Doing Cardio Without Losing Muscle

[NEWBIE101]

I hear people asking me all the time about what type of cardio you should be doing during cutting.

The truth is the best form of cardio you can do is high intensity for 15-20 minutes for burning the most fat. Some people think that slow cardio will burn more calories if you do it longer, but no you will burn the most calories with some high intensity cardio. I recommend that you guys try HIIT. Here is a link. http://davedraper.com/hiit-cardio-training.html.

Also, I get asked alot. Should I be doing cardio in the morning on an empty stomach? Well the answer is yes if you want to burn muscle with your cardio. See the problem is that in the morning or when you haven't eaten your cortisol levels are high. Cortisol is a catabolic hormone and will eat away at your muscle that you have worked so hard for while bulking. This is why it's important to eat some slow digesting complex carbs such as oatmeal 45 minutes to an hour before your cardio session.

Hope this helps some of you guys.

 

[anakin]

Originally posted by NEWBIE101
Should I be doing cardio in the morning on an empty stomach? Well the answer is yes if you want to burn muscle with your cardio. See the problem is that in the morning or when you haven't eaten your cortisol levels are high. Cortisol is a catabolic hormone and will eat away at your muscle that you have worked so hard for while bulking. This is why it's important to eat some slow digesting complex carbs such as oatmeal 45 minutes to an hour before your cardio session.

Wow, is this for real? I had better change that then and eat some oatmeal before my HIIT training in the mornings. I had originally thought that, due to so many people parading this, HIIT in the mornings, before breakfast is excellent in burning fat.

Thanks, I can change my plan accordingly.

ANAKIN

 

[wheelin&dealin]

Glutamine post-cardio should help.

 

[anakin]

"To maximise fat burning effects try doing cardio first thing in the morning before breakfast. That way your body has no energy available from food so it will tap into your fat stores. You may even want to try putting your weight lifting workout before any food for the same reason. I have done this for the last two years to help me stay lean and defined all year round, not just in the summer time."

Source

So, to clarify, such advice is wrong? I typed in "cardio before breakfast" in an internet search engine and I find many sources saying that it's recommended, like the site above, to name one example. Naturalmuscle.com also contains similar advice...

btw thanks wheelin', that makes sense.

ANAKIN

 

[Templeton]

Just finished a little high intensity cardio on the spinning bike. A whopping 7 minutes (after warm-up) - but very tough! Worth pointing out though that - as the name would imply - this is HARD training and for those guys who are just getting into exercise and bodybuilding generally it might be an idea to gradually build up a reasonable aerobic fitness level with more convential - i.e. lower intensity, longer duration training before going all out with the HIIT. Of course, for the skinny guys desperate to gain weight - the classic "hardgainer" - so to speak, dont bother with any cardio whilst trying to put size on.

With regard to whether or not to do cardio first thing: As with so many aspects of training there are many conflicting views. My view is to learn as much as you can and try things out for yourself and see how effective - or not - a particular approach is in view of your training goals. I have papers and research that make good cases for all types of cardio training and at different times of day, so you have to experiment.

 

[NEWBIE101]

Originally posted by anakin
"To maximise fat burning effects try doing cardio first thing in the morning before breakfast. That way your body has no energy available from food so it will tap into your fat stores. You may even want to try putting your weight lifting workout before any food for the same reason. I have done this for the last two years to help me stay lean and defined all year round, not just in the summer time."

Source

So, to clarify, such advice is wrong? I typed in "cardio before breakfast" in an internet search engine and I find many sources saying that it's recommended, like the site above, to name one example. Naturalmuscle.com also contains similar advice...

btw thanks wheelin', that makes sense.

ANAKIN

No it's not wrong.

Reread what I said. I said that if you want maximal fat burning effect then you should do cardio first thing on an empty stomach. However, you will be losing some of that muscle that you worked so hard for in the gym.

Understand?

If you guys want, there is a huge thread over at my old forums on this. If you want me to post a link then just ask.

 

[atomsk]

Originally posted by NEWBIE101
No it's not wrong.

Reread what I said. I said that if you want maximal fat burning effect then you should do cardio first thing on an empty stomach. However, you will be losing some of that muscle that you worked so hard for in the gym.

Understand?

If you guys want, there is a huge thread over at my old forums on this. If you want me to post a link then just ask.

that link in the first post isnt working. Post the link you're talking about here too.

 

[semag]

dude... the link in the first post works. you click on it, you get a page not found... so therefore, you look up at the title bar. IT says .... blah.html. <----- wow... look, he added a period at the end... delete that, you're cool

 

[anakin]

Originally posted by NEWBIE101:
Reread what I said. I said that if you want maximal fat burning effect then you should do cardio first thing on an empty stomach.

No, re-read what you wrote. You did not say one should do cardio in the morning, before breakfast, for maximum fat burning effect. You said "Should I be doing cardio in the morning on an empty stomach? Well the answer is yes if you want to burn muscle with your cardio".

However, you will be losing some of that muscle that you worked so hard for in the gym.

Yes, THAT is what you pointed out.

ANAKIN

 

[NEWBIE101]

Here's the link. You don't have to read the whole thread, but you can just look around. I'll post another one with it as well.

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=99420

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/satter2.htm