what is the best cardio for losing fat but still keep muscle?

**vxnice** · 10-12-2011, 04:23 AM

what is the best cardio for losing fat and with out losing muscle ?

i have been doing 10 min only of 20 sec full sprint and 40 sec jogging ?

is that good or em i wasting my time ?

**Nooomoto** · 10-12-2011, 01:00 PM

10 minutes isn't really going to do much of anything man. If you have access to a treadmill, raise the incline to like 5.5 and do a brisk walk (faster than 3.0) for 30-40 min a few times a week, if you keep your diet in check this should help out quite a bit.

**devildog1967** · 10-12-2011, 01:47 PM

rowing m/c is the best i find...as it works multi muscle .

**PK-V** · 10-12-2011, 05:58 PM

LISS (Low Intensity Steady State Cardio)

**kif** · 10-12-2011, 07:56 PM

I put the treadmill in front of the TV at night do a brisk walk at 3.5 mph, every 5min. I sprint at 8.0 for 1 min. I do this for 45-60min. Works great for me.

**vxnice** · 10-14-2011, 05:54 AM

Im soo getting confused ? if you do 30 to 45 min yes you will lose fat but you will also lose muscle because the cardio will go for your muscles as well for that long thats why i herd 10min of sprinting and slowing down will only have enough time to go for the fat to burn it off ? its like them skinny people that do 50km runs there skinny and no muscle because they do long long running and well its the same thing as doing 40 to 45 min in that time it will go for your muscles ?

i still want to keep muscle ? just lose fat ?

what im about to say will sound really really rude and im sorry but if you dont know 100% of what your talking about then dont give me advice for all you guys that have giving me advice can you please just be honest with me and tell me that after 45min of cardio can you still say that you have not lost any muscle? thanks

**smallnutz** · 10-14-2011, 07:55 AM

Stay with incline mild walk keeping Ur heart range around 70% of max heart rate. Max heart rate is 220 minus your age. Take that number and 70% of that is fat burning range. Stay in range for 30-40 min. Correct if u sprint or do H.I.T your body will go into a anaerobic state where your fat resource will not be able to supply your body fast enough there for next step is to use your muscle

**evander87** · 10-14-2011, 10:43 AM

Look into HIIT High Intensity Interval Training. You're kinda of already doing it. Might want to bump up your session? I do it for 20 minutes but I sprint for a minute and walk / jog for a minute. Of course my sprints get slower each rep but it's the intensity that I'm doing them that kills the fat. I have lost mass. Don't know if its just fat but I do know I'd rather look like a sprinter than a marathon runner.

***FireGuy*** · 10-15-2011, 12:24 PM

Originally Posted by vxnice

Im soo getting confused ? if you do 30 to 45 min yes you will lose fat but you will also lose muscle because the cardio will go for your muscles as well for that long thats why i herd 10min of sprinting and slowing down will only have enough time to go for the fat to burn it off ? its like them skinny people that do 50km runs there skinny and no muscle because they do long long running and well its the same thing as doing 40 to 45 min in that time it will go for your muscles ?

i still want to keep muscle ? just lose fat ?

what im about to say will sound really really rude and im sorry but if you dont know 100% of what your talking about then dont give me advice for all you guys that have giving me advice can you please just be honest with me and tell me that after 45min of cardio can you still say that you have not lost any muscle? thanks

You can absolutely do cardio for 45 minutes without eating away muscle tissue.

Originally Posted by smallnutz

Stay with incline mild walk keeping Ur heart range around 70% of max heart rate. Max heart rate is 220 minus your age. Take that number and 70% of that is fat burning range. Stay in range for 30-40 min. Correct if u sprint or do H.I.T your body will go into a anaerobic state where your fat resource will not be able to supply your body fast enough there for next step is to use your muscle

So basically you are saying that 30-60 seconds of high intensity work followed by a 2-3 minute recovery repeated over 30-40 minutes eats muscle? If this is true everyone needs to stop training legs and back immediately as this is essentially HIIT training and it causing us to lose muscle not gain it. Google the word "glycogen".

