first post...10 min cardio too short?

Hi,

This is my first post on here. My buddy told me that you guys are real helpful on this site for beginners. I was wondering if you guys could help me. I have read the sticky posts and searched for my answer but could not find it. I was wondering if i could loose fat but keep lean muscle if i ran every other day for 10 mins at high intensity? I am not trying to loose wieght just get a little leaner but I do realize that i will loose some weight. I have never attempted cardio before. I am 180 lbs 20years old and about 15% BF.

Thanks for the help. :D :D

OwnItOnDVD

My Kinetics profs teach us cardio at any intensity will not give much (if any) benifits if not done for 20 mins. Thats when fat burning and cardio output start improving..
burn fat and genral health- 50-70% max heart rate
improve cardio vascular system- 70-90% mac heart rate

max heart rate= 220- age

To lose the least amount of muscle, hit it for 30-60 min 3-5 times a week in the AM on an empty stomach. Fat does start to burn at 20 minutes so if you go say 45.....thats 25 minutes of burning fat!

Just b/c you are doing cardio doesnt mean your gonna lose any muscle at all, yeah if your diet sucks and your not getting enough protien then you might lose alittle.. But heres the thing to if your jogging and you cant hold a convo. then your going alittle to hard thats where you start to burn muscle b/c your turning an aerobic exercise into an anaerobic one which you do not wanna do.. Aerobic calories burn fat as your body breathes in oxygen. Low-intensity activities up to and including walking are mainly fat burning. However, as your body's need for energy becomes greater than your rate of oxygen intake, your body begins burning anaerobic calories. Anaerobic calories burn glucose by converting a starch stored in your muscles known as glycogen. Since this doesn't require oxygen, anaerobic calories are used in very strenuous activities for short periods. So with that said The only way your gonna burn muscle by doing cardio is by doing Anaerobic cardio like running really hard not being able to hold a convo while doing it.. Try getting on a treadmill and setting the incline to 15 and walk at a pace of 2.2 or 2.5 that will burn A LOT of calories and you don’t have to worry about burning muscle…

20min or more..

yeah 20 minutes is the breaking point.. i always start counting after the first 20 minutes.. try hitting 45 if you feel good increase it every 2-3 weeks by 3-5 mins..

Ten minutes is not going to help much at all. You should really shoot for atleast 30 if your trying to loose bodyfat, and as stated above by jock191 (nice post) lower intensity equals higher percentage of fat being burned. Try to keep your heart rate at about 65% of your max. 220 - age divided by .65. For a twenty year old that's about 130 beats a minute. Not a very hard intensity to maintain for 30 plus mins.

thanks... i am gonna take all of your advice and start counting after the first 20 mins is up!