who’s with me?
Should always do cardio. You have to train your heart and lungs to efficiently deliver the nutrients to your muscle.
During the bulking-up phase, cardio should be performed at 1 - 2 times a week.
During the cutting-up phase, cardio should be performed 4 - 6 times a week, depending to time constraints.
On the contrary, one the guys from my work, quit cardio for six months. He put on a significant about of size and maintained definition. At the end of the six month period, he still ran 2.4km in sub 7 min. But then again, this guy is a freak, with god gifted genes.
I haven’t done “cardio” per se in over a year. But I swim in my pool, have a job that keeps me on my feet and moving all day, and do 20 rep squats. Until I cut, that’s all the cardio I think I need. Anyone who says 20 rep squats aren’t cardio either hasn’t done them, or is out of their mind.
[quote]hungry4more wrote:
I haven’t done “cardio” per se in over a year. But I swim in my pool, have a job that keeps me on my feet and moving all day, and do 20 rep squats. Until I cut, that’s all the cardio I think I need. Anyone who says 20 rep squats aren’t cardio either hasn’t done them, or is out of their mind. [/quote]
or 20 rep deadlifts. Either one of them has me throwing up my intestines.
I decided to be really fucking fat
Who’s with me?!
Though I think 20 rep deadlifts are pretty much a recipe for disaster if you’re truly pushing yourself…no way is the form staying good on the last few reps. Doing that once in a while may not kill you, but it probably isn’t the best idea.
Cardio is a bit of a misnomer for aerobic training. Unless you need an aerobic base (ex: marathon), most athletes would be better served sticking with anaerobic training. Granted, there are exceptions, which may include when you’re getting extremely lean for a competition.
Why not combine your current training with a conditioning component to up the cardio benefits? You don’t necessarily have to nix the strength or hypertrophy focus to achieve this.
You could use complexes to create something like loaded chest day with high-speed body weight work for legs, loaded leg day with explosive bodyweight pushups and high-speed light weight cable rows, etc.
CT talks about it in this article:
http://www.figureathlete.com/article/bodybuilding/getting_hypermetabolic&cr=
and continues in this article:
http://www.figureathlete.com/article/bodybuilding/enhancing_hypermetabolic_training&cr=
Yes, I know it’s at Figure Athlete, but the same principles apply with men, and honestly, I don’t know why it was posted there instead of T-Nation.
Also, Scott Abel’s MET stuff is excellent:
Umm no, I would gain “size” but it would mainly be fat. Thats just me. I’ve always done cardio because I had to. 3 times per week bulk and every fucking day leaning out. As for you guys doing 20 reps squats, I have lost a meal on the gym floor on one occasion.
[quote]hungry4more wrote:
I haven’t done “cardio” per se in over a year. But I swim in my pool, have a job that keeps me on my feet and moving all day, and do 20 rep squats. Until I cut, that’s all the cardio I think I need. Anyone who says 20 rep squats aren’t cardio either hasn’t done them, or is out of their mind. [/quote]
It’s not cardio…doesn’t mean it doesn’t get your heart rate up but I would not call it cardio. Anaerobic training yeah…
I do cardio because I kind of have to, I’m going to college for police foundations and that’s a big part of it, I also do a conditioning style workout separate from my cardio day which involves sled drags, sprints, car pushing etc. Even if I wasnt in the program, I’d still do cardio, your heart is the most important muscle ya got.
I reduced my cardio to one 30 minute session per week now. I used to have it at 4-5 30 minute sessions per week, but I lose fat really easily, so I am happy with just one day per week, and it works for me.
[quote]Growing_Boy wrote:
Umm no, I would gain “size” but it would mainly be fat. Thats just me. I’ve always done cardio because I had to. 3 times per week bulk and every fucking day leaning out. As for you guys doing 20 reps squats, I have lost a meal on the gym floor on one occasion. [/quote]
I was fine with 20, then I tried that leg blast for fun and got to 4.5 minutes and nearly died…
It was like, wow, i havent even digested the oats and its been a little over an hour…
Don’t squats do that?