**smallnutz** · 10-15-2011, 09:29 PM

Glycogen forms an energy reserve that can be quickly mobilized to meet a sudden need for glucose, but one that is less compact than the energy reserves of triglycerides (lipids). Any way I'm saying that HIIT one minute on and one walk isn't gonna hurt him but if he's killing it on treadmill to the point that his body is in a anaerobic state there is a possibility if burning muscle. Just giving advice. I've been a personal trainer for years don't need a test on glycogen thanks. Legs and HIIT are to different things. U won't go in anaerobic state doing legs. Google anaerobic

but fire guy is right that if u do HIIT at 1 min on 1 off you'll be fine. You have to go to extreme stare of exhaustion to burn muscle.

**vxnice** · 10-16-2011, 12:07 AM

Originally Posted by smallnutz

Glycogen forms an energy reserve that can be quickly mobilized to meet a sudden need for glucose, but one that is less compact than the energy reserves of triglycerides (lipids). Any way I'm saying that HIIT one minute on and one walk isn't gonna hurt him but if he's killing it on treadmill to the point that his body is in a anaerobic state there is a possibility if burning muscle. Just giving advice. I've been a personal trainer for years don't need a test on glycogen thanks. Legs and HIIT are to different things. U won't go in anaerobic state doing legs. Google anaerobic

but fire guy is right that if u do HIIT at 1 min on 1 off you'll be fine. You have to go to extreme stare of exhaustion to burn muscle.

so its ok to do 30 to 45 min ? doing 30 45 min will not burn muscle ? only if you going hard out for 30 min then you will burn muscle ?

**Nooomoto** · 10-16-2011, 12:51 AM

Originally Posted by vxnice

so its ok to do 30 to 45 min ? doing 30 45 min will not burn muscle ? only if you going hard out for 30 min then you will burn muscle ?

30 minutes of cardio WILL NOT CAUSE YOU TO LOSE MUSCLE. Go talk to an Army Ranger and see how long (and under what conditions) it takes before their bodies start consuming the muscles for energy.

***FireGuy*** · 10-16-2011, 03:59 AM

Originally Posted by smallnutz

Glycogen forms an energy reserve that can be quickly mobilized to meet a sudden need for glucose, but one that is less compact than the energy reserves of triglycerides (lipids). Any way I'm saying that HIIT one minute on and one walk isn't gonna hurt him but if he's killing it on treadmill to the point that his body is in a anaerobic state there is a possibility if burning muscle. Just giving advice. I've been a personal trainer for years don't need a test on glycogen thanks. Legs and HIIT are to different things. U won't go in anaerobic state doing legs. Google anaerobic

but fire guy is right that if u do HIIT at 1 min on 1 off you'll be fine. You have to go to extreme stare of exhaustion to burn muscle.

Anaerobic exercise is exercise intense enough to trigger anaerobic metabolism. It is used by athletes in non-endurance sports to promote strength, speed and power and by body builders to build muscle mass. Muscles energy systems trained using anaerobic exercise develop differently compared to aerobic exercise, leading to greater performance in short duration, high intensity activities, which last from mere seconds up to about 2 minutes

Sounds like leg training to me.....no offense but maybe you should have Googled anaerobic before making statements about it.

**max2extreme** · 10-16-2011, 06:49 AM

The amount and type of cardio that you will end up doing, no matter WHAT it is, will not eat away your muscles. It just wont.

I mean, yes it's possible, but 45 mins of any cardio activity is not going to do anything to diminish your muscle strength or size, unless of course you stop lifting.

10 mins isn't going to do much for you very quickly. As for exercises, I like rowing and swimming. Id prefer swimming.

***FireGuy*** · 10-16-2011, 07:50 AM

Excessive amounts of cardio combined with a high calorie deficit diet can lead to loss of lean tissue over time.

