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cardio question


matik

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Im only doing cardio (mostly treadmill) once a week. I dont want to burn off muscule because Im tring to gain weight/muscle. But in the process Id like to burn a little fat.

What should I keep my heart rate at so i only burn fat and not muscle. And how often should I do cardio? thanx

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Originally posted by matik

Im only doing cardio (mostly treadmill) once a week. I dont want to burn off muscule because Im tring to gain weight/muscule. But in the process Id like to burn a little fat.

What should I keep my heart rate at so i only burn fat and not muscule. And how often should I do cardio? thanx

the first thing is eating right, but as far as cardio...i would try to seperate the workout(do cardio in the am and lift later or vise versa) When doing cardio i would tryi to stay in the 65% heart rate(every mechine should have the way to figure it out) This prob means you are walking fast. I wouldn't go over 30 min in doing cardio either(about 4-5 times a week)

P.s. if you dont have the option of spliting the workout, you should do whats your main goal first(if you want muscle then lift then do cardio)

hope i helped

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Originally posted by matik

Im only doing cardio (mostly treadmill) once a week. I dont want to burn off muscule because Im tring to gain weight/muscule. But in the process Id like to burn a little fat.

What should I keep my heart rate at so i only burn fat and not muscule. And how often should I do cardio? thanx

I can't see doing cardio once a week being able to burn that much fat. I would say at least 4 to 5 days a week at about 30 minutes per day minimum.

And stick to a tight eating plan. Make sure you get your Carbs, Protein, and good fats.

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I think incredulous and elementx are on target here

The key for what you're trying to accomplish, and that is to gain muscle weight and steadily lower body fat % is DIET, DIET, DIET

Cardio once a week is a half-ass method that will get you nowhere. 4-5 times/30 minutes a week is fine, but I think you could dispense with cardio altogether if you keep your dieting extra tight. Some stats on you might help here. Height, weight, bf % etc....If you have a thyroid on the slow side, you might NOT want to quit cardio, so it's hard to say.

And if you keep to cardio, you won't burn muscle if you're getting the minimal number of calories per day....which, again is a dieting issue. Stict with a high protein, quality carb/fat diet.

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thanx ............

ya Im not over wieght to begin with. I just want to lose a LITTLE fat around my stomach. Im 5'10'', 155lbs, BF ?. BTW its impossible for me to run in the am and lift in the pm. I weight train 4-5 times a week. Thats why I dont have much cardio time. Also my job keeps me active(when i say active, I mean Im always walking around or keeping busy, not hard physical labor though).

So you think cardio after is the way to go. Ive been told if i do cardio after i lift it will burn muscle. is this true? And you think 65% ( fast walk) is the good........

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Ive been told if i do cardio after i lift it will burn muscle. is this true?

No, that's nonsense. The only way that any cardiovascular activity will ever "burn muscle" -- no matter when you do it -- is if you have a degenerative disease or are in a state of severe malnourishment. I assume neither applies to you.

I'll restate my response to your original post. Make sure you diet well alongside a steady workout, and there's no reason why that extra little fat won't whittle away....especially since it seems you're already naturally lean to begin with.

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I run about 12-15 miles a week and lift every other day. I wanted to gain some mass and stay thin. I also thought the same thing as you. Would this burn muscle? I quickly realized that with the right diet doing too much cardio was not a problem. Actually I am able to eat a hell of a lot more than if I did no cardio. Why? Because I'm staying thin by burning my extra carbs. and calories. I eat lots of protein, but I also need "good" calories to start getting some size. On average I'll run 2.5 - 5 miles at a time. But I'm still benching over 200 while weighing about 180. I think the extra cardio helps you get more "cut" or defined. Maybe not quite as bulky, but still big. The extra advantage also being that you don't have a stomach. You can actually see your six pack.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Originally posted by izzykahn

I would always eat before a workout. Start up your metabolism. I'm not sure of the specifics but working out on an empty stomach can sometimes have negative impacts on your workout.

:aright:

ive also been told that the most carbs u consume throughout a day should be eaten before a workout for energy purposes. whether or not this is tru i guess depends on how ur body responds to carbs... but either way, eat before u work out. :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

i always eat before lifting, if your working out to lose weight cardio empty stomach is the best. Just think of it like this.....if your working out out after eating, ur working on burning whats in your stomach, if your working out on an empty stomach in a fasted state your depleting your glycogen and starting to burn the fat much faster. Also don't eat for about an hour after working since your metabolism is speeded up, then once it slows down and goes back to normal you can have a healthy breakfast.

Also, it's best to to wind sprints to get that fat off.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Originally posted by matik

Im only doing cardio (mostly treadmill) once a week. I dont want to burn off muscule because Im tring to gain weight/muscle. But in the process Id like to burn a little fat.

What should I keep my heart rate at so i only burn fat and not muscle. And how often should I do cardio? thanx

Hello Matik.

You can do cardio 3-5 days a week, 20-30 mins a session. Do it until you get a good sweat going, in the morning is best. Cardio does not burn muscle unless you are doing a triathelon, no worries there.

D-M ;)

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i did 30 or so mins of cardio first thing in the morning once, no breakfast... i nearly DID pass out and was in bad shape for the rest of the day... no more of that... you NEED food so you actually have something to give you energy to move... no food = bad idea

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your so much better off doing your workouts after work, so you can get that blood flowin that has been idle all day at work, and burn off all that food you ate all day. i'm workin afternoons the next few weeks and i have to work out in the morning. sux, the only good thing is no one is there.

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thats one way to look at it... but when u work out in the morning u get all those endorphines running early so u can feel refreshed and energized for the rest of the day... ur metabolism also kicks up a notch to help u throughout the day... rather than working out at night to burn it all off... working out in the morning helps u jump start ur metabolism for even better calorie burning for the day :)

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