how much cardo is to much?

[Crazymank]

Im getting a little fustraited with my current level of body fat. I was doing great and then hit a platue. So im thinking of kicking it up a notch. Right now im typically running 4-5 days a week for atleast 20 minutes. I seriously push my speed every time i run. Ill run at a good pace for say 15 minutes and then pump it up ever 2 minutes till im in a flat sprint for the last 2 minutes. Then i hit abs. I generally work out on top of that. Im doing a 5-7 day routine where i hit a body part 1x.

But im thinking of starting to run and do abs every day now. Im just afraid that if i do, im going to start burning muscle.

current suppliments are:
L-Glutamine 10 grams x2 per day.
IGF 40-100mgs per day
clen
eca
fishoil
mulitvitamin.

I've been dieting for 4 months now. Its a low carb 100-200grams per day. high protien diet. I've lost 30lbs so far, and have kept my peak lifts, But i still want to drop more body fat.

so kick up the days of cardio or what???

 

[Crazymank]

anybody???

 

[dreww]

do you carb cycle? If you haven't been, it can help you push through that plateau by actually eating MORE once or twice a week.

 

[bigworm6]

Bumping Drew's reply. And if your loosing more than 2lbs a week then they your burning some muslce.

 

[BiggerFS]

stop running, your just burning carbs and muscle. If you change your cardio work out to walking up hill for instance you will decrease body fat and keep muscle gains. Monitor your heart rate, dont let it go to much above 135. Try this out if you really want to burn fat. Running is way healthier for your heart and overall health, however you seem more interested in shreding out so try low intensity for a while. Good Luck

 

[Crazymank]

oh fuck! i was up at 180 the other day... lol

ok, if i do lower intensity, should i go for longer than 20min??? and what should i hit if i carb cycle- 500mgs on heavy carb days?

 

[mcgaret]

do you carb cycle? If you haven't been, it can help you push through that plateau by actually eating MORE once or twice a week.

exactly what I was thinking. I used to do one big carb day. Bro., this
is where you start learning about YOUR body/metabalisim. I'm still trying to
figure mine out!!!

 

[dreww]

oh fuck! i was up at 180 the other day... lol

ok, if i do lower intensity, should i go for longer than 20min??? and what should i hit if i carb cycle- 500mgs on heavy carb days?

I have used both:
1. high-intensity "interval" training for 15-20minutes, heart rates goes as high as 180 during the intense intervals and during the slower intervals, it get down to about 140 and then right back up.

2. also done "regular" cardio at a steady pace, usually about 30 minutes at about 130bpm.

The high intensity burns more fat without a doubt, but also burns more muscle. Im an ectomorph so I try to limit that type of cardio.


as for carb cycling, again you gotta figure it out. I can eat 500+carbs on refeed day, but my metabolism is pretty quick and when dieting, its roaring. You might not be able to get away with that. But try 400carbs for your first carbload day. As you get leaner, you actually have to have MORE carb load days to prevent muscle catabolism. And the pumps after a carb load day are awesome when you've been dieting and feel flat all the time. BTW, this doesnt mean carb load on chips, cakes and pies. But I will sometimes eat a little junk like a poptart. Again, tons of carbs, little fat. You can even lower your protein a little on these days but I usually dont. The more protein you lower that day, the more carbs you gotta eat to make up for those lost calories.

 

[Crazymank]

good stuff guys! thanks!

 

[BiggerStronger]

Drew's advice is spot on as well as BiggerFS. Two very good suggestions to get your metabolism going and burn more fat. I'm going through the same shit right now after dieting hard core I feel I have lost a good amount of muscle too, but not too much. I'm actually weighing what I should now. I'm hovering around 200lbs @ ~12 % bodyfat. A little higher than I wanted but I was at 228lbs @ ~18-19% bodyfat before dieting so I'm not too disappointed.

 

[dreww]

I always get "to that point" around 9% or lower, it seems I'll just drop weight and its all muscle from there on out. Carb cycling fixed that real quick.

 

[BiggerStronger]

I haven't been training hard or supplementing just from diet and light cardio I've lost the weight.

 

[optimalbalance]

Wish I could help, everyone here has diff. goals. Mine is usually just to get bigger and stronger. I know the ladies are into the abs and a cut up bodybuilder looks pretty frickin cool. The only cardio I get is at work or higher reps. I never really understood why we don't just up are reps and intensity then diet to loose BF. Anyway you won't see this old man running, I'd have a heart attack. I prob. walk 10-15 miles everyday at work cause I have too. But thats just me, never wanted to look like a track star, not that theres anything wrong with that. Peace

 

[Crazymank]

things change. I had that frame of mind for years. But now, im tired of being fat.

 

[mrfreeze]

things change. I had that frame of mind for years. But now, im tired of being fat.

Myself also. When I started this game years ago it took me forever to reach 200lb, now I'm at 280lb wishing I was back around 230lb. I'm working on it.

 

[dreww]

things change. I had that frame of mind for years. But now, im tired of being fat.

exactly, "bigger" isn't always better. I dont want a single pound added to my frame unless its solid muscle.

 

[bigwick]

what about adding 200 mg. of caffeine and 500 mg. of green tea extract 2 to 3 times a day. that has helped me push through weight loss plateaus. I felt a little jittery at first but got used to it pretty quickly. After a few weeks of those sopplements I'll add in a couple redlines a day or a couple low sugar red bulls. Plus as mentioned before carb cycling is crucial for consistent fat loss.

 

[optimalbalance]

bump for the sugar free energy drinks, they will def get your metabolism in high gear. And know I'm not fat just not cut. One could say I'm just always in an offseason doing a bulker.

 

[Crazymank]

dude, when i was 260 people never said anything. Now that im 230, chicks are hitting on me all the time. I was just at the pool and this chick wouldnt shut up about how good i looked... lol.

i like this much better!~

 

[Crazymank]

im cycling my carbs now. 2 days on very low... 100grams or lower, then every 3rd day im doing about 500grams.

also trying to run for 30 minutes every day. I started to feel some shin splints coming on, so i backed off yesterday. But constand pace, only getting the heart rate up to 135.