cardio and mass

[bodybuilder]

Well let me start by saying that my goal is to drop to 15% BF or lower (getting ready to start my first test cycle). My question is how much cardio can i do lets say per week without lossing the muscle i already have. I read somewhere that running is not a good idea because you can loss muscle mass. I currently do cardio 3 times a week for about 20-40 min.

Stats:
hight:5'10
weight:198
age:28
BF:17%
traning: 4+yr
Diet: solid(finally)

[TKO Performance]

3 times a week for 1 hour. I've found that very few things take off the lbs of fat like running. The key to not losing mass is to train at moderate to moderately high intensity. Going all out, or for very long periods of time is going to break down your muscles. I have never lost much in terms of mass doing 3 times a week of running for an hour, but I have always lost weight like that with relative ease.

Keep your protein intake high, fat low, carbs moderate. Keeping the muscles fueled will also help ensure that when they are broken down they are built right back up. That's why I don't recommend a caloric deficiency for fat loss. You need to be right at, or slightly above maintenance. Otherwise your body thinks its starving. When it thinks it starving the muscle goes first. That's a natural defense mechanism meant to keep us alive as long as possible without food. You have to circumvent that, or you'll lose 60% muscle to 40% fat.

[Nicotine]

the trick is, make sure you're eating enough. if you're starving then the body will turn on itself.

you'll wanna be around 75% heart rate to burn fat.

so

220-age=?

then take that number, and do

?x0.75=target heart rate.

example for mine

220-30yrs old = 190

190x0.75= 142.5bpm heart rate.

i'd do that up 5x a week for 30 mins. just make sure you have a decent pre and post workout meal in place. keep breakfast in check too....very VERY important.

i prefer elliptical..i kill more calories and much much easier on my knees/ankles...

[D7M]

3 times a week for 1 hour. I've found that very few things take off the lbs of fat like running. The key to not losing mass is to train at moderate to moderately high intensity. Going all out, or for very long periods of time is going to break down your muscles. I have never lost much in terms of mass doing 3 times a week of running for an hour, but I have always lost weight like that with relative ease.

Keep your protein intake high, fat low, carbs moderate. Keeping the muscles fueled will also help ensure that when they are broken down they are built right back up. That's why I don't recommend a caloric deficiency for fat loss. You need to be right at, or slightly above maintenance. Otherwise your body thinks its starving. When it thinks it starving the muscle goes first. That's a natural defense mechanism meant to keep us alive as long as possible without food. You have to circumvent that, or you'll lose 60% muscle to 40% fat.

I'm not saying those are "wrong" answers, but in this sport it's hard to be definitive with answers.

Even when I was training all natural, I'd still do low intensity cardio DAILY and not loose muscle.

In general, I think too much is made about "loosing muscle while doing cardio" because 1. guys are afraid to be lean, and 2. too many people don't know how to diet.

Anyway, if you're 17% body fat, I wouldn't be scared at all of doing cardio daily.

[bodybuilder]

Cool thanks guys ill start to run a little more. How about protin is there a certin type i should steer away from. I am currentlt taking whey protin by muscle milk(costco)

[Bonaparte]

You aren't going to notice catabolism from a bit of moderate-high intensity cardio unless you're ****ing huge and ripped. This is a concern for bodybuilders close to a show with very low bodyfat. Why? Because they have almost nothing but muscle to lose and are far above their natural genetic potential.
Besides, even if you do lose a whole pound of muscle, you're going to gain it back with a vengeance as soon as you start your cycle.

You have plenty of fat to burn, so that's what your body is mainly going to use for fuel, assuming that you eat well and aren't hormonally deficient.

These myths come from average dudes reading the advice and training methods of IFBB pros. Following the same concepts as a pro BBer for most would be like trying to apply the concept of Mach 2 flight to a mo-ped.

[bodybuilder]

well put bonaparte.

[TKO Performance]

I still have to say that whatever you do you want to run cardio for at least and hour at a stretch, and here's why: your body does not switch from a glycogen based metabolism to a fat burning metabolism until 20 minutes after you start exertion. If you only do 30 minutes then you only spend 10 minutes in fat burning. If you're looking to lose fat you want to spend the most amount of time possible in fat burning, so by doing cardio for an hour you are spending 40 minutes in fat burning.

If you have the time, by all means you can do low intensity cardio every day, but I simply don't have that kind of time. I can schedule in 1 to 1.5 hours a day throughout the week to do either cardio or hit the gym. Any more and I either have to sacrifice sleep (not a good idea) or not finish everything I need to get done, neither of which are acceptable options for me.

Yes, you can short circuit this by going very low, or almost not carbs (Atkins), but you won't be able to maintain muscle on a diet like that (trust me I know and it was a disaster).

I agree that too much is made of muscle loss from cardio. Like has already been said, keeping yourself fueled is the solution.

[bodybuilder]

I am like you tko. Its hard to make time to do both. I work anywere between 8-10hr and i lift for about 1-2hrs. After sleep and cooking that only lives me about 30min to do cardo. What i have been doing is running up and down a large flight of stears for about 30min eod. Do you think this is a good idea or should i just run a couple miles on the tread mill.

[TKO Performance]

Either stairs or running is fine. Maybe do a little of both. For fat burn I know that I find that a steady load on the body is better than a sporadic load. I tried riding a bike for cardio before, but had lackluster results. I think it has to do with the fact that you can coast a fair amount if you want. Whatever it was it simply didn't do for me what running does.

[bodybuilder]

Yah ill try to do both its just hard to make time. Mybe ill switch off every other day

[TKO Performance]

Yeah, that's what I was saying anyway. Your body does become resistant to training to an extent, so varying your cardio is never a bad idea. It's the same reason I try to make every workout different than the one I did the week before.

[bodybuilder]

yup looks like i need to start switching my workout now, not getting as soure as i used to.