loosing leg mass when doing cardio

[patrick1]

hoping for some advise on this
my worst body part by far is my legs i have fought for every inch on my quads
when ever i want to loose some fat generally around the waist i do a bit of cardio, only light cross trainer, and the muscle on my legs suffers
My BF at the moment is 14%
Is there any cardio that is better for this than others
I do a double split at the moment training 4 times every 8 days
maybe slightly less rest between sets is the way to go
Would love to know if anybody else has had this prob
cheers

[abbot138]

Anytime, you cut, or attempt to burn fat you are going to loose some LBM, including on your legs. I have the same problem, you just have to try retain as much LBM as possible, I do my cardio in the AM, empty stomach, 65%-70% of max heart rate for about 45 minutes. This helps me keep muscle loss to a minimum. But its just the nature of the beast, you cant burn fat without losing a little size. Just try not to be skitzophrenic(sp?) about it. Pick one or the other and just go with it. Once you get your BF down to a number that you think is respectable, do another bulk, your leg size will come back. Try to be psoitive about it and enjoy the definition in your leg muscles that you wont be able to see as well when your bulking.

[patrick1]

so you don`t think just stepping it up in the gym, slightly less rest
will do the trick
should i do cardio on my none training days will this help
what is a good all year round BF%

[abbot138]

Phhhhheeeewww. Those are some loaded questions. lol. Whether or not your legs are growing in size will depend mostly on diet. Your workouts should always be intense, and you should always give a muscle group the proper amount of rest in order for it to grow. Cardio is a highly debated subject in the bb world, i was just giving you an example of how i do cardio, but i believe you and i have different goals at the moment. If im not mistaken you are trying to put on size??? Where as I am cutting, and my main goal is to burn fat and retain as much LBM as possible. If you are bulking, there are several schools of thought on cardio. Some would say dont do it at all. IMO 2-3 times a week, in the morning as I have previously described would be sufficient. Which brings me back to what I said before about being skitzo, you cant lean out and build muscle at the same time, dont mess with it, just pick one and go balls to the wall with either direction....As far as the BF question goes, that is extremely subjective. I would say try not to get too caught up in numbers, use the mirror to decide what your goals are. If you feel you have a greater need to lean out than to put on size than that should be your goal, and vice versa. Me personally, I would do a little cutting if I was at 14%, but thats just me, a lot of others on here would say, that you need to put some size on and not to worry about the BF yet, its really up to you. Whichever way you go, get after it and know that you will get out what you put in, and be happy with the results

[patrick1]

thanks
at the moment i am trying to put some size on
i guess i`ll try and keep the BF where it is while gaining weight, if thats possible !
might do a bit of cardio for fitness levels
cheers

[abbot138]

No, that isnt possible, thats the exact thing that I said you need to get past. If it was that easy everyone who had half a clue about nutrition and training would be walking around at 250, 6% BF. You could just eat your arse off and not gain any fat. Your not listening. The human body's automatic response when it puts on muscle is to store more fat. Your BF WILL GO UP if you gain weight, period! You arent going to just magically put on 10 pounds of pure muscle, sorry but that just isnt the way it works. Bulk up, forget about the BF and when you hit a weight that your happy with do a cut and burn of all the fat that you accumulated while bulking, what you will be left with is a net gain in LBM.

[kickinit]

Like abbot said, its one or the other bro. Thats why people do stacks, off season, etc...

Granted you dont have to get WAY over where you are cut, but your diet will keep you from making bigger quicker gains, they will be slow......................................... as hell but possible and you still wont be ripped 100% but you can keep a little of the cut.

[abbot138]

^^^Well said. You can go about it they way that you are, but the progress will be super super slow and for most people seeing some sort of results within 6 weeks or so is a very improtant motivator.

[patrick1]

cheers
that sounds good
you know us BB are we want everything!!

[MFT81]

I dont think your losing lean muscle mass, I think your just burning through excessive amounts of glycogen in your lower body from carido. Your just being paranoid about it cause all you see is a smaller but more ripped version of yourself.

Also I belive you can get leaner and still put on size but certain things have to be established, I dont belive you can maintain 4% and put on muscle unless you were on drugs. But if 14% is very high for you, and your more like 10% naturally all the time then you could prob still lean out a bit but get bigger.

Diet/Training/genetics/drugs will determin all of that though.......

[MFT81]

For instance, last summer, while using epistane, I maintained a bf of around 12% and put on 7lbs of muscle.

[AdamGH]

What are doing for workouts on your legs? Focusing on multi joint exercises will help.

What does your cardio consist of? length? What is a light cross trainer? Have you tried doing HIIT type cardio?

Also, your diet could be the issue with the extra bf you dont want. What is your diet on a daily basis. Tell me what you ate all day yesterday for example. Including times when you ate..

[swol_je]

what about the stair stepper? that works your legs alot more than any other cardio machine.

[patrick1]

my diet consists of
7 am
low fat cottage cheese on 1 slice wholemeal bread
50g oats and a 40g protein shake (whey)

10.30 am
100g tuna with tea spoon flax seed oil
100g chicken
100g sweet potatoes or yams (just changed these from ordinary potatoes)

1pm
same as above

4pm
50g oats
low fat yogurt
40g protein shake

train at 5pm

40g protein shake straight after training

7pm
300g sweet potatoes and cod or chicken

thats it roughly
total calories 3400, protein 300 (40%) carbs 400g (53%)
any thoughts don`t think i`m getting enough essential fatty acids
weight 185 lbs
age 46
BF 14%

[patrick1]

when i say light cross trainer
i mean cross trainer on lowest setting
i have found in the past anything that works my legs hard,jogging cross trainer on hill setting.
gives me the problems above
maybe i need an exercise bike

[Braveheart04]

I do the 3x3 block method and I have lost 60lbs. of bodyweight, but my legs look like someone took a bike pump and blew them full!! I have never had such a workout to put quality size on my legs like this one has. Its brutal as hell, but I love it!

[patrick1]

whats the 3x3 block method

[Braveheart04]

whats the 3x3 block method

Squat, bench, dead-lift 3 times a week. You can check it out in the powerlifting forum.

[patrick1]

what you think of my diet
i have added WMS with my post workout meal
upped the calories to around 3800 now
since i started this thread and i`m into my cycle by 2 weeks my legs have made some gains
haven`t started any cardio yet and have gained another 4lbs, feels like mostly muscle
waist line is the same measurement wise

[abbot138]

what you think of my diet
i have added WMS with my post workout meal
upped the calories to around 3800 now
since i started this thread and i`m into my cycle by 2 weeks my legs have made some gains
haven`t started any cardio yet and have gained another 4lbs, feels like mostly muscle
waist line is the same measurement wise

Sounds like some good progress to me my man! Yeah its hard to make significant mass gains and keep up on the cardio, thats why I try so hard to steer people away from the "lean bulk." Just keep an eye on that waist, if it starts blowing up, start hitting some moderate intensity cardio 2-3 times a week.

[patrick1]

yes, cheers
the challenge is holding on to it after cycle
might have to start taking some arimidex, got itchy nipples (another story)

[patrick1]

been doing some cardio for the last week every other day only 20 mins for now will up to 30 next week.
the weight seems to have levelled out now at 190lbs not gained any for a week (maybe something to do with stopping dbol 5 days ago)
Last couple of days upped my calories to 4200 with 390g protein and 550g carbs
see if that will get the weight moving again