naturalmass

hey all, im new here, first out wanted to say hi! sorry if ive put this in the wrong place, but i have a few questions and was a little confused where it should go!
1st off my stats are: age20, male, 5 '7, 13stone 7lbs, est. 13-14%bf, been training for 4-5 years and a fitness fanatic.
ok. after bulking through the winter i am now looking to get my bf down. the thing is, after doing no cardio in such a long time..im loving it! i could do it for hours. the trouble is, as much as i want to do lots of cardio, im worried about losing muscle. my current cardio plan is: 400-500cals in the a.m before my oats, and another 300-400cals in the night before bed. my diet is v clean. sugary carbs are out, except a lil skimmed milk with my oats & fruit/veg. all carbs r gone after 6. protein is high, good fats r high. so my questions is how much cardio should i/can i do in a day and not risk a high muscle loss? i have considered an ECA stack to preserve muscle while i do my cardio, but ive taken ephedrine before a couple of times before training & felt really spacey. i have my finals for my degree in 6wks and gotta hit revision so im thinking no for the ephedrine if ill feel like that regularly, but are there any other products i could try that may help? would that effect of ephedrine wear off as i got more used to it?
sorry about the huge post but some help would be really good!

big

If your diet is good (and compensates for the cardio correctly), you can do as much cardio as you like. Reasonable (low to medium intensity) cardio is not going to make you lose a bunch of muscle - just make sure you're keeping your protein extremely high.

Cardio is good for your heart, good for your body and a great way to stimulate your metabolism.

The rule of thumb of "cardio 3 times a week" is only because most people loath cardio. If you like it, do it more

Timmy Smooth

So long as you keep your weight training up, I'd have thought muscle loss would be kept to a minimum. If the muscles are consistently stimulated, your body will recognise that tissue maintenance is a priority, thereby avoiding a negatice catabolic effect.

winger

If your lifts are going down in strength then back off on the cardio. If not, keep it up. My body never looked better when doing cardio. Bump the last two blokes.........lol.

hackskii

Great post Big....

Natural, do as much cardio as you want. As long as the cals are there dont worry about it.
At 20 you are a cardio machine....good, as you get older this will go away to a certain extent.

But if you feel yourself getting tired or your joints ache then you will have to back off on ther cardio. I know this can become obsessive to some people and as long as this is not the case then I would not worry about it and do your cardio.

If you want to gain some mass you will have to replace some of that cardio for weights.

13% bodyfat is very good....

Gridlock

Hello mate, great advice from everyone -

On the ephedrine alternative question, Eph can be very dangerous for certain individuals who are sensative to it, I have heard of people getting a spaced out feeling from it before but this was usually form very high doses - how much are you taking? You will see most people on this board are trying - like you, to juggle fitness/bbing goals with life and work - I think you are definately right to stop using Ephedrine until your degree is done if it is making you feel bad. A good alternaive would be Ginseng and Ginkgo Biloba, This will give you a nice energy boost for training and also should help with your revision as ginseng is said to increase focus and concentration and ginko is very good for memory and brain function.

On a side note, This part of the board is not really very busy, post an introduction similar to what you have written here in the general disccussion section, let everyone know you have joined - you will recieve a warm welcome.

samurai69

Good post BIG. what he says ^^^ (low to medium intensity sre the key words)

naturalmass

Thanks all for the great advice,

gridlock, my ephedrine dose was 3 tabs (which i think 30mg). ive only done it twice, and as i was bulking i didnt like the loss of appetite. tho training was great and i dont think ive ever sweated so much from weights only. dieting atm i would like the loss of appetite as im really struggling to keep the cals down after getting used to bulking. do u think 30mg too high for me at my weight and y i felt so spaced out? i think i will give the gingseng a go. sounds like it could b real helpful in all areas! cheers pal.

my intensity has been at around 150-160 heartrate, averaging about 400 cals per 45 mins on the machine i use. is that an ok intensity?
my diet is around 2250 cals (if my maths r right). 100g fats (mainly unsat good fats), 150g carbs (mostly all complex), and about 300g protein. anything need increasing? also if im burning on average 700cals a day, is that not enough cals intake or too much being burnt?

cheers all,

winger

100 grams of fat = 900
150 grams of carbs = 600
300 grams of prot = 1200
900+600+1200 = 2700 cals.

Jock

I think you shouldn't stick to one form of cardio, if you do any type of cardio to excess then you will lose muscle.

For example if you jump on a treadmill and do low-intensity cardio seven times a week you are just as likely to lose muscle if you did HIIT.

You can go on any fitness bodybuilding site on the net and ask this question yet no-one will give you a definitve answer on which form of cardio is better for losing fat while sparing muscle mass.

http://www.muscletalk.co.uk/m_219645.../tm.htm#231190

You will literally hear thousands of arguments for both forms of cardio, all valid. The key is to find what works for you.

I have read for hours on this subject in both books and the internet and still the debate rages on. In my experience with cutting I find that a variety of cardio is the key. Last summer when I cut I did cardio 4 times per week. I did steady state cardio twice a week coupled with another two HIIT sessions, in the end I lost around 4% bodyfat, very little if any muscle loss.

Don't underestimate the importance of diet here, even if you do overdo you cardio a little a diet high in protein, may just compensate.

Jock

ChefX

cutting is about... diet 1st.

Cardio is for improving your cardiorespiratory output and ventricular density as well as capilary desnisty. if you look at it that way... you will not overtrain with it, you will get fit and you will maintain your muscle.