lots of cardio & leg training

[joe shmoe]

since its time to cut up a bit for summer, i'm doing the X-trainer for cardio. anywhere from 3-5 days a week. after my winter bulker, i finally got some size on my skinny little legs. now my dilema...how do i train legs to maintain some size while doing lots of cardio to lose fat? will i be over-training my legs?

help .

have a nice day

 

[Bob Smith]

Why do so much stinkin cardio?

Just tailor your diet and training to suit your goals, toss in a small to moderate amount of cardio and you dont have to worry about overtraining or losing leg size.

 

[Ramstein II]

Be prepared to lose some size from your legs-although it may be fat and water. "Apple shaped" people, mostly men, store fat in a sequence or order. First on their love handles, then on the their stomach, then on their chest and backs of arms, then on their legs. Fat loss usually is in reverse order, first your legs will get lean and tight (and smaller), then your upper body. Love handles are unfortunately last to go.

Also, don't over do the cardio. If your legs are getting weaker and smaller, then you're probably losing muscle. Learn to recognize weakness from glycogen depletion and loss of pressure in your joints from fat and water loss versus loss of contractile elements (muscle protein).

 

[Blind180]

I do tons of cardio and don't lose any size in my legs.

 

[Chip Bronson]

imo, it's hard to overtrain legs. they just eat the workouts and cardio right up. joe, you may want to try to reduce your leg training volume by 30-50% (how much is up to you and how your body type responds) but still lift as heavy as possible to guard against excessive losses in lean mass. ramstein is correct you should strive to discern the difference between fat and water loss vs. lean muscle tissue. 4-5 days of cardio sounds about right too. there are some lucky folks who don't need much cardio but most of us really do need that much. besides, the var ought to help you in preserving the mass.

 

[Grizzly]

I don't know how feasible it is for you, but if you want the most intense cardio possible without overusing your legs, I highly recommend wrestling. I'm sure there's a club/old man's team somewhere in NYC that you could join.

Also, I guess it would be a form of HIIT, but you can't beat stadium/stair running for heart benefits, calorie burning and leg development. Running stairs has done wonders for my legs.

 

[joe shmoe]

you can't beat stadium/stair running

how does running differ from the cross trainer? still alot of leg usage.

i'll cut down on the amount of weight i lift on leg days, and yes chip, the var will help save some muscle.

Bob...i need to do that much cardio. diet is not enough on its own for me. well, maybe the fact that i cheat on my diets doesnt help much either . after "bulking" since september, its hard to just switch it up to a cutting diet and stick with it.

thanks for the help guys.

have a nice day

 

[Bob Smith]

Switch to roughly maintenance calories for about 2 weeks before going into dieting.

 

[Grizzly]

Lot of leg usage, yes. But, the resistance added by having to heave your ass up the stairs adds/preserves muscle mass.

Plus, I don't see where using your legs will cause muscle degradation to begin with. That's akin to saying that high rep squats will cause muscle loss. If you can't spot reduce fat, then why on earth would using your legs a lot cause a spot reduction in muscle mass.

Would you say that olympic sprinters have small legs? They do plenty of running.

 

[Bob Smith]

Its quite possible to overtrain your legs if you have a high volume/intensity training program and a ton of cardio.

 

[Grizzly]

Then I stick by my original suggestion of wrestling.

 

[joe shmoe]

bob...what was the formula for maintenance clories?...8 x bodyweight?or was it 6? i'm about 220 lbs now, with around 13-15% BF.i figure 1500-1600 cals should do it, no? or is it more trial and error?

good point grizz.

have a nice day

 

[Bob Smith]

Maintenance? 14-16x depending on your daily activity level. If, as you said, you need a ton of cardio to drop fat, then I would say use 14x for maint.