Cardio Endurance

[cold1]

I've always done my cardio in the am, three times a week on an empty stomach for 30-50 min depending on my physical appearance. However, I've noticed over time my cardio endurance sucks. If I'm screwing around and sprint up all three flights of stairs at home I'm sucking a little wind when I get to the top. This blows because I appearer to be in good shape. (185, 12%, 5' 10")
I have been wondering what I can to cardio wise to get a little more wind without loosing muscle. Would a small meal before 1 or 2 of my cardio sessions let me push my HR into the 80% range without striping muscle?

Sorry for the long post.

[ghostdog128]

I don't really think you'll lose muscle getting into the 80% range if you're doing cardio for only 20 minutes.. that's all you need if doing strictly for cardio and VO2 max increases. But if you're that worried about it have one scoop of whey before hand. That should stave off any catabolism. Fartlek training is the best way to increase your VO2 max which is what you're looking to do.. What is fartlek training? It's the orignal HIT cardio .. HIT creators just took the name fartlek (created in the 30's) and called it HIT cardio and wow!! look at the new training system we came up with. You want to get higher than 80% though. Ideally the best way to increase VO2 max is to perform as close to your max VO2 as possible IE max HR. 90-99% for a minute then back down for 2 or 3 then back to 90-99%. Repeat until your dead..

Edit: I forgot to mention, having muscle and having endurance don't go hand in hand. Ever wonder why all the world class cyclist and marathoners look like holocaust survivers? That's the reason.. it's scientific fact that the more mass a person has whether fat or muscle the lower their VO2 max will be. That's why you'll notice all the big boys sweat just standing still because their bodies have a VO2 of somewhere probably around 5-10 from all that mass. An average out of shape male is around 30 which will give you a 10 minute mile. College athletes are around 50-65 and lance was around 90

[max2extreme]

I've always done my cardio in the am, three times a week on an empty stomach for 30-50 min depending on my physical appearance. However, I've noticed over time my cardio endurance sucks. If I'm screwing around and sprint up all three flights of stairs at home I'm sucking a little wind when I get to the top. This blows because I appearer to be in good shape. (185, 12%, 5' 10")
I have been wondering what I can to cardio wise to get a little more wind without loosing muscle. Would a small meal before 1 or 2 of my cardio sessions let me push my HR into the 80% range without striping muscle?

Sorry for the long post.

Sucks because you dont have energy. How about trying to do your cardio at a different time, or if you do it in the morning, have a little meal about 30 mins beforehand. There are some advocates of the am cardio on an empty stomach, but there are also advocates that this is bad and shouldn't be done.

[Ufa]

Cardio rules!