How much Cardio is too much???

[centeroiler]

When on a AAS cycle, fat-loss/muscle building program, can too much cardio work seriously hinder muscle gains? How important is cardio for fat loss? Or, is diet the most important?

Thoughts and opinions needed please!!! Thanks.

 

[needtogetaas]

cals in cals out burns fat. Some need cardoi to do this and some do not. Can to much hinder muscle gain. Of course it can..

 

[azul]

Too much can hinder muscle gain, but it really takes a looooot... especially on steroids. If your diet's perfect, cardio won't really hurt your muscle gain/maintenance.

Interval training is better IMO and can even build muscle. 90% of the time it's about calories in vs calories out, but not always.

Check out this study: Impact of exercise intensity on body fatness and skeletal muscle metabolism.
Metabolism. 1994 Jul;43(7):814-8 (Impact of exercise intensity on body fatness and s...[Metabolism. 1994] - PubMed Result)

The impact of two different modes of training on body fatness and skeletal muscle metabolism was investigated in young adults who were subjected to either a 20-week endurance-training (ET) program (eight men and nine women) or a 15-week high-intensity intermittent-training (HIIT) program (five men and five women). The mean estimated total energy cost of the ET program was 120.4 MJ, whereas the corresponding value for the HIIT program was 57.9 MJ. Despite its lower energy cost, the HIIT program induced a more pronounced reduction in subcutaneous adiposity compared with the ET program. When corrected for the energy cost of training, the decrease in the sum of six subcutaneous skinfolds induced by the HIIT program was ninefold greater than by the ET program. Muscle biopsies obtained in the vastus lateralis before and after training showed that both training programs increased similarly the level of the citric acid cycle enzymatic marker. On the other hand, the activity of muscle glycolytic enzymes was increased by the HIIT program, whereas a decrease was observed following the ET program. The enhancing effect of training on muscle 3-hydroxyacyl coenzyme A dehydrogenase (HADH) enzyme activity, a marker of the activity of beta-oxidation, was significantly greater after the HIIT program. In conclusion, these results reinforce the notion that for a given level of energy expenditure, vigorous exercise favors negative energy and lipid balance to a greater extent than exercise of low to moderate intensity. Moreover, the metabolic adaptations taking place in the skeletal muscle in response to the HIIT program appear to favor the process of lipid oxidation.

 

[Cardinal Slin]

This is all very simple:

You do cardio for cardio related benefits or fat loss.

If doing it for fat loss then you will need to monitor and alter calorie intake. Reduced cals = fat / weight loss. Increased cals = fat / muscle gain depending on diet.

So of course too much cardio can adversely affect muscle gain.

If cutting down, do the cardio but if bulking up limit it.

 

[atown777]

your body will adjust to everything you do. So if you are a cardio whore and do it balls out year round then your body will adapt to it. That means when you go to cut down your body wont respond to the cardio because guess what? you have been doing it intensely all year so it doesnt shock the body. So you should cycle your cardio just like you cycle your diet and your training and your usage of gear. But I highly recommend doing cardio whether bulking or cutting. When bulking, doing cardio once a day, 5 days a week, for 45 minutes each session keeps your heart healthy and keeps the bodyfat from accumulating. When cutting down really step up the intensity and do 2 cardio sessions daily, 6 days a week, at a heartrate of around 135-170 (varying the intensity throughout the session). I always burn a minimum of 500 calories each cardio session. I can knock out 700 calories in 45 minutes. I have an exercise bike in my living room and although I piss my wife off every morning by getting up at 430am I find nothing more satisfying than a morning cardio session while watching UFC fights on my DVR recorder. Yeah doggy! (dont believe the myth that doing cardio will eat all of your muscle. Especially if you are eating right and using gear fuuuuughet about it. Your muscle will stay on your bones just fine) now if you are eating a ridiculously low amount of cals and doing shit loads of cardio and not "on cycle" then you can kiss your hard earned muscle goodbye. I like to say that Juicers can break a lot of rules because research involving muscle gain and muscle loss is 99.9999% completed using test subjects who arent on steroids.

 

[centeroiler]

Thanks bros. So, what I am getting from this is: In its simplest, most basic form, calories-in vs. calories-out = weight gain vs. weight loss. Okay, I got that part. But, the question then becomes: Is too much cardio catabolic? To which you bros are saying that while on AAS it would take a looooot of cardio to overcome the elevated anti-catabolic effect that we get while using anabolic steroids. Right?

Like atown777 said, "don't believe that myth that doing cardio will eat all of your muscle".

 

[atown777]

cardio + healthy diet + weight training regiment = NOT-Catabolic

cardio + extreme calorie deficit + NO weight training = EXTREMELY Catabolic

cardio + calorie deficit + weight training regiment + anabolic steroids = SHREDDED

as long as you are getting adequate protein and lifting heavy and hard you wont lose muscle. If you arent feeding your body proper nutrients then you are catabolic already even without doing cardio.

It is a little more complicated than Calories In Vs. Calories Out. Example: if you eat 2000 calories and get all of it by eating candy bars and lift weights and do cardio you are going to look and feel like shit. Now if you take the same 2000 calories but are getting the cals from Protein, vegetables, and HEALTHY fats then you are going to look great.

the main answer to your question "how much cardio is too much" is largely dependent on several factors. In general 1 hour of cardio per session is more than adequate and anything less than 30 minutes is a waste of time in my opinion. you should feel energized and sharp from cardio training. If you are feeling burnt out all the time then you are doing too much. Listen to your body. Thats how to tell if you're doing "Too Much"

 

[advanced-stealth]

Agree.

This is all very simple:

You do cardio for cardio related benefits or fat loss.

If doing it for fat loss then you will need to monitor and alter calorie intake. Reduced cals = fat / weight loss. Increased cals = fat / muscle gain depending on diet.

So of course too much cardio can adversely affect muscle gain.

If cutting down, do the cardio but if bulking up limit it.

 

[timtim]

excess cardio on aas can most certainly effect gains. the difference is you remain hard and get leaner. do double sessions 4 or 5 times a week for 45 minutes a block and wait 3 or 4 weeks and see how you feel. there is always too much of a good thing. diet has to be well prepared for times of excess cardio.

 

[centeroiler]

Thanks everybody. I didn't mean for it to seem that I totally didn't understand the whole cardio and diet thing, if thats the way it sounded. More, that in the past I have never been able to achieve the totally ripped look and maybe I just can't. But truthfully, I've never been that big on cardio, so that's probably the reason.

Needto has outlined a great diet for me and cardio program. I've had to adapt somewhat because it calls for me to run and I really can't do that anymore. I've had injuries to the legs and feet. So, I'm doing it on whatever machines I can and fast walking. Diet is spot on. I just might want to do more. I don't care if it hinders my gains somewhat, cause I'm not entering any contests. I just don't want to totally kill the gains.