That said, it never ceases to amaze me how concerned people get with cardio and muscle loss. People will do high intensity weight training workouts for 45-90 minutes, play organized sports or work at a job that requires them to be very active all day long and yet they are still able to maintain and/or even add muscle. Yet as soon as any exertion is performed under the guise of cardio all a sudden there is this fear that our bodies are going to catabolise itself in under to perform this task. I truly believe 99% of the bad things you hear about cardio were made up by people who were looking for excuses not to do it.

**smallnutz** · 10-19-2011, 12:50 AM

Fire guy I've put 4 men on states. I'm telling him a fact that if he does moderate cardio or low HIIT intervals he will absolutely not burn muscle . 75% comes from proper nutrition I'm not here to get in debate I gave my suggestion u gave yours isn't what this forums about?

**auslifta** · 10-19-2011, 06:11 PM

Do an hour of cardio 2 times a day, you will not have to worry about losing muscle. I know, I've done it. Losing muscle while doing cardio is overstated BS.

***FireGuy*** · 10-19-2011, 06:18 PM

I am not quite sure what you mean by "I've put 4 men on states"? We can compare resumes if you want but not really sure what purpose that serves. Anyways, nothing wrong with a healthy debate as long as everyone stays respectful. I have always felt our members (myself included) get much better information from a good debate as opposed to just people throwing out opinions.

That said: In post 7 you stated that doing sprints or HIT will cause your body to go into an anaerobic state and you wont be able to burn fat fast enough and that the next step is to use muscle. This is simply not true, your body has many other energy sources at it's disposal. To imply that your body eats away muscle as soon as lipolysis cant keep up with energy demands is 100% false. You have muscle glycogen, liver glycogen and even dietary protein. Break down of muscle tissue as an energy source is the last thing your body wants to do. If what you are saying were true intense weight training would be counter productive to building muscle. I apologize if my comment to "Google Glycogen" came off as being a smart ass. I should have explained the process right then and there.

In post 10 you stated that you wont go into an anaerobic state training legs. Again this is 100% completely false. Weight training by definition is anaerobic. The above our not my "opinions" these are facts.

I am by no means trying to be argumentative with you but either you are misinformed or you just got some terminology mixed up.

**gbrice75** · 10-19-2011, 06:37 PM

Originally Posted by smallnutz

U won't go in anaerobic state doing legs.

I would LOVE for you to run one of the leg routines Narkissos wrote for me, specifically an EDT leg routine, then come on here with a straight face and make that statement. I'm not being sarcastic either... because if what i was doing wasn't anaerobic, then I guess I'm the one who needs to google it.

Originally Posted by FireGuy

To imply that your body eats away muscle as soon as lipolysis cant keep up with energy demands is 100% false. You have muscle glycogen, liver glycogen and even dietary protein. Break down of muscle tissue as an energy source is the last thing your body wants to do.

^^ this. The process itself requires such a high energy demand, it's grossly inefficient. IMO, the whole 'you'll burn LBM doing cardio' ideal is WAY overblown (I like your theory on who started it FG, lol!)... unless you have extremely low body fat and/or are dieting with a severe caloric deficit, I don't think people need to worry NEARLY as much as they do.

Just my .02, but good debate guys!

**Sgt. Hartman** · 10-19-2011, 08:19 PM

Originally Posted by smallnutz

Stay with incline mild walk keeping Ur heart range around 70% of max heart rate. Max heart rate is 220 minus your age. Take that number and 70% of that is fat burning range. Stay in range for 30-40 min. Correct if u sprint or do H.I.T your body will go into a anaerobic state where your fat resource will not be able to supply your body fast enough there for next step is to use your muscle

I think this is the statement most people are taking issue with, because, well, it's not true. Using lean tissue for energy is the bodies' absolute last resort for a fuel source. Like FG said, there is muscle and liver glycogen, as well as stored body fat and dietary fat that would be used first. Even amino acids in the bloodstream from dietary protein would be converted first.

And like GB said it's a terribly inefficient process. You have to break down 2 - 3 grams of protein in order to make 1g of glucose. Wasting 50% of the calories is not something your body would do unless under very extreme circumstances.