February 15, 2007
To Cardio or Not to Cardio that is the question!
In the bodybuilding arena one of the most disputed topics when it comes to losing body fat is whether or not cardiovascular workouts should be relied upon to control your body fat levels. When to include cardio? How many cardio sessions per week? How long should each cardio workout be? How intense should it be? These are all common concerns of the hard working bodybuilder trying to attain a ripped show stopping physique.
First and foremost understand the reason you want to engage in a regular cardio routine is for the health of your cardiovascular system period! Maintaining the health of your cardiovascular system should be a major priority not only inside the gym but outside as well! With that being said let’s cut to the chase and answer your question. If you are relying on cardio for fat reduction you are at some point going to become a slave to the activity that has the potential if performed incorrectly to cause you to appear flat and even worse lose a degree of that hard fought for muscle mass you cherish so much.
So why the dispute when so many are successful using cardio as a tool to burn fat? The reason not enough emphasis is placed on diet and too much emphasis is placed on creating a caloric deficit. True, athletes are successful using marathon cardio sessions to burn fat but the energy you burn up while on a clean diet turns them into very unhappy , lethargic, miserable human beings. All that misery can be avoided and better yet you can gain total control of your fat loss if you spend the months that are required to slowly dial in your eating program.
Don’t misunderstand what cardio does. It should play a role in your training program but it’s much more limited than most choose to believe. Remember this rule when it comes to metabolic stimulation, cardio is a short term fix, diet and weight training is long term. What that means is after a good hard cardio workout you have about a four hour window, within that time frame you are still burning calories but after that the metabolic stimulation you got from all that hard work it’s over. Weight training and diet on the other hand are 24/7. Common sense should prevail, when there are twenty-four hours in a day why place so much faith in an activity that is only working for you no more than four hours a day?
Gain control of your fat loss and use cardio as a way to increase your endurance levels for better weight training sessions and of course the health of your heart. Use a proper diet to slowly reduce your overall percentage of body fat. You will be consistently much more successful in your attempt to lose body fat, not to mention much happier and pleasant to be around.
SUGGESTED CARDIO ROUTINE:
1. Three to four days per week.
2. Half hour to forty five minutes in duration.
3. Try interval training (sessions that alternate a high and low intensity period) rather than long low intensity cardio workouts. Studies show that interval training increases protein synthesis and also has greater cardiovascular benefits.
Trackback uri
http://rippednaturalbodybuilding.com/9/to-cardio-or-not-to-cardio-that-is-the-question/trackback/
10 Comments »
June 9, 2007
luis cervantes :
Hello i am cureently 15 and i have started weighlifting dis year my freshmen year.i attend Don Bosco Tech if you know what school that is and i play football i am the running back and i started and ever since i started weightlifting i never stopped i enjoy weightlifting i like to hear people i havnt seen in a while o my god look how big you got you look good but i enjoy your site very much you go into detail when you explain the wrokouts and i use all of your workouts they have really helped me a lot i got so much bigger i weigh around 150 and im 5'6 5'7 and theres a lot of sites that i went to and they are nothing compared to your site i just want to say thank you and keep posting videos and new workouts and i just want to say i never used steroids i have been tempted so much its not even funny i read your article on teen rules and it is hard saying no but i am proud that i did say no. i just want to say thank you for your workouts and keep posting videos and information thank you.
June 14, 2007
tony kritikos :
hello, michael thank u so much 4 repling.. i know ur a busy man.. Im about to start a career as a personal trainer… i really admire ur work n am miffed at a few things… to be more specific this time… i train weights 3 times a week arms,chest,back n cardio everyday bout 1 hr.. but i cant shred the weight round my stomach n get that toned look, im more muscly but without the def. i am extremely motivated but should i eat after cardio while my body is burning the calories after a workout. n should i half my meals… or what? im hearing so much diff crap by people n am overwhelmed at what to do…. i guess what im asking is what i can do to loose about 10 kilo. its pretty much the diet that is stalling me n what not 2 eat at b4 bed… also is there a way to purchase ur items without giving out credit card details. thank u so much 4 taking time to reply. ur a real motivator 4 me. il understand if u cant reply coz ur so busy but i will look out 4 ur dvd. thank u again michael…. n keep up the good work
July 4, 2007
Edward :
This is so great but i need you help. How i can lost 10 Pounds in 1 week and how i can have amazing ABS?
July 5, 2007
Michael Ferencsik :
A healthy amount of weight to drop every week is just about 2.5lbs to 5 lbs no more than that. Try my new diet DVD Ripped Rulez being released on my site the week of July 8th. . Use the DVD and you will get the abs that you want.
Michael Ferencsik :
Michael Ferencsik :
My DVD can be purchased through a Pay Pal account that will give you several options of payment.Thanks for the purchase !! Look for it the week of July 8th.
August 31, 2007
Brett Hobbs :
Hello, I love your site (it's one of the best I have seen in some time) however, having read this article I have a concern. I am a senior in high school and I run cross country. So most of our workouts are, as you put it, "long, low intensity cardio workouts" Will this hurt my attempts at building muscle, or is there anything i can do? I just recently became interested in developing muscle and improving my body.
September 15, 2007
Michael Ferencsik :
Hi Brett: You need to examine your ultimate goals and then taylor your workouts accordingly. Long cardio routines will effect your overall muscle mass.With that said I would not want you to give up cross country at this point so here are some tips. Always after every cardio or weight workout injest a post workout protein drink. Try to get in at least 30 grams of a quality high protein in the form of Whey ,egg or soy isolate powder ,mixed with 12 oz of cold water . Also when you train with weights try to stick to the basic multi joint movements. This will concentrate more on mass and strength. Then when you are not training for cross country you can start to deversify your weight training even more.
Also look for my new e-book
Weight Training for the Natural Bodybuilder.
Coming to my site in October.
December 6, 2007
Scott Lee :
Michael: Im trying to loose 40 lbs, I have been lifting 5 days pr week and doing cardio 6 days pr week. Results have been good about 15 lbs, (2 lbs pr week) but I have a cardio question,
I'm doing my cardio at 75-80% of my max heart rate (140-146 bpm) for 1 hour per session. My question is, are these cardio sessions too aggressive?
Thanks,
Scott Lee
December 23, 2007
Michael Ferencsik :
Scott: Two pounds per week is perfect. The only way to tell if your are over doing the cardio at this point is to get a body composition analysis done. That will determine your present lean muscle mass (LMM). This is very important when losing weight. You obviously do not want to lose lean muscle mass. As I say in this article that is what you need to keep burning fat 24/7. Sometime when you start overdoing the cardio depending on your nutritional habits you will start to burn up your LMM. Get your body fat checked and keep me posted! Overall it sounds like your doing great . Keep up the good effort and hard work its paying off and if you need to make an adjustment in the future it will be very easy to do so.