I’m giving up cardio for 3 weeks (the rest of June). Been 2 weeks now and I am in a major bulk phase. I don’t think it will have a tremendous impact on my lifts or my nutrition in the short term, but in July I will be better able to assess the damage done, if any.
[quote]PF_88 wrote:
hungry4more wrote:
I haven’t done “cardio” per se in over a year. But I swim in my pool, have a job that keeps me on my feet and moving all day, and do 20 rep squats. Until I cut, that’s all the cardio I think I need. Anyone who says 20 rep squats aren’t cardio either hasn’t done them, or is out of their mind.
It’s not cardio…doesn’t mean it doesn’t get your heart rate up but I would not call it cardio. Anaerobic training yeah…
I do cardio because I kind of have to, I’m going to college for police foundations and that’s a big part of it, I also do a conditioning style workout separate from my cardio day which involves sled drags, sprints, car pushing etc. Even if I wasnt in the program, I’d still do cardio, your heart is the most important muscle ya got.[/quote]
What’s the difference? Your heart beats like crazy doing cardio or 20 rep squats.
How is low intensity work better for your heart?
How long will 20 reps of squats take? How long will a real cardio session take?
Cardio has a lot of benefits that 20 rep squats don’t. I’ve done the 20 rep squats, it’s killer I know but a 30 minute run is a different kind of workout.
[quote]joe shumsky wrote:
who’s with me?
[/quote]
Depends on what my goals are. If I am putting on too much fat while “bulking”, I throw in some cardio. But again I monitor it on an average basis say every two weeks or so. If I am “cutting” and seeing too much weight loss too soon, I put some brakes on.
[quote]PF_88 wrote:
How long will 20 reps of squats take? How long will a real cardio session take?
Cardio has a lot of benefits that 20 rep squats don’t. I’ve done the 20 rep squats, it’s killer I know but a 30 minute run is a different kind of workout.[/quote]
As Bushy said, there is no purely aerobic or anaerobic work, so really we’re simplifying things as it is. All of the body’s energy systems come into play once you start working, it’s just the primary ones that we’re debating.
But if you just do cardio for your heart, I would argue a heavy set of 20+ rep squats has just about as much benefit as 30 minutes of moderately paced running.
If we’re arguing length here, squats definitely win, being the shorter one, and therefore saving time. Since when does going longer make something better? That’s like saying that because person A took 20 years to build their body, which is identical to person B’s body, who only took 5 years to build it, person A’s body is better. Nope. Not at all.
[quote]hungry4more wrote:
PF_88 wrote:
How long will 20 reps of squats take? How long will a real cardio session take?
Cardio has a lot of benefits that 20 rep squats don’t. I’ve done the 20 rep squats, it’s killer I know but a 30 minute run is a different kind of workout.
As Bushy said, there is no purely aerobic or anaerobic work, so really we’re simplifying things as it is. All of the body’s energy systems come into play once you start working, it’s just the primary ones that we’re debating. But if you just do cardio for your heart, I would argue a heavy set of 20+ rep squats has just about as much benefit as 30 minutes of moderately paced running.
If we’re arguing length here, squats definitely win, being the shorter one, and therefore saving time. Since when does going longer make something better? That’s like saying that because person A took 20 years to build their body, which is identical to person B’s body, who only took 5 years to build it, person A’s body is better. Nope. Not at all. [/quote]
I still disagree, but don’t know enough scientific facts to continue arguing so I’ll leave it. I do think your length/time argument is off however. Just because the squat one is shorter means it’s better, sure maybe more convenient. You say “since when does going longer make something better” that line confuses me if you believe it.
What I meant PF was if you get similar results from doing two things (in this case burning fat), why not choose the faster one?
Besides, it’s been proven time and time again that lifting is superior to aerobics for fat loss (and obviously building muscle)…if you don’t believe me I’ll dig up some of the studies.