cyanide wrote:You would have a clear six-pack abdomen at 8% body fat, so that's impressiveIt is higher for women, 6–13% for men and 14–20% for women. I actually don't do much cardio since I'm focusing on muscle growth, but I might have to soon since I'm joining a basketball league this fall. Working out does help rev up metabolism, and anaerobic (resistance training, HIIT) exercise actually has a bigger effect on that than aerobic exercise (cardio). But I do believe that having at least a day of cardio every week in addition to 3 weight training days would be very beneficial.
lol, I actually dug through my school stuff b/c I was curious...it was 9%, but I never had a clear six pack...I used to have great obliques and never did much for ab exercises, so that's probably why it wasn't "clear." The only place I really had fat on my body was my stomach (still is that way...beer and age).
When I was in college, for about two years straight I was doing some sort of physical activity for a total of around 4-5 hours a day. I always had a PE type class every semester for my coaching minor, then I would work out after dinner for an hour, then I would play full court basketball till 10 or so at night...that's when I had my body fat measured, in one of the coaching classes. Personally, my ideal workout is a about an hour five days a week of weight lifting...alternating days with chest/back and then arms/legs/abs. In those workouts, if I do 15-20 reps of a medium weight (3 sets), I seem to have the best results (30-50 reps for abs, minimum...ab muscles don't respond to anything less than 15 repetitions). If I run for 20 minutes in the morning each day, it seems to prepare me better for my evening workout...which doesn't always happen due to work.
Every person is different...my knee problems and a shoulder problem limit what I can do in terms of cardio and free weights (all chest exercises are done on the machines due to a shoulder that dislocates easily). You're right, anaerobic training does have a bigger effect on metabolism, but aerobic is better for overall health due to it's positive effect on circulation, which makes the weight lifting easier due to healthy blood vessels. Both need to be done to be truly healthy.
I'm rusty on this stuff, but it's good to have a refresher...making me think hard about my current workout plan...it's still a good one for me.