# To much cardio will burn muscle? True Or False?



## EnglishWasp (Mar 19, 2013)

Your views?


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## 2004mark (Oct 26, 2013)

How do you define too much cardio... if running an marathon evey day then yes lol


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## Chunkee (Sep 1, 2012)

True, depending where your at regards to bodyfat levels.


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## EnglishWasp (Mar 19, 2013)

Maybe 30 min jog everyday? Would this affect muscle? I have at the moment about 20% BF


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## andyhuggins (Nov 21, 2008)

I would powerwalk or cycle or use the crosstrainer to be honest.


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## Proteincarb (Oct 12, 2010)

I think the whole burning muscle thing is totally exaggerated yes you might lose a little but it takes your body a long process to burn muscle. It's easier for it to use stored fat. That's how you get ripped lol.


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## billystevenson (Sep 10, 2013)

depends on your self really,and what your goals are?if your wanting to reduce BF best thing i did was HIIT on the treadmill 2x a week for 15 mins and weight training 4,5 times a week but gotta put in the right foods to get best outta ur training m8.

all this is just advice do what every the **** u wanna do!!!-HODGETWINS


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## BigTrev (Mar 16, 2008)

You would need to be doing a hell of a lot of cardio and eating like a hamster before youll loss muscle.

Cardio burns fat not muscles


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## EnglishWasp (Mar 19, 2013)

billystevenson said:


> depends on your self really,and what your goals are?if your wanting to reduce BF best thing i did was HIIT on the treadmill 2x a week for 15 mins and weight training 4,5 times a week but gotta put in the right foods to get best outta ur training m8.
> 
> all this is just advice do what every the **** u wanna do!!!-HODGETWINS


Sorry to ask but whats a HIIT ?


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## samb213 (Jun 27, 2012)

true...if your allready in a calorie deficit and say loosing 2lb per week and you over do the cardio making your deficit even bigger..in my opinion youll loose muscle and fat at ruffly the same rate and your training will suffer ...so rather than burning just bf youll end up loosing overall body weight and most likley end up been a smaller just as fat version of your self..this obviously doesnt apply if your on cycle but if your doing things natural id be carefull you dont fall into the trap of more cardio = more fat loss


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## braxbro (Aug 6, 2013)

All depends on your calorie intake an TDEE. You could run on a treadmill for 8 hours a day but if you are eating 15,000 calories then you aren't going to be catabolic.


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## samb213 (Jun 27, 2012)

BigTrev said:


> You would need to be doing a hell of a lot of cardio and eating like a hamster before youll loss muscle.
> 
> Cardio burns fat not muscles


if this was true wouldnt that mean you could do say 4 x 45 min cardio sessions a day 7 days per week and end up ripped ? ..to a certain extent all cardio does is increase your calorie deficit ..in my opinion if your not on gear and you go into to much of a deficit youll loose **** loads of strength and lean mass and end up looking **** at the end of your cut


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## billystevenson (Sep 10, 2013)

EnglishWasp said:


> Sorry to ask but whats a HIIT ?


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## billystevenson (Sep 10, 2013)

its High intensive interval training in my opinion its the best form of keeping the muscle and burning the fat ur body will continue to burn calories after the workout for the day its less time consuming aswell than doing a hour r so of boring running m8 it's hard and a shock to the body but it dose work if u want a can find some articles for u and u can check out for u?


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## Contest (Oct 4, 2011)

I do 90 minutes of LISS cardio everyday. 1 hour fasted in the morning and 30 minutes post-workout. No muscle loss here.


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## billystevenson (Sep 10, 2013)

forgot to ask what is ur diet like ? if u can give us some stats about ur self?

whats ur goals?

time length u wanting to get ur results?

ur diet?

ur workout ur doing at the moment

if u have a drink at the weekend

u know just things we can work with m8


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## massmuscle (May 29, 2013)

samb213 said:


> if this was true wouldnt that mean you could do say 4 x 45 min cardio sessions a day 7 days per week and end up ripped ? ..to a certain extent all cardio does is increase your calorie deficit ..in my opinion if your not on gear and you go into to much of a deficit youll loose **** loads of strength and lean mass and end up looking **** at the end of your cut


I can vouch for this!! I went mental with cardio and calorie deficit with no supplementation and got low body fat and almost lost every gain I had.

I ended up looking like Justin Bieber!

I wont be making the same mistake again!

What I would also say is once I started eating like a beast again the gains I had came back very quickly.


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## BigTrev (Mar 16, 2008)

samb213 said:


> if this was true wouldnt that mean you could do say 4 x 45 min cardio sessions a day 7 days per week and end up ripped ? ..to a certain extent all cardio does is increase your calorie deficit ..in my opinion if your not on gear and you go into to much of a deficit youll loose **** loads of strength and lean mass and end up looking **** at the end of your cut


Yeah tho I mean moderate cardio session not 45 mins 4 times a day as youll end up being able to crawl through letter boxes

If your diet is right you can easily do an hour or more cardio each day and loss no muscle


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## EnglishWasp (Mar 19, 2013)

BigTrev said:


> Yeah tho I mean moderate cardio session not 45 mins 4 times a day as youll end up being able to crawl through letter boxes
> 
> If your diet is right you can easily do an hour or more cardio each day and loss no muscle


Whats a "right" diet in your eyes mate?


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## BigTrev (Mar 16, 2008)

EnglishWasp said:


> Whats a "right" diet in your eyes mate?


Depends on your goals mate,,i have stuck with a high protein diet,,400grams daily,,low carbs and low fats.

Its helped me put on decent muscle without putting on fat tho im now looking to drop a couple of stone so I have raised my cardio levels a lot so need to adjust the carb intake for energy.

Im not that great when it comes to diets mate I generally try to eat cleanish just


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## braxbro (Aug 6, 2013)

BigTrev said:


> Depends on your goals mate,,i have stuck with a high protein diet,,400grams daily,,low carbs and low fats.
> 
> Its helped me put on decent muscle without putting on fat tho im now looking to drop a couple of stone so I have raised my cardio levels a lot so need to adjust the carb intake for energy.
> 
> Im not that great when it comes to diets mate I generally try to eat cleanish just


Not calling you out for your diet mate but wouldn't it be better to increase your carbs and lower your protein? Protein just gets converted into energy anyway when you aren't eating enough of a primary energy source. I was doing this for months and my weight loss was stalling, I was at about 80g of fat, under 100g of carbs and around 400g of protein and I wasn't going anywhere in terms of bf%, sliced the protein down to about 1g per 1lb of bodyweight and it has started to fall off.


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## BigTrev (Mar 16, 2008)

braxbro said:


> Not calling you out for your diet mate but wouldn't it be better to increase your carbs and lower your protein? Protein just gets converted into energy anyway when you aren't eating enough of a primary energy source. I was doing this for months and my weight loss was stalling, I was at about 80g of fat, under 100g of carbs and around 400g of protein and I wasn't going anywhere in terms of bf%, sliced the protein down to about 1g per 1lb of bodyweight and it has started to fall off.


mate cheers for that as im now looking to loss more bf so think I will go that route to and lower the protein:thumb:


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## braxbro (Aug 6, 2013)

BigTrev said:


> mate cheers for that as im now looking to loss more bf so think I will go that route to and lower the protein:thumb:


Good call mate, somewhere along the lines people seem to believe that binging on protein won't effect weight loss when it definitely does. Its still 4 cals per 1g so 400g is 800 calories alone not including the fat + carbs on top of that. I stayed in a big deficit and then just dropped the added protein my body didnt need and replaced with a bit more high GI carbs and the light headed **** feeling I had has gone and im losing weight quicker. More energy for cardio/lifting too.

You'll lose weight no matter what if you are in a deficit but when your body just converts protein to glucose you might as well eat the carbs instead as its better for you and gives you more energy throughout the day.


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## hackskii (Jul 27, 2003)

Of course it can burn muscle, not only that but long distance endurance training is known to cause lower levels of androgens.


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## Contest (Oct 4, 2011)

hackskii said:


> Of course it can burn muscle, not only that but long distance endurance training is known to cause lower levels of androgens.


Would this also apply to those who are assisted mate and only do low impact LISS cardio?


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## hackskii (Jul 27, 2003)

Contest said:


> Would this also apply to those who are assisted mate and only do low impact LISS cardio?


Doubtful actually, assisted would fair well better than those that are not.


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## Contest (Oct 4, 2011)

hackskii said:


> Doubtful actually, assisted would fair well better than those that are not.


Thought so lol. I do 12x cardio sessions per week totaling 8 hours and I've seen no muscle loss what so ever. In fact I managed to put on more muscle mass and went from a lean 86kg to a leaner 100kg.

Unfortunately have not been gym this week due to a bad chest infection


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## hackskii (Jul 27, 2003)

Then take some time off, the body needs energy to fight your infection, have a nap.


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## Marshan (Aug 27, 2010)

Contest said:


> I do 90 minutes of LISS cardio everyday. 1 hour fasted in the morning and 30 minutes post-workout. *No muscle loss here*.


Dude, if thats you in your avi...Ive got bad news...JK.


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## shogun.dog (Nov 1, 2013)

you can't burn your muscles, what really happens to marathoners is muscular catabolism after they run , they training log is hard running 8 hours per week


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## TwoCanVanDamn (Jun 22, 2012)

shogun.dog said:


> you can't burn your muscles, what really happens to marathoners is muscular catabolism after they run , they training log is hard running 8 hours per week


That's what the OP is referring to when he talks about burning muscle. He's referring to muscular catabolism.

How are you red already? You only have two posts


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## shogun.dog (Nov 1, 2013)

so give me some greens


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## Gym Bunny (Mar 25, 2009)

@TwoCanVanDamn, his first post was about mixing coke and coffee....Considering the thread it was in I suspect some people thought he meant cocaine.


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## TwoCanVanDamn (Jun 22, 2012)

shogun.dog said:


> so give me some greens


Fvck that


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## carrock (Apr 23, 2013)

certainly as far as cycling ( bicycling ) is concerned training up to about 85% of maximal heart rate is highly aerobic and will burn bodyfat and build endurance.

Training at 85% to 100% of MHR, the sort of training that Chris Hoy may do to improve sprinting, is over the anaerobic threshold and will cause depletion of stored carbohydrate.

the only way I can see that cardio would reduce muscle is indirectly, ie someone who does excessive cardio might not have the energy to push for gains when lifting.

Of course, a lot of training is sports specific, ie someone who does cardio for 20 hours a week and lifts weights for 2 hours will look more like an endurance athlete than a bodybuilder. And of course the reverse is true.


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## Svarcy (May 22, 2011)

carrock said:


> Of course, a lot of training is sports specific, ie someone who does cardio for 20 hours a week and lifts weights for 2 hours will look more like an endurance athlete than a bodybuilder. And of course the reverse is true.


I'd agree with this end statement. Odds are majority of us don't do anywhere near enough cardio to worry about catabolism. At the minute I'm doing 2-3 LISS runs a week for about 30 minutes a time. I'm also weight training 3 times a week for about 1 hour each time. Along with diet I'd be more inclined (and hope) that my body would show results based upon what type of training I am doing more of.


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