Cardio - How much for me???

[want2bafreak]

How much cardio is ideal when trying to gain muscle, I am training 5 days a week and am doing 4 days cardio (20 up hill walking/ 20 running), is this too much cardio?? I am not sure of my BF%, I have a little bit of BF I would like to lose but dont want to lose any muscle, what would be a good balance?

[irongirl]

for bulking less is better. i just walked my dogs as my cardio during my last bulk.

[Miss Muscle]

How much cardio is ideal when trying to gain muscle, I am training 5 days a week and am doing 4 days cardio (20 up hill walking/ 20 running), is this too much cardio?? I am not sure of my BF%, I have a little bit of BF I would like to lose but dont want to lose any muscle, what would be a good balance?

I was going to post a similar question today!!!!

Irongirl......and anybody else of course.........if you want to keep fat loss to a minimum however......where do you draw the line at cardio. I am currently doing 3 days a week at 30 minutes, but was considering it up one day. I'm eating lots of calories to maintain muscle also.

[outlawtas2]

I was going to post a similar question today!!!!

Irongirl......and anybody else of course.........if you want to keep fat loss to a minimum however......where do you draw the line at cardio. I am currently doing 3 days a week at 30 minutes, but was considering it up one day. I'm eating lots of calories to maintain muscle also.

If your training and eating right there is no reason you should be losing any muscle with 2 hours cardio/wk. It's great to keep the fat off and keep you healhty as well. "burning" muscle is overrated, except in extreme situations.

[Miss Muscle]

If your training and eating right there is no reason you should be losing any muscle with 2 hours cardio/wk. It's great to keep the fat off and keep you healhty as well. "burning" muscle is overrated, except in extreme situations.

I must spread some reputation around before giving it to outlawtas2 again.

Thanks for the reply!!!

[H2O]

Invest in a heart rate monitor and keep your heart rate within the 'fat burning' zone. You don't have to invest a lot of money, just buy an entry level one. It will work out your zone for your goal when you programme it. I have been known to do a fair amount of cardio after spells of bad eating; I can't say I've lost strength or muscle ... just the will to live :-)

[Miss Muscle]

Invest in a heart rate monitor and keep your heart rate within the 'fat burning' zone. You don't have to invest a lot of money, just buy an entry level one. It will work out your zone for your goal when you programme it. I have been known to do a fair amount of cardio after spells of bad eating; I can't say I've lost strength or muscle ... just the will to live :-)

Haha....funny you mention that because I've been having a bad eating spell which is the reason I'm thinking of upping my cardio. Bad eating spell is done TODAY however.

[H2O]

Haha....funny you mention that because I've been having a bad eating spell which is the reason I'm thinking of upping my cardio. Bad eating spell is done TODAY however.

Draw a line under it. Make the daily decision - if you want to look a certain way you have to eat right to support it. We spend one to two hours in the gym doing the right thing to support our goals. We can undo all that by what we put in to ourselves the other 22/23 hours of the day! It's a sacrifice, but if it was easy, everyone would look lean and muscular!

[Miss Muscle]

Draw a line under it. Make the daily decision - if you want to look a certain way you have to eat right to support it. We spend one to two hours in the gym doing the right thing to support our goals. We can undo all that by what we put in to ourselves the other 22/23 hours of the day! It's a sacrifice, but if it was easy, everyone would look lean and muscular!

Damn girl.....don't I know it. These last 2 days of not so good food haven't affected me too badly yet.......but one more day and I lose more definition guaranteed. Which I don't want. I'm loving my lines right now. Some people even think I'm close to competition and I'm in bulking phase!!!! I'd hate to see that disappear.

[Fyre]

I was going to post a similar question today!!!!

Irongirl......and anybody else of course.........if you want to keep fat loss to a minimum however......where do you draw the line at cardio. I am currently doing 3 days a week at 30 minutes, but was considering it up one day. I'm eating lots of calories to maintain muscle also.

Do you do interval training with your cardio? I find that doing 3-4 times a week 20-30 minutes, helps keep me lean and I don't lose size.
I prefer interval training. If on the treadmill, I'll do two minute run, and then a one minute walk(fairly fast), then 2 minute run and then 1 minute walk........
I also do a heavy bag routine that is the same except that I'll do two minutes punching, kicking and then 1 minutes skipping, two minutes punching kicking, then one minute skipping.....
Works well for me.
As long as you're eating a sufficient amount of calories, you shouldn't lose muscle.
Hope that helps hun