I am new to this forum so I will try and be short and straight to the point. I am a beginner (I am 20, 5’8" 81kg) who is looking to lose fat and have well-defined muscles, especially pecs and abs (cos they are currently emersed in fat and I don’t like it), but also gain strength and look fit. So I am starting on the following programme and I want your advice on it:
2-3 × days cardio:- so 2/3 days I would do general fitness run to try and improve my cardio in general cos its very bad (and help me have a good foundation for HIIT), so perhaps do 2-4miles at a speed of 10kph (that’s what I can do at this stage) and try and increase the speed every week. The third day I would do a 1hr jog at a suitable speed that I can maintain (again I would try and improve that every week)
3 × days weights:- I found a programme on youtube by a guy called Alan Thrall, he made a 3-day programme (mainly using the 5×5 method). In short, it’s relying on warming up with high volume low-intensity explosive moves (pushups, etc), then 5 by 5 moderate volume and intensity barbell-based weights (squats, bench press, etc) and finally ‘assistance’ exercises of low vol high intensity (stiff leg DLs, front squats, etc)
If you guys can criticise this or give me any advice, I will be very grateful.
I’m not familiar with this particular program, but Alan Thrall is fantastic. Great info on his youtube channel. He’s a well respected coach. On the whole, I see no problem with lifting three days per week and doing some active cardio days when you aren’t lifting. If you find that the conditioning days are too much, then pull back and walk more to let yourself recover.
Any fat loss plan is highly dependent on DIET. Do not try to exercise your way out of a bad diet, it’s a common newbie mistake.
Warming up with high volume/endurance work before doing 5x5 sounds like a bad idea. But if your priority is to lose fat, that is a great way to burn those extra calories.
I dont think you can go wrong with an Alan Thrall program. I learned a lot from his channel.
Doing cardio and weight training at the same time is typical for any competitive athlete, but I think you’re diving into the deep end. My suggestions would be to lower the cardio (unless you actually enjoy it), not aggressively cut and view cardio as a conditioning tool rather than a fat burner to get lean. I also would not recommend a cutting diet at your age, because you’ll be better off at least eating at maintenance calories to fuel your training.
You’re doing a lot of cardio for somebody saying that it’s very bad, and then adding in a whole hour jog? I ran this much during high school cross country, and it didn’t help my lifting or my body. Consider running/striding 100-200m 2-4 at a time with breaks in between instead of 2-4 miles at a time. I’m a little heavier than you, and I do 2-3x 100m. Replace the 1hr jog with a long walk. Read somewhere on a Jim Wendler FAQ that he recommended not to run the day before a leg day. A T-Nation poll on Instagram recommended cardio AFTER your lift. You could also look at complexes or weight/bodyweight finishers on articles here on T-Nation.
If you have trouble recovering, take out a day or two of running and slowly add those back in over time, or shorten your warmup. Alan Thrall said in recent videos that he has shortened his own warmup.