Does HIIT burn muscle?

[Guyr62]

Members,

The general concensus seems to be that HIIT is an exellent way to burn fat in a cutting phase. But does HIIT cardio training burn more muscle that a steady 60 to 70% BPM? Currently, I am using a variation of HIIT for 1 hour in the morning and 1 hour in the evening. I do 9 min @ 65% and 1 min maxed out @ 95 to 98%. then repeat. It seems like my heart rate stays above 70%, 30 minutes out of the hour. In an aggressive fat cutting phase, I'm losing on average 3 lbs of fat per week, but I am also losing about .5 lbs of muscle. Please assume diet and weight training to be dialed in. Maybe slow and steady would protect more muscle?
Your thoughts are appreciated as always!
Thanks!
Mike

[Ronnie Rowland]

You are burning muscle with that much cardio. Bump it down to 2-30 minute session per day.

[BigBuck6]

according to acsm reccomendations, 3 days a week at 20 mins per day.

[Guyr62]

I will back it down some. I guess that I am taking off too much fat per week to preserve muscle. Maybe two pounds of fat per week will keep my muscle intact.
Thanks!
Mike

[JoeC6Z51]

according to acsm reccomendations, 3 days a week at 20 mins per day.

BigBuck6, they also reccomend "Do eight to 10 strength-training exercises, eight to 12 repetitions of each exercise twice a week." Are you gonna cut down your weight training program?

Guyr62...20 min 3 x a week is a guideline for general fitness. If your main goal is to cut fat, then HIIT is where it's at. Assuming your diet is good as you stated, you should be good. However i do think 1 hour of HIIT 2x's a day is extreem. Accordint to your discription of HIIT training above, your not doing HIIT training. You have to do this in 30 to 60 sec intravals with 60 to 120 secs of rest!

See this post. http://forums.steroid.com/showthread...highlight=HIIT

well, i just realized this post was a year old.

[UberSteroids]

well, i just realized this post was a year old.

Hahaha