how much cardio does it take to burn muscle on gear?

[Meat_head]

I'm on EQ/Var right now and loving it, lifts are all up and looking better everyday. Ive been hitting cardio hard everyday (at least an hour of moderate pace when i wake up). I can see my lowest abs have emerged more in only a week. I know the more I run the more fat I will loose but how much cardio does it take to burn muscle on gear? My main goal for this cycle is to loose most of the bodyfat I have left and perhaps gain a few pounds of muscle at the most, but I never want to loose my precious muscle. I know it depends on food intake too as I am on a cutting diet and this worries me. I don't feel like I am loosing muscle but should I take the cardio back a notch, or increase calories, its fucking with my head. I physically look better, I just dont want to regress. Thanks for hearing me out guys.

 

[RADAR]

You are doing fine like it is...longer cardio sessions and you may wind up burning muscle.


RADAR

 

[satchboogie]

what you're really asking is 'at what point does the body start burning muscle for fuel'.

to answer that accurately is impossible.

but posting your food intake and training routine can help us help you.

 

[Meat_head]

Aright heres my routine...Ive been doing the running every morning when I wake up. Weight training at roughly 5 p.m.

Monday- Chest/Triceps 8 exercises w/3-4 sets each for chest...4 exercises with 4 sets Triceps.
Tuesday- Shoulders/Calves roughly same numbers respectively as chest/tris
Wednesday-Back/Biceps 6 excercises for back with 4 sets each, 4 exercises with 4 sets for triceps.
Thursday-Legs 6 exercises at 4 sets each.
Friday- Arms (Bicep/tricep/forarms) 3 exercises 3 sets each
Saturday- Cardio only.

Abs are every training day alternating upper and lower part of the muscle. I have adopted this routine after many years of tweaking and it works very good for me.

Diet:
Protein Shake after running

10 am. 4 egg whites one with yolk, 1/2 cup oatmeal

12.pm 2-3 pieces chicken breast, 2 tblspoon ANPB

2-3pm. 2 of those sealed tuna pouches one serving each, 1/2 cup oatmeal w/flax oil.

430ish-1 cup oatmeal

5- Weight train- Whey w/ dextrose pwo

6:30- dinner usually fresh fish, chicken, or lean beef with Veggies

9ish- Caisen Protein, then bed at 10-11.

I am a true endomorph so it takes a really strict diet to keep me lean. Hope this helps you to help me thanks!

 

[silverbackn]

Did you mean endomorph? Mesomorphs kind of have the best of both worlds, muscular and pretty lean naturally. This is a topic that is very individual. The only way to really tell is to take measurements and see how much muscle you're losing in key spots. Obviously, if you are restricting calories and doing a lot of cardio muscle loss is imperative. The key is to hold as much muscle as you can. I would do it differently than you and Satch would do it differently from me. I guess what I'm trying to say is that you just have to learn your body, nobody can do it for you. That said, I think you might need to up your protein a little. Your breakfast meal has about 25 g's, that's not enough. Especially if you are doing an hour of cardio in the morning.

 

[Joe Stenson]

Here's a hypothetical question that relates to the topic:

If you were planning on doing 2 hours of cardio/day, in which situation would you burn the most fat? burn the most muscle? (All sessions are performed at a moderate pace)

1) 1 2-hour cardio session
2) 2 1-hour cardio sessions
3) 4 30-min cardio sessions
4) 6 20-min cardio sessions

Seems to me that the total calories burned would be the same under all 4 situations, and that because glycogen stores would probably become more depleted during the longer sessions, that you would burn more fat calories AND more protein (muscle) calories the longer the session. However, if calories in vs calories out is all that matters, you're probably better off splitting the 2 hours into as many sessions as possible.

 

[Shinobi]

What I've been doing is:
1hr empty stomach and I workout around 8PM so I consume a protein shake(50% isolate 50% concentrate) at 5PM and 10 minutes before my 8PM workout I drink between 25/50gr of dextrose and after my workout is done I hit cardio again...I think this away Im alost empty stomach cause the dextrose was burner during the workout

Here's a hypothetical question that relates to the topic:

If you were planning on doing 2 hours of cardio/day, in which situation would you burn the most fat? burn the most muscle? (All sessions are performed at a moderate pace)

1) 1 2-hour cardio session
2) 2 1-hour cardio sessions
3) 4 30-min cardio sessions
4) 6 20-min cardio sessions

Seems to me that the total calories burned would be the same under all 4 situations, and that because glycogen stores would probably become more depleted during the longer sessions, that you would burn more fat calories AND more protein (muscle) calories the longer the session. However, if calories in vs calories out is all that matters, you're probably better off splitting the 2 hours into as many sessions as possible.

 

[Meat_head]

Did you mean endomorph? Mesomorphs kind of have the best of both worlds, muscular and pretty lean naturally. This is a topic that is very individual. The only way to really tell is to take measurements and see how much muscle you're losing in key spots. Obviously, if you are restricting calories and doing a lot of cardio muscle loss is imperative. The key is to hold as much muscle as you can. I would do it differently than you and Satch would do it differently from me. I guess what I'm trying to say is that you just have to learn your body, nobody can do it for you. That said, I think you might need to up your protein a little. Your breakfast meal has about 25 g's, that's not enough. Especially if you are doing an hour of cardio in the morning.

yes endomorph sorry

 

[silverbackn]

I think a lot of getting very lean has to do with your natural set point for bodyfat. If you're setpoint is at a higher bodyfat I think you will have to sacrifice more muscle to get very lean than someone who has say 8-10% naturally. That said, anyone with 6% bodyfat and any amount of muscle looks good (you obviously have some beef). I would just stay the course and try to learn as much as you can.

 

[PolfaJelfa]

I doubt this has very much to do with cardio..... ( although it does some)

My question which i am realy curious for my own future diet modifications is. How much bellow the 12x Body Weight( although obviously this is not acurate to a "T" ) would one have to cut callories in order to lose muscle.

Another question for Radar or Silverbackn.

For example if i have about 6 month time. And i want to slowly and gradually loose about 25-40 lbs of fat. How many callories would be best to dip bellow my maintenance (12x BW) in order to loose PRACTICALY ZERO MUSCLE.

Thank you guys!

PS: Im thinking no less than 9X or 10X
How many callories is 1 lb of fat again?