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I recently had a 7 point body fat test done and I came in at 10.8%. I was actually shocked by this number because I have flab in my chest and abdomen areas. I have a few questions:

-What % of body fat does the typical male need to get down to to start seeing a six pack; too look really cut basically?

-The PT that did the test told me that in order to burn fat I needed to be doing low intensity, high volume (time) cardio, as opposed to the HIIT I've been focusing on. He said my fat burning range would be in the 130-145 bpm range, anything above that and my body would swith to glycogen stores. Is this correct? Have I been burning muscle with my HIIT? I'm sure my heart rate goes up to the 180-190 range when I do my suicide sprints.

My stats are: 30 year old male, 6'3-6'3.5, 199 lbs in the mornings naked.

My training regimin is weight training 3x/week : Legs, Back and Biceps, Chest, Shoulders, Tri's
HIIT twice a week.

Any info/advice is appreciated!

Any info appreciated. Thanks

HIIT is much more effective for burning fat than long, slow, low intensity stuff. Your PT sucks. If it's costing you money to get advice from him I'd cancel it right away. And if anything, HIIT will BUILD muscle (assuming your diet is ok...).

The sweet spot for a 6 pack is generally considered to be 10% and under. However, that is just a guideline. Some people can see their abs at a higher bodyfat, others need to be quite a bit lower. There's not really a hard and fast rule, just guidelines.

The problem with bodyfat measures is they can be very inaccurate. Calipers and those scales you stand on that can supposedly tell you are particularly shonky. The only accurate one is that crazy pod thing you sit in and a scientist analyses you. Seems a bit unnecessary.

Just eat clean, lift weights and sprint. It'll happen eventually.

No I disn't pay anything, it was just a free fitness assesment. Diet wise, I eat a lot of fruit, veggies, and a whole lot of red meat....steak, bison at least 5x a week.

Do you think I should cut out some of the fruit?

That is somewhat correct. I'm not saying you can't lose bodyfat with high intensity training, I see it as a good way too. Going in the area of energy conversion, To burn fat as energy, you need longer lasting, purely aerobic training. You see, one of the problems is that converting fats to ATP is slower than a normal aerobic carb-energy development. If you're doing intense training, your body will most likely use carbs to produce energy with and without lactic acid. the running long times -effect comes from the fact that your body will start converting more fats compared to carbs. I would say the HIIT increases your metabolism for a time after the training, thus burning the fats effectively also.

HIIT's don't necessarily eat your muscles. It depends really much on your daily diet. Your body will use proteins as a source of energy, no matter what. On very hard training, it can use protein lots more. Also a very long training will take on your protein supplies. That's where the diet turns out important. With a poor diet and tons of cardio your body will eat your muscle.

Also I should not that only running long times and slow pace daily is not a good solution.
I can't see any harm at eating veggies and fruits. Good source of vitamins, minerals and fiber.

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Prove the impossible!

I'm with RS on this one. Here's a Cosgrove article, complete with sci references.
http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1526539
Tim

Maybe I will just try to mix it up a bit.

I can do low intensity treadmill work after my weights 3x a week and still do the HIIT I've been doing. I doubt it could hurt any.

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Thanks TimD.

that's fine, a lot of places offer the free fitness assessment, and there's no reason why you shouldn't take it. Unfortunately a lot of trainers (not all, some are really good) just have a some bull$h1t qualification that doesn't really mean a whole lot.

DO NOT CUT OUT FRUIT!!! I can understand why you think that though. Fructose, the sugar found in fruit, is bad news in really high quantities, and can make you fat very easily. The weird thing is, there's very little fructose found in fruit. Counterintuitive I know, but it's only really a danger in the form of High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) which is used as a sweetener in fizzy drinks, sweets etc. In the ridiculously high quantities found in these foods, it's bad news, however, in naturally occurring sources like fruit, there's nowhere near enough to make you overweight.

It's one of those times when the internet does more harm than good unfortunately. People read about how a high level of fructose can make them fat, so they naturally assume that fructose is the enemy and cut out fruit, when really fruit is full of vitamins and fiber that are desperately lacking in most modern diets.

Obviously if you eat 200 oranges a day that's too much, but obviously that example is ridiculous and no one eats anywhere near that much fruit...

You are on the right track eating plenty of fruit and veg and (most importantly) meat. You just need to make sure you aren't eating any crap. It's very easy to let yourself sneak a bit of crap in here and there, but over the course of a week it can really add up.

Read the article Tim referenced. It'll basically tell you that the most important things for fat loss are, in order:

diet
weight training
HIIT
long, slow, boring awful cardio
other stuff that gets you moving

read the article, then read it again. You're on the right track, it just takes a bit of fine tuning. If you like you can post a week (or a day, or a month)'s worth of eating and the informed gents on the forum will tell you what you can improve.

In the meantime, eat lots of dead animals and plants, lift weights 3 times a week and have at least one day of sprints. You can't go too far wrong with that setup.

Good luck!

just one more thing: it might not hurt, but it might not be doing any good. Do you have time to waste? No, neither do I...

There are two kinds of bodyfat - subcutaneous and visceral. Visceral bodyfat forms around the internal organs, and can lead to health problems - specifically, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Subcutaneous fat lies just below the skin. While it isn't as injurious to your health as visceral fat, it is more noticebale - and unsightly.

Subcutaneous fat is also harder to get rid of than visceral fat - some people who have single digit bodyfat percentages can nevertheless sport love handle, man boobs and the like. Diet and exercise can usually help but some people have to resort to plastic surgery to get the look they want.

I would get a second opinion on your bodyfat percentage, just to be sure that you're actually around 11% bodyfat. That's pretty lean, and going down a couple of percentages could solve your problem areas.

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Thanks, TimD

Thanks for all the advice guys. It's refreshing to know that I'm on the right track. Here is a rundown on what I eat on a typical day:

Breakfast: Shake consisting of fresh strawberries, frozen blueberries, flaxseed, a little milk, and 3 scoops of 50/50 whey casein protein powder and a bowl of whole grain oatmeal OR 3 scrambled eggs and protein mixed with water

Lunch: I eat out everyday but it's usually at the same places. It could be a large seafood salad, chili and salad, 1lb lean beef and roasted cauliflower, few plates of salad from a salad buffet, or briscuit and sausage.

Dinner: Big ribeye, can of green beans and sauteed mushrooms with an avocado OR Round Roast, grilled eggplant, roasted carrots, baked sweet potato

Snacks: Walnuts, Cashews, Pumpkin Seeds, Cheese, Cottage Cheese, Hard Boiled Eggs, Grapes

All I drink is water, sparkling water or green tea

people who can put what they eat in onew post amaze me.
Do you really repeat that all the time?

For the most part yeah, that's what I eat. Especially for breakfast, I eat either of those 2 meals every single morning, only difference might be adding an apple or a bananna. Throw in some grilled chicken, beef fajita meat, occasional fish/shrimp/scallops, and of course assorted fruits and vegetables and that's my diet.

I forgot to add protein with water as a snack.

I find your diet almost disgustingly pure.

On the other hand, maybe if I ate that way I could weigh 200lbs too.

Keep in mind that I have fat everywhere. But enough muscle underneath that nobody asks me if I work out. They already know.

Also keep in mind that my diet is my worst enemy. If I could control it for any length of time I would be a hell of alot healthier.

I'll take that as a compliment :). The only way I'm able to eat like this is because meat is my favorite food. As long as I have a nice big steak I could care less about te veggies or oter side dishes.

I usually break down once or twice a month with a big italian meal followed by desert.