Bro's I need some advice....

[Jr. Franco]

Hey guys what's up I need some advice im about 19 1/2 years old, 6' tall and about 235Lbs. Training for about the past 2 years ( last year and a bit hardcore) but yah im finally dieting haha and I've calculated it and I get about
-Fat 36g, Protien 265g, Carbs 310g, and Calories 2200 and I also take 8 mg Ephedrine and 200mg Caffeine a day, and I do my usuall 45 min to Hour work out 5 days a week and now ive started doing about 40 mins cardio a day at 128-132 Heart Rate at a steady pace. And I was wondering if that's the zone for Cadrio I wanna be at to burn optimum fat and least muscle the fastest. If you guys could help me out that would be awesome thanks guys.

[Arnold jr]

Hey guys what's up I need some advice im about 19 1/2 years old, 6' tall and about 235Lbs. Training for about the past 2 years ( last year and a bit hardcore) but yah im finally dieting haha and I've calculated it and I get about
-Fat 36g, Protien 265g, Carbs 310g, and Calories 2200 and I also take 8 mg Ephedrine and 200mg Caffeine a day, and I do my usuall 45 min to Hour work out 5 days a week and now ive started doing about 40 mins cardio a day at 128-132 Heart Rate at a steady pace. And I was wondering if that's the zone for Cadrio I wanna be at to burn optimum fat and least muscle the fastest. If you guys could help me out that would be awesome thanks guys.

I prefer the longer intermediate speed cardio sessions myself. True, the high intensity cardio is a great way to lose weight, but it is also a great way to lose leg size IMO...I think you'll be fine at the pace your going cardio wise.

If weight loss is your primary goal right now, I would probably lower my carb intake a little and cycle it throughout the wk with low and high days. I would also cycle on and off the EC stack, 2wk on 2wk off, otherwise it becomes ineffective if you run it continuously.

BTW, 36g fat, 265g protein and 319g carbs comes out to a little over 2600 calories.

1g fat= 9cal
1g carb= 4 cal
1g protein= 4cal

[El Guapo]

. True, the high intensity cardio is a great way to lose weight, but it is also a great way to lose leg size IMO.

Absolutely true.. I found this out the hard way.

[Jr. Franco]

Alright sounds good I'll have to remember to cycle the EC stack, apreciate the info thanks.

[Hypertrophy]

Crude rule of thumb: <60-65% of your max heart rate and you will be predominately aerobic and fat burning. Problem is, it is very hard to know your max pulse accurately unless you get a recording heart rate monitor and do a max cardio test.

It's much easier to use the old talk test: if you can say 4-5 words without having to take a breath, you are in the aerobic zone.

Going too hard aerobically causes muscle to peel off. I know this first hand from my years as a competitive bicycle racer. You can just forget about muscle size if you do long aerobic sessions at an elevated pulse.

Now short, sprint type efforts are a different story. Research has shown that 20 second sprints, with a short pause in between (about 10-20 seconds) repeated 5-10 times has a tremendous effect on resting metabolism. This is the so-called Tabata interval training method.

[WOOO]

Crude rule of thumb: <60-65% of your max heart rate and you will be predominately aerobic and fat burning. Problem is, it is very hard to know your max pulse accurately unless you get a recording heart rate monitor and do a max cardio test.

It's much easier to use the old talk test: if you can say 4-5 words without having to take a breath, you are in the aerobic zone.

Going too hard aerobically causes muscle to peel off. I know this first hand from my years as a competitive bicycle racer. You can just forget about muscle size if you do long aerobic sessions at an elevated pulse.

given the prevalence of Max OT cardio and other similar programs being used by BBers today mostl of the above is hogwash....

[Hypertrophy]

WOOO,

How so is it hogwash (or maybe I am misinterpreting your comment?)

As a competitive cyclist, I have trained  long duration (>3 hours) at pulse rates of up to 155 out of a 195 max pulse. I have also trained short duration (1.5 hours) at an average pulse of 175 bpm/195. In one case I was training for 100  mile events. In the other it was for criterium racing which emphasizes great speed and acceleration at distance of ~30 miles.

I have documented this in my training logs, using an SRM powermeter with real time data collection that I downloaded after each session. I weighed myself daily just after rising.

When doing the high intensity work (1.5 hour sessions), my fat levels stayed very constant and I didn't see any steady trend towards lower body fat over the months I was doing it. I maintained a great deal of muscle mass, competing in cycle races at 185-200 pounds (at 5'8")

When doing the low intensity long duration work, I got as low as 155 pounds, and my skin got nearly paper thin. I also had no muscle mass to speak of!

I have tried other regimens for different purposes, including Tabata's original protocol designed after his work with the Japanese Olympic speedskating team. If you use Tabata's method, you will be exhausted after less than 10 minutes. Tabata suggests you do this 5 days a week. I lost about 5 pounds in a 4 week protocol of Tabata intervals. I also got very weak. I don't recommend this routine for extended weight loss. You will get sick.

In my competitive cycling career, I eventually settled on long slow distance (also called LSD training) in the early season to drop weight, and switched to short high intensity training in season to build up speed and power. It worked well.

The 4 words per breath measure actually came about after the work of Francesco Conconi (who came up with the anaerobic threshold concept). That simple test correlates very well with the onset of the 4 mm (millimoles) lactic acid threshold, where the body begins to go anaerobic (more or less). Below 4 mm you can train for hours. Above that you find your workout times become progressively shorter to exhaustion.

[Hedgehog]

WOOO,

How so is it hogwash (or maybe I am misinterpreting your comment?)

As a competitive cyclist, I have trained  long duration (>3 hours) at pulse rates of up to 155 out of a 195 max pulse. I have also trained short duration (1.5 hours) at an average pulse of 175 bpm/195. In one case I was training for 100  mile events. In the other it was for criterium racing which emphasizes great speed and acceleration at distance of ~30 miles.

I have documented this in my training logs, using an SRM powermeter with real time data collection that I downloaded after each session. I weighed myself daily just after rising.

When doing the high intensity work (1.5 hour sessions), my fat levels stayed very constant and I didn't see any steady trend towards lower body fat over the months I was doing it. I maintained a great deal of muscle mass, competing in cycle races at 185-200 pounds (at 5'8")

When doing the low intensity long duration work, I got as low as 155 pounds, and my skin got nearly paper thin. I also had no muscle mass to speak of!

I have tried other regimens for different purposes, including Tabata's original protocol designed after his work with the Japanese Olympic speedskating team. If you use Tabata's method, you will be exhausted after less than 10 minutes. Tabata suggests you do this 5 days a week. I lost about 5 pounds in a 4 week protocol of Tabata intervals. I also got very weak. I don't recommend this routine for extended weight loss. You will get sick.

In my competitive cycling career, I eventually settled on long slow distance (also called LSD training) in the early season to drop weight, and switched to short high intensity training in season to build up speed and power. It worked well.

The 4 words per breath measure actually came about after the work of Francesco Conconi (who came up with the anaerobic threshold