lift, and I REALLY hope you're giving yourself enough rest - you need at least one day TOTALLY free of exercise to let your body rest and heal.

Maybe post up a gym log so we can see what all you're doing.

Hi Built .. here is what i do on a typical week.

M: 30 mins chest/tri then 30 mins HIIT
T: 30 mins HIIT & abs
W: 30 mins back/shoulders then 30 mins HIIT
Th: 40 mins legs & abs
F: 30 mins chest/tri then 30 mins HIIT
Sa: 30 mins back/shoulders then 30 mins HIIT
Su:either a SKIP day or 30 mins cardio

SO i hit upper body twice and legs once (my legs are pretty muscular because my HIIT is done on a stairmill.

Any feedback you can provide would be awesome!

Okay - well, if you can do HIIT for 30 minutes, EITHER you're not really doing HIIT, OR you're in absolutely AMAZING shape. I can manage true HIIT for about 8 minutes, and then I feel like I'm gonna DIE!

If you're happy with your progress, leave your schedule alone.

Personally, I'd be dreading getting to the gym and feeling overtrained if I did this much, but I'm 11 years older than you, and that might have something to do with it.

Personally, I'd increase the lifting work and drop back the cardio a bit. If you're working hard, there's no need to hit a body part more than once a week, but 30 minutes isn't very long, so I'm not sure what you're doing weight-wise.

I lift hard for about an hour 4 days a week, and right now I'm cutting, so I'm doing a bit of post-lifting cardio on all but leg day, plus extra on whatever non-lifting days I can manage, either in the form of HIIT or longer-duration moderate intensity cardio (brisk walking). My bike rides are longer, but they're mostly for entertainment - the exercise is a side-effect.

You can, and probably should, vary your programme a bit from time to time - up the lifting for a bit, drop it back for a bit, change up the combinations, there's lots of ways to do this.

And at 5'6" and 127 pounds, you're most certainly very slim, so I'm sure you aren't all that worried about your figure at this point.



Cheers!

- Built

I'm probably using the wrong term for my cardio routine .. maybe it should be just IT (interval training). I do 2 minutes at a low level, bump up for 2 mins, then bump up for 1 min, bump up for 1 min, and a third bump up for 1 min (on a good day i will bump up 4 times in 4 mins). Then I jump right back down to the lowest level and do it all over again. With a 1 or 2 minute cool down at the end. Each set of intervals is 7 minutes (or 8 on a good day hitting the 6th level). I'm drenched in sweat at the end.

Yeah I was thinking of backing off a bit on the cardio and upping the weight training a bit.

I'm hitting 2 body parts in 30-40 minutes. 3 sets of 12 (lower on 3rd set as I increase the weight for that one). I am always tight if not sore the next day. Minimal rest between each set. Each body part gets hit with 3 sets of 3 different exercises. Should i do more? My trainer said i need to hit each body part 2-3 times a week to see any progress. I read your Beginner's program and think i might decrease my reps to 8-10 and increase my weight. I always try to push my weight up for my 2nd or at least 3rd set.. i'm constantly striving to increase it.

Since i just started this less than 2 months ago, i have more fat and less muscle on my body than i'd like, but i am definitely noticing that ratio changing. I can't weigh myself anymore b/c i'm working so hard and the scale is not reflecting that =)

One more thing.. food is my problem. I do great all day but when i get home I eat way to many cals & CARBS. My job is very stressful and I need to find a better way to deal with that. If I ate a small, low-carb dinner I know i'd see better progress. I am working on this ...

Are you eating 5-6 small, nutritionally dense meals through the day? I find if I keep all my meals with similar amounts of protein and calories, it's easy to not eat as much in the evening.

Also, keep the majority your carbs to the MIDDLE of the day, and up your fats, protein, and fibrous veggies in the evening. I've been downing metamucil before my evening meal lately, and that seems to help, too.

I really am shooting for the 5 meals a day. 6 is almost impossible for me. My first meal is at 8:00a.m. (gym at 5, shower there and go straight to work). My last meal is no later than 6:30p.m. I space them 3 hours apart. Like I said - i do great during the work day, but when i get home i'm just looking for a quick fix, I don't do well ..

For a while i was watching calories - you know doing all those formulas to figure out how many you should take in to lose 1-2 lbs a week. I cannot count cals to save my life. Not real good at counting carbs either .. but just trying to stick to cutting back on carbs and getting carbs from veggies right now. Plus upping my protein - i'm assuming my muscles need this right now to rebuild themselves most efficiently.

The one good thing about watching cals is there are more choices - I miss the variety when i try to do low car.

Are you lifting weights EMPTY?

Yup. I never eat before i go to the gym. I leave the house at 4:45a.m. Doesn't BFL recommend not eating before your workout and an hour after for maximum fat burning?

I don't do BFL. I didn't think you did either - your profile says Atkins.

And I would NEVER lift weights empty. WAAAY too catabolic to muscle tissue. I'm trying to build muscle, not eat it away. Besides, if I had to face doing deadlifts with a plate a side and no food, well, I'm sure I'd just pass out.

Short duration cardio empty is good for fat burning, but you need energy to lift weights - you get the fat burning from the AFTER effects from weightlifting.

Well, I'm not really on anything right now .. just low-carb. I need to update my profile. I have just started back to cutting my carbs way back to "Induction level". I'm not sure if this will work for me or not.

I workout like BFL or try to anyway. But honestly, I can't even categorize what I do 'cause i don't know enough about the different plans to speak definitively about any of them . I'm trying to learn what works best for me. I don't want to eat anything at 4:45 a.m., but maybe a v-8 or a protein drink or something? I guess I didn't think my body would catabolize the muscle tissue in that circumstance - i thought if i deprived it of nutrients & cals throughout the day that would happen but not by working out before a meal. I do have a lot to learn about what is going to be best for my body.

I do a modified BFL - I do CARDIO empty, but never ever weights. I aven't looked at the BFL book lately, but on most of the bodybuilding type forums they recommend fasted cardio (some controversy on this), but not fasted lifting. YMMV.