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Cutting - do you include cardio?

H

hugoti

New member
Just a question for you guys? When cutting just below maintenance caloric intake do you include cardio as part of your workout? Currently I don't do cardio (do play squash once a week but it's off season now) so only doing 45 mins workout 3 times a week. With that can you still cut BF % without doing cardio and just diet?


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hugoti said:
Just a question for you guys? When cutting just below maintenance caloric intake do you include cardio as part of your workout? Currently I don't do cardio (do play squash once a week but it's off season now) so only doing 45 mins workout 3 times a week. With that can you still cut BF % without doing cardio and just diet?


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Basically, using traditional cardio as a means of losing weight is specious at best.

Resistance (lifting) work and getting to a point that it makes you "huffy-puffy" is more beneficial to you.

See if you can reduce that 45 minutes to 30.

or alternativly double or triple your time spent doing cardio, having said that, it doesnt look like too much fun, and at the end of the day, will just make you hungry and you eat more.
 
diet is the biggest factor when it comes to loosing BF%, cardio does help but I find it makes me hungrier so I cut my carlories down and maybe do some light cardio before bed if needed.
 
Yeah as others have sadi when i am doing cardio i feel like i am always hungry, in saying this i found i had the best fat loss when i was doing a heap of HIIT
 
Could doing a heap of cardio like HIIT lead to muscle loss thou? I know we need to keep protein intake high when cutting to minimise muscle loss


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hugoti said:
Could doing a heap of cardio like HIIT lead to muscle loss thou? I know we need to keep protein intake high when cutting to minimise muscle loss


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I found doing HIIT was the best way to keep the most amount of muscle mass whist including cardio, however, you had to eat accoridngly, it is a bit of a balancing act.
 
hugoti said:
Could doing a heap of cardio like HIIT lead to muscle loss thou? I know we need to keep protein intake high when cutting to minimise muscle loss
Click to expand...

Diet is really what loses body fat, exercise just helps to stoke the fire.

Just think about it, people can easily lose fat by diet alone with zero exercise. HIIT is probably the best cardio to do if you want to keep muscle mass, traditional cardio, long slow running etc is the fastest way to lose muscle.

Compare a sprinter to a long distance runner:

 
the purpose of doing HIIT is that you don't have to do a heap, you burn the same amount over a shorter time thus the name high intensity interval training. I find it best doing 20 minute sessions starting with 30 seconds on ( sprint ) 90 seconds recovery ( walking ) and progressing to 1min/1min etc..

if your eating a slight deficit the loss of muscle mass is going to be minimal.
 
I added in 20 minutes of fasted steady state cardio when weight loss stalled and it helped.
No point in just adding it in. Save your cards. If you're already doing cardio then what do you do when you stall? More cardio?

Also lol at cardio causing muscle loss. That sprinter vs marathon runner picture is fucking retarded. Who is recommending running a marathon?
 
Do cardio if your cutting or not - you should always try and keep up a level of fitness and health.

I do a mix of HIT and mod walking (45-1hour)
 
Big Mick said:
Diet is really what loses body fat, exercise just helps to stoke the fire.

Just think about it, people can easily lose fat by diet alone with zero exercise. HIIT is probably the best cardio to do if you want to keep muscle mass, traditional cardio, long slow running etc is the fastest way to lose muscle.

Compare a sprinter to a long distance runner:

Click to expand...

That is not entirely correct, if all one did was restrict food while doing now exercise, then muscle tissue is going to take a bigger hit that adipose.
Adipose would actually increase.

There is also the question whether HIIT is better, or in your words "best".

I pray I'm not misreading this.
 
The correct cardio to do is the one you enjoy the most
Cutting weight fucking sucks, do what you enjoy, 20 minutes of walking isn't going to melt away your muscles unless you're HIV positive. Cutting weight then doing HIIT makes me feel like I'm going to pass out, I already lift for that I don't need to do it yet again
 
Generally steady state fasted in the morning is my go to choice. Spend 10min on a different cardio machine for thirty to fourty minutes so I keep interest and not spazz out and go home. I generally pump some Bcaas for insurance as I usually get pretty light headed by 40 min.
 
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