Is this too much cardio for a first cycle?

[jptravel33]

Guys,

I posted over a week ago, but my post had a lot of questions in it. Most weighed in on my cycle and agreed that it was a good one, so thanks. But, the real quesiton I have is around cardio and am I doing too much for a first cycle. I have trained for 8 years, but took a year break due to various sports injuries (fracture, tendonitis, etc). Bodyfat went way up and muscle mass way down. As a result the last 9 months I've been doing very cardio intensive workouts. My typical week looks like this and has for the past 9 months since I healed from my injuries:

1. Workout with trainer 3x a week. he's a natural bodybuilder and leads me thru high intensity workouts (similiar to P90x), we've been doing it to get my bodyfat back in check and get my cardio back to a good level since my injury. I'm down to ~16% bodyfat (about a 10% loss in the past 9 months, most of it coming recently as I paid more attention to my diet)
2. 120 mins of tennis 3x a week
3. 90 minute Rugby practice 2x a week
4. Occasional crossfit if I miss a workout with my trainer
5. HIIT cardio 20 mins 5x a week
6. Occasional 3-5 mile run with a friend usually on a Saturday or Sunday

Am I doing too much cardio? My trainer is all natural bodybuilder and I think he'd stop training me if I admitted to doing roids, and definitely wouldn't offer me advice, but should I ask him to switch my workouts to a more traditional weight lifting split or can I keep working out his way (which I really love, but I'm drenched in sweat and barely able to walk after and is very cardio intensive) and just lift weights on my own... I don't want to cut out tennis or rugby cuz it's for fun, and I think the HIIT will be what I need to get my bodyfat down during the cycle.

As you can tell, I think I'm prob doing too much cardio, but don't know what to cut... That said, I don't want to waste this cycle and not get the most out of it, cuz I didn't get my fitness regiment down right, especially as I work so hard in the gym... Thoughts from a Vet or experienced use would be REALLY helpful?

Here is my cycle below. Vets have weighed in and say it's a sufficient first cycle for my desires which are to lose about 3-5% bodyfat and gain about 8-10 pounds new muscle that I will retain after the cycle without gaining too much water weight.

W 1-10 Test Enth 250mg every 3rd day
W 1-12 Adex 0.25mg every other day (reduce by half to 0.125mg every other day in last week)
W 6-12 Proviron 25mg 2x a day
W 13 Nolva 20mg 2x/d
W 14-16 Nolva 20mg/d

My stats are:

Age: 35
Bodyfat: 17% (I'm going to get down to 15% before I start my cycle)
Experience: Played sports all my life, but started weight training about 8 years ago with some consistency. Then had the injury time out, but back at it again serious for 9 months.

[big_ron]

I wouldnt do over 1 hr of cardio a day.

[jptravel33]

Can you explain why not over an hour a day of cardio? And what about my strength workouts which are similar to P90X and aren't cardio per se but my rate is elevated during the entire workout...

[Natureboy71]

IMO it makes the cycle pointless. That much cardio and you will becoming catabolic to your muscles making any muscle size gain impossible.

I would do all that off cycle, get you BF% down to where you want it, then do a cycle to increaser your overall muscle mass.

In other words. Get in great shape, then do the cycle to get bigger.

[jptravel33]

Thanks guys... I'll keep doing the HIIT for 20 mins 4x a week and take a break from rugby (it's beatin me up anyway and limits my workouts due to bruises, etc). and I'll limit my tennis to a couple times a week and switch my workouts to straight weight lifting not the cross fit stuff... And yeah, my bf is 17%, not gonna start a cycle until I get below 15%. Think I can get there in a month or 6 weeks due to the fact that I'm doing hardcore diet and plenty of high intensity cardio. Appreciate the feedback guys... And will keep you posted of my progress...

[Choppers]

OP - With 9 months of that intensive cardio regime, what weight did you go up to and what is your diet like? If I was to do all that cardio I'd probably need 5000 calories a day to make it through alive without wilting muscle.

[bdodge2]

You also jack up your cortisol levels with that level of cardio...leading to catabolism. You end up getting skinny fat.....meaning your bf% doesn't change much but your weight drops due to muscle loss. I ended up that way last fall....dropped from 235-195 but I was still 18% bf. I was running the P90x program. It made me long and leaner, not muscular. When I changed to heavy weights and low intensity cardio that is when my bf dropped alot. A marathon runner has a higher % bf then a sprinter.....what do you want to look like?

[needmorestrength]

My trainer has me doing 4 empty stomach sessions a week for 45mins and 5, 45min sessions after my workouts. As long as you stay in the "fat burning"
zone you'll be fine. But with the way your currently working out, what are you goals?