Cutting for ectomorphs?!

Cutting for ectomorphs?

I'm a male, 18 years old, 5"4', and 121lbs. First of all, I'm obviously not trying to lose weight. I'm trying to tone my body fat down from 13% to about 7%, which would be about 9lbs. What's the best way for me to burn fat while minimizing catabolism? I'm thinking of pre-breakfast cardio, but I've seen mixed reactions from different sources whether this is good or bad. Let me hear your input, guys. Thanks in advance.

2 weeks ago
I'll add that I'll probably be drinking milk (17g protein, 300 cal, 52g carbs, and 3g fats) in addition to an egg or two (including the yolk). The only cardio I have access to is swimming. Thanks in advance.

Try high-intensity interval cardio -- run on a treadmill at 80% of your maximum heart rate for 1-2 minutes, slow to a jog for two minutes, and then amp back up to 80% for another 1-2 minutes. Repeat this cycle until you've hit 20-25 minutes total time.

Sprinting can also be very effective if you have access to a local track or even an unused high school or middle school football field. Sprint 100 yards at full speed, rest for 1-2 minutes, and then repeat. Do this for 20 minutes or so.

Bottom line is you want to avoid long-duration, distance cardio. Think about endurance/marathon runners -- you don't see very many carrying any substantial amount of lean body mass. Contrast that to sprinters, who often have a great deal of muscle compared to other runners. They also have some pretty impressive thigh development.

Research has shown that this type of short duration, high-intensity cardio burns more calories following exercise than longer duration, lower-intensity cardio. It also torches A LOT of calories in a short time period. Finally, sprinting can actually build muscle in addition to helping you lose fat.

If you do opt to try this before breakfast, I would recommend a scoop of whey powder in water pre-cardio to blunt catabolism during exercise. Also, there is some evidence that supplementing with glutamine can help preserve lean muscle mass when you are calorie-restricted or doing extra cardio.

Finally, don't discount the power of resistance training to also burn fat. A high intensity, full body workout with no rest periods between exercises can rev up your metabolism and also kick your post-exercise fat burning into high gear. I recently saw a study (tried to find the source, but haven't yet) that found that people who followed up their weight training with 20 minutes of cardio lost more fat than those who trained with weights but didn't perform cardio.

Oh, and keep that diet clean -- lots of protein, complex carbs and some good fats.

Best of luck!