Cardio 6-7 Days a Week to Lose Fat for Powerlifting?

Has the OP mention their height and weight?

5’7" 198 lbs 30 years old. 590 deadlift, 300 bench, & 540 back squat. My diet is generally egg whites and vegetables on a brioche with a banana, lunch usually brisket and fries or chicken burrito and fries, dinner a bowl of brown rice, chicken, mac n cheese, and sweet potatoes. Before bed usually 34g of muscle milk.

Not yet

See below

I was wondering how you did add 40lbs to your deads and 80lbs to your squats in 3 months?

Why do you want to cut weight so much? That is a good weight for your height and you have a decent squat and deadlift, I think that maybe you should reconsider. I was guessing you were a fat bastard, but it doesn’t sound like it.

Bulldog: I think being new to Westside and mixing up exercises (which I previously didn’t do too much) has paid off in spades.

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Fair point, Chris. I’m not a fat bastard, but have a nice gut. It’s really for general health, I had high blood pressure until I started popping arginine and citrulline like Skittles now it’s normal and even a bit low.

Maybe if you just clean up your diet a bit that will do it, sounds like you eat a lot of fries.

If blood pressure and such are fine then there is probably nothing to worry about. Last time I went to a doctor my BP and resting HR were normal, and that was after a big cup of coffee, and I weighed about 240 and 5’9. He told me that a little bit of body fat was not a health concern at all. Lifting weights and carrying a good amount of muscle is actually good for you, believe it or not.

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Good to know, Chris. Again I take lots of arginine and citrulline daily but we shall see. I have a home blood pressure monitor and I use it daily.

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(cries in cholesterol)

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Do you have a gut, or do you have a thick abdomen with just enough fat to keep from your abs being visible? I know the powerbelly thing often gets used as an excuse for overfat lifters to not lose weight, but the fact is that strength training is going to increase the size of your torso for the vast majority of lifters. Also, being 30 (and… natty?) you’re not going to get to have the physique body and maintain your same strength level.

If you are concerned with your body comp, the first thing I would do is make sure you’re getting enough higher volume work in. A big misconception with Westside is that it’s all max and dynamic effort work. What people forget is that like 80% of their training time is dedicated to volume accumulation on accessory movements.

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I do a ton of abdominal work but definitely a bit of a gut. I also do a lot of high rep work, sometimes up to 20 reps on pulldowns and chest supported rows. Yes, I’m natural never juiced.

How much do you weigh now? Just curious XD

My “cardio” has been strongman-ish work.

The other day, I loaded up a buncha 15lb bumpers on a loading pin and walked around the parking lot with it. I was wheezing like I was running. The next day my biceps and shoulders were jacked up.

Today, I’m gonna do zercher carries with an axle

199-200. Up until a month ago I was 186-187