Anyone else cut with little or no cardio?

[Neodavid]

I fake myself out by cycling some days, running others, and tredmilling... (feels like less boring cardio)

Personal 'belief' is that more than 20 running is a waste for weightlifting. That's where I go from looking better, to losing muscle. PLUS, the 'gains' of more than 20 minutes, are minimal. I'm all for the circulatory system stuff you are talking about, but I already spend an hour a day inthe gym, maybe an hour on my bike, or 20 running is all I want to add.

I know we aren't Olympians here, but for me that means a few lbs of muscle matters 'more' (more percentage wise).

All I know is for me there is a significant difference in muscle appearance. Like that article said, 20 minutes of all out, is much better than an hour of 70% (for weightlifting).

Let's say, hypothetically, cardio causes you to burn ZERO fat (which is just plain wrong). The cardiovascular benefits to doing cardio regularly are immense. I recommend to everyone I meet, whether they are on a cutting cycle, bulking cycle, or are just in the gym for their general health, to do cardio atleast 5 times per week for 50-60 minutes at 70-75% of their max heart rate (I give them the website and tell them to buy a Polar Heart Rate Monitor). Simply put, regular cardio work saves lives. Who gives a fuck if "Oh God, I am catabolizing a couple pounds of lean muscle mass by doing cardio"?? I mean who gives a flying fuck if you are sacrificing a couple pounds of muscle by doing cardio. Think of the big picture people!! There is more to life than worrying "Oh God, if I don't do cardio I will have 267 lbs of muscle, but if I do do cadio, I will only have 264 lbs of muscle". I could possibly see if you are an elite Mr. Olympia caliber BBer, where you might be a little concerned. But how many fucking Mr. Olympia competitors do we have on Meso???? none???? Yeah, that's what I thought.

Cardio makes you feel better. Cardio makes you sleep better. Cardio makes you look better. Cardio saves lives. If EVERY American bought a Polar heart rate monitor, and engaged in vigorous aerobic activity 7 times per week, for 60 minutes at 70-75% of their max heart rate, then it would not be so fucking pitiful to walk into Walmart. I swear man, I am not sure what your city is like, but in my city, you walk into a Walmart, atleast 50% of the men and women are flat out fucking obese. It is sick. It is a travesty. Obesity is probably the single biggest deleterious risk factor that Americans' health face today.

PPLLEEAASSEEE do cardio. It is good for you. It makes you look better, sleep better, feel better. Most importantly, it will add years to your life.

LOL - I am off my soap box now!

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Future Husband of Jennifer Love Hewitt

 

[AdamTheStud]

That's a good article, explains why even though cardio is horrible for fat loss, how it helps muscle growth.

Everything you do to stress your body without harming it, stimulates a response, but the folks doing cardio who think they are burning fat, really aren't burning all that much. They are getting other bebefits, much greater than fat loss.

I used to be big into running, and even though I knew it was 100 calories per mile (a little more actually) and would take 30 miles to equal 1 lb., I always thinned out. At 6 miles a week (3x 2 miles), and 3 or 4 hours of biking, I should only be losing a half a lb a week... but within 3 weeks of doing that, I always really thin out in the abdomen, and look much better in the mirror.

It said cardio is good for fat loss, not horrible

 

[Maetenloch]

Most guides I've seen show 130-150 calories burned per mile for a 200 lb man.
It seems hard to believe that moderate to intense cardio doesn't elevate the metabolism for at least some time after exercising. Everything I've read seems to point this way, and this matches my experience when I've done intensive running ED or EOD. This http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0120.htm claims that the metabolism can be elevated for as long as 36 hours after strenuous exercise.

Even if running a mile only burned 100 calories and your metabolism immediately returned to normal as soon as you stopped, this is not insignificant!
Assuming you have a BMR of 2200 calories, running 2 miles will effectively increase this by 9% - this is more than is claimed for clenbuterol.

And that's not even mentioning the health benefits of cardio.

 

[Neodavid]

Just for the record, I do cardio, 4-5x a week. I believe in it for many reasons. It's definitely worth it. I wouldn't want to NOT do it. I think everyone should do it.

But for fat loss, it is not the answer, at least not for me. Since the thread is about cutting and fat loss, if fat loss is your goal, cardio is not the magic bullet. I honestly know a guy who did 2 hours of cardio daily, for years, but had a huge gut. He biked 30 miles every day.

Diet is everything, exercising with weights will get rid of fat and burn more calories continually (muscle tissue burns significant calories even at rest, so bigger muscles, more calories burned daily).

Too much cardio cuts down muscle, at least it does for me. Cuts it down significantly...

20 minutes a day or equivelent (biking an hour is same as 20 min running) is all I can do without muscle tissue just falling off. I'm sure some can get away with more.

The only thing I've found that cuts me up is doing the protien diet, take yourself into ketosis, and all that fat just melts away.

Honestly in my case the magic bullet happened to be a decent calcium, like Calmax, or coral calcium, taken in high doses.

The body cannot measure fat, it measures calcium ions instead. If you have a shortage of calcium ions, your body says, "Hey, lets make more fat, or keep what we got and use muscle instead".

Most calcium suppliments suck though, as far as absorbtion, so you have to do calmax or something that really goes in.

I started taking calcium, and then all of the cardio and weight lifting I did paid off. Chemically my calcium deficiency was working against me.

Most guides I've seen show 130-150 calories burned per mile for a 200 lb man.
It seems hard to believe that moderate to intense cardio doesn't elevate the metabolism for at least some time after exercising. Everything I've read seems to point this way, and this matches my experience when I've done intensive running ED or EOD. This http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0120.htm claims that the metabolism can be elevated for as long as 36 hours after strenuous exercise.

Even if running a mile only burned 100 calories and your metabolism immediately returned to normal as soon as you stopped, this is not insignificant!
Assuming you have a BMR of 2200 calories, running 2 miles will effectively increase this by 9% - this is more than is claimed for clenbuterol.

And that's not even mentioning the health benefits of cardio.

 

[jbrand]

Let's say, hypothetically, cardio causes you to burn ZERO fat (which is just plain wrong). The cardiovascular benefits to doing cardio regularly are immense. I recommend to everyone I meet, whether they are on a cutting cycle, bulking cycle, or are just in the gym for their general health, to do cardio atleast 5 times per week for 50-60 minutes at 70-75% of their max heart rate (I give them the website and tell them to buy a Polar Heart Rate Monitor). Simply put, regular cardio work saves lives. Who gives a fuck if "Oh God, I am catabolizing a couple pounds of lean muscle mass by doing cardio"?? I mean who gives a flying fuck if you are sacrificing a couple pounds of muscle by doing cardio. Think of the big picture people!! There is more to life than worrying "Oh God, if I don't do cardio I will have 267 lbs of muscle, but if I do do cadio, I will only have 264 lbs of muscle". I could possibly see if you are an elite Mr. Olympia caliber BBer, where you might be a little concerned. But how many fucking Mr. Olympia competitors do we have on Meso???? none???? Yeah, that's what I thought.

Cardio makes you feel better. Cardio makes you sleep better. Cardio makes you look better. Cardio saves lives. If EVERY American bought a Polar heart rate monitor, and engaged in vigorous aerobic activity 7 times per week, for 60 minutes at 70-75% of their max heart rate, then it would not be so fucking pitiful to walk into Walmart. I swear man, I am not sure what your city is like, but in my city, you walk into a Walmart, atleast 50% of the men and women are flat out fucking obese. It is sick. It is a travesty. Obesity is probably the single biggest deleterious risk factor that Americans' health face today.

PPLLEEAASSEEE do cardio. It is good for you. It makes you look better, sleep better, feel better. Most importantly, it will add years to your life.

LOL - I am off my soap box now!

dumbbellpress Dallas Cowboys - America's Team

I can cite studies that show anaerobic training to aid in cardiovascular health to the same degree as aerobic. It will help you in terms of fitness (which ENDURANCE is part of the formula) and there are other reasons as you stated to do it. Morning cardio makes me feel better for the rest of the day. It's all about personal goals though and ones total plan, any kind of training aerobic/anaerobic is a negative stress on the body, which is a good in the respect that the body can adapt to this higher level of strength/efficiency, but can be counterproductive in terms of excess stress and the inability for the body to recover and adapt.

It's not that cardio is good or bad. The problem with most guys in the bodybuilding world (including myself) is that we have a hard time with the word "moderation". Our brain tells us more is better, and sometimes that emotional instinct can overshadow the bodys symptons of overtraining.

But I still stand by the fact it isn't manditory in a bodybuilders arsenal if overall fitness/endurance comes second to the vanity