For what it’s worth cardio makes me feel good. I don’t find it slows down mass gain if I eat to compensate, and being fit enough to do extended bouts of cardio is a big boost if you do find yourself with a big lump of flab all of a sudden.
[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:
In the actual world of bodybuilding/weightlifting I don’t think cardio is that important. I think in terms of body composition diet is the biggest factor. As much as I love lifting though, I still like to walk stairs w/out losing my breath and go outside and play tennis and hike est.
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I agree that diet is absolutely paramount in cutting fat…far more important than cardio. However, when I’m cutting for a show I typically need several cardio sessions per day to get as lean as possible. I certainly do not consider myself to be at the top of my category, but I have competed many times and understand what it takes to maximize fat loss while maintaining muscle.
Cardio first thing in the morning has been crucial for me…and my own experience has shown me it may be one of the most effective methods for getting lean very quickly.
Bango
[quote]jimmybango wrote:
Cardio first thing in the morning has been crucial for me…and my own experience has shown me it may be one of the most effective methods for getting lean very quickly.
Bango[/quote]
This has been the route for me as well, and I think steady state cardio watching your heart rate in the AM after a shake or some BCAAS at bare minimum is paramount.
Also to answer the question “How much cardio”, it depends on your goals, and you are going to have to experiment with cardio to figure it out.
Look at the bodies of sprinters, and look at the bodies of distance runners, and that should give you an idea of what cardio to pick. I dont think sprinters worry about how much cardio they are getting in.
[quote]TattoosNLifting wrote:
jimmybango wrote:
Cardio first thing in the morning has been crucial for me…and my own experience has shown me it may be one of the most effective methods for getting lean very quickly.
Bango
This has been the route for me as well, and I think steady state cardio watching your heart rate in the AM after a shake or some BCAAS at bare minimum is paramount.
Also to answer the question “How much cardio”, it depends on your goals, and you are going to have to experiment with cardio to figure it out.
Look at the bodies of sprinters, and look at the bodies of distance runners, and that should give you an idea of what cardio to pick. I dont think sprinters worry about how much cardio they are getting in.[/quote]
Exactly. There are plenty of ways to elevate your heart rate other than spending an hour on a treadmill. Circuits, sprints, etc. have already been mentioned, but what about playing sport? Obviously depending on the type of sport you pick, but something like rugby, squash or American football will involve more anaerobic exertion and will probably be better for holding onto muscle, not to mention obviously being more enjoyable (for many people at least) than spending an hour on a treadmill.
That said, as far as I’m aware, most pros still favour light elliptical/treadmill work.
I’m more intermediate than advanced, certainly at the moment (working my way back to where I was), but coming at it from a psychological perspective, if you start playing a sport that you like then psychologically it’s far less draining. Honestly, I can’t think of many people who don’t look at the treadmill like it’s a big chore they dread doing. But then if you go and play squash for an hour or join a tennis or rugby league or something then you don’t even look at it as cardio or training… you’re just taking part in an activity you enjoy.
I used to play tennis for hours and hours and hours each day some years back… it wasn’t a chore like getting on a treadmill though, it was great fun and I used to be chomping at the bit to get on the courts because I loved playing. How much more good in terms of calories burned and aerobic conditioning do you think those hours of tennis did me than a couple of hours on the treadmill each week?
It is conceivable that too much could burn muscle but then you should be smart enough to eat more to compensate… we used to take loads of food with us when we played tennis.
Weights alone can get you cut but if you’re talking about getting competition standard low in terms of bodyfat then the weight training volume needed to burn those extra calories to put you in a deficit would be too much.
If it makes anyone feel better I’ve gone from 145lb to 163lb at 5’6" since September with bodyfat between 8.9-10.2% (currently 163lb 9.2%) AND have either run 15-25mi a week or cycled 50-75mi a week.
I used to be a marathon runner who would run upwards of 100-120mi a week so my body is more used to cardio than the average gym rat. Eating 3500-4000+ calories a day and 300+ grams protein helps…
As long as you’re eating enough calories and protein my guess is that you can do whatever cardio you want.
[quote]trav123456 wrote:
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with cardio even when bulking, as long as you can get enough calories to make up for it cardio can keep you from feeling lethargic, I agree with Paul in that diet should be the main cutting tool though. I’m sure if you look you can find bber’s that do cardio year round and still do well.[/quote]
All the way into my mid-thirties I could get away with only doing cardio during certain periods of my training. As I got older, stronger, and larger (at about 2.75lbs per inch of height) it became neccesary to include cardio in most of my routines in order to progress. Somewhere in my early forties it became critical to do cardio year round (I average 90 -120 min. a week now). IMO my recovery, joint health, duration and intensity of DOMS, and my over all feeling of well being are directly related to the consistancy of my cardio. I am not a BB per say and don’t know the first thing about posing, but have a BC video on my T-Page…I beleive I qualify.
[quote]BlueCollarTr8n wrote:
trav123456 wrote:
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with cardio even when bulking, as long as you can get enough calories to make up for it cardio can keep you from feeling lethargic, I agree with Paul in that diet should be the main cutting tool though. I’m sure if you look you can find bber’s that do cardio year round and still do well.
All the way into my mid-thirties I could get away with only doing cardio during certain periods of my training. As I got older, stronger, and larger (at about 2.75lbs per inch of height) it became neccesary to include cardio in most of my routines in order to progress. Somewhere in my early forties it became critical to do cardio year round (I average 90 -120 min. a week now). IMO my recovery, joint health, duration and intensity of DOMS, and my over all feeling of well being are directly related to the consistancy of my cardio. I am not a BB per say and don’t know the first thing about posing, but have a BC video on my T-Page…I beleive I qualify.
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You do qualify and I would hope most of these posts in this thread are actually coming from big people who have years of experience like you have instead of people who have been training for a couple of years yet want their post count to go up.
[quote]BlueCollarTr8n wrote:
All the way into my mid-thirties I could get away with only doing cardio during certain periods of my training. As I got older, stronger, and larger (at about 2.75lbs per inch of height) it became neccesary to include cardio in most of my routines in order to progress. Somewhere in my early forties it became critical to do cardio year round (I average 90 -120 min. a week now). IMO my recovery, joint health, duration and intensity of DOMS, and my over all feeling of well being are directly related to the consistancy of my cardio. I am not a BB per say and don’t know the first thing about posing, but have a BC video on my T-Page…I beleive I qualify. [/quote]
I agree 100%. At 39 and weighing close to 250, I’m starting to do cardio on a routine basis simply because it makes me feel better.
Although I don’t compete in bodybuilding, I know a thing or two about being fat and getting down to acceptable (but by no means shredded) bf levels while keeping your muscle.
I have a very slow metabolism and had been obese from ages 10 - 16 and 21 - 23.
The first time, I got rid of the fat doing lots of cardio and eating next to nothing (a few apples, one or to plain yogurts, your typical moronic fat loss regimen).
The second time around, I had been carrying a lot of muscle and did nothing but to go very low on calories and to train - a lot. Six times tbt (sans the legs) a week, heavy, progressive and I’d lost a lot of fat without doing any cardio.
IMHO you can lean out to a certain degree without cardio if you have your diet in check and move enough iron while getting stronger (drop the volume, if necessary, but keep up the frequency).
It should be noted, however, that this approach isn’t kind to your joints: it’s easy to reach a state of malnutrition during a hypocaloric diet which, coupled with a severe and progressive stress on your joints, can be detrimental to your health in the long run, unless precautionary measures are taken.
If one isn’t able to train like that for any reason (schedule, health, lack of motivation etc.) cardio (or energy systems work) should be used if one isn’t progressing with dietary tweaking alone. Christian Thibaudeau has written (at least) one informative article about it.
To the OP.
I am by no means a seasoned veteran or the top dog in the sport, but I am a very hard worker who has learned from some incredible lifters, and I think that cardio plays a vital role in helping you gain strength in all of your other lifts. I don’t lift for the looks, I lift for the number iI put up on meet day, and I owe a great deal of that number to my cardio training.
Its just like how they say squatting improves every other lift you do because its such a full body movement, I think cardio works in the same way. When lifting big weight/low reps (ill use squatting as my example) it is key to be able to control your breathing and the tightening of your core. Cardio exercises the lungs so that when 500+ pounds is on your back, you can still get a full breath before you try and move it (and I am sure most of you know, you need all the air you can get).
If you just wander into the gym and start lifting with no type of cardio warm up, your body also has to spend the first 5 sets of your work out getting the blood flowing, so it also works as a prep for your important lifts.