cardio on juice

[Tom]

I m on a deca cycle and what to bulk up but I want to shed a little fat for the summer. I read that losing fat quick and keeping muscle is easy on a cycle due to the blockage of cortisol receptors.
so if this is true I can run on the treadmill every day and not have to worry about losing muscle right?

[ironfist]

It's true for the most part, but you probably won't be able to bulk up...I'm a full contact fighter and on a cycle right now...With all the training I do on the map, it makes it hard to gain weight but I'm keeping all of my strengh and really leaning out...

[Dr.Evil]

it's a bid more complicated than that, but i'll spare you the details. in general, you won't be losing muscle, but you won't gain as much as if you didn't do cardio.

choose to bulk or cut.

also, cardio while on juice is physically much harder due to the water retention. you'll find it much more difficult to catch your breath after a long flight of stairs. strong anti estrogens or non-aromatizing steroids will alleviate this problem.

[Dr.Evil]

you're right, some cardio is always needed even during heavy bulking cycles.

[Nathan]

Always do some cardio. Keeps the heart healthy which is important especially when cycling.

[jonesmeister]

so would 30 mins of cardio after each training ses be ok or to much?

[Nathan]

For bulking that's doing too much IMO. Shoot for 2 times a week at about 30min each time. I do cardio on my off days generally.

[TheMan]

You're chasing your own tail by trying to bulk and cut at the same time. Fat loss is dependant on using more calories than you consume in a day. Muslce hypertrophy(in the form of mass gain or weight gain) is dependaent on consuming more calories than you use in a day. Either bulk or cut. If you want to add muscle mass then you have to provide your body with a surplus of calories...This doesn't mean you will gain fat provided your diet is spot on. To loose fat you will need to create a caloric deficit...this should preferably be done thorugh diet alone while avoiding cardio. "Cardio" creates a very catabolic environment for muscle tissue and is a contradictory training style to weight training. AS's use while cutting are to prevent muscle atrophy. They do this by blocking many catabolic pathways, but if you're in a hypocaloric state(which you need to be to loose weight) then you won't be able to gain muslce mass. The gear is there simply to preserve muscle, not gain it.

[Nathan]

You can gain muscle while in a caloric deficit.

[TheMan]

Originally posted by Nathan
You can gain muscle while in a caloric deficit.

Sorry to bust the bubble, but unless you're born with mutated genes or have a completely different metabolism system than any other human being you can't gain muscle mass while in a caloric deficit. When newbies start traing and don't eat right their gains are more muscle volumizaton...Intracellular water, glycogen storage, sarcoplasmic fluid. The protein found in thier diet will go to repairing and building muscle, but the amount is miniscule and this effect is short lived. Ironicaly for bodybuilders muscle hypertrophy is the last process in a long line of "to do" jobs for the body. Building muscle requires loads of energy which can only be supplied through food stuffs. Not only is it energy expensive to repair and further grow muscle, but the metabolic requirements simply to support that muscle tissue are very taxing and again require a great deal of energy. This is why in order to gain muscle mass(true muscle, not water, glycogen compensation) you have to have an excess of calories and an abundance of amino acids availible not only to grow new muscle, but to support it. While in a calorie retricted state the body will slow it's metabolsim to prevent "impending danger" or starvation by catabolizing muscle tissue not only to meet energy requirements, but to take a metabolic burden off of itself. Because muscle is so very metabolicaly active excess amounts (what we all seek) is just not that simple to grow and maintain. With our easy access to myrid food choices in our society we are able to do things with the human body that nature really didn't intend us to do...Grow to be 250 pounds with 5%bf. Adding muscle doesn't mean adding fat so if you add muscle whilst simultaneously maintaining your current amount of fat mass you bf% will go down even though you havn't actually lost any fat. This law of ratios seems to ellude most and fools them into thinking they are loosing actual fat while building muscle. In rality they have simply changed the ration more in favor of muscle mass compared to fat mass thus the % will go down(change).

[1000fps]

Perhaps a dumb question. but If you do alot of cardio while on a cycle is there any danger to your heart like perhaps enlarging it.

[TheMan]

There isn't a whole lot of study on this, but all indications are probably not. Heavy weight training has been indicated to cause left ventrical hypertrophy in both natural and AS using atheltes. This is due to a tremendous rise in blood pressure during straining excercises like heavy lifting. IF it's true "cardio" that you're doing you shouldn't be straining as there is an ample supply of oxygen and very mild muscle tension. Blood pressure in circumstances like this more likeley will decrease due to vasodialation. But again, it's not an everyday occurance for scientists to put guys on 1000mg of testosterone on a treadmill for 60 minitutes a day for several continuous months to evaluuate thier condition. Cardiac muscle is smooth muscle which has a low ability to hypertrohy at least compared to striated, or skeletal muscles.

[ragin']

i usually do light cardio 2-3x/wk while bulking to keep the heart in check.

[gettinthere]

theman atleast sounds like hes making a lot of sense! I dont know what he just said, but i believe it!

[Dr.Evil]

the man is right about the calorie deficit thing. i'd word it differently, but it gets the point across nicely.

the heart will hypertrophy when it is put to work, both in weight training and aerobic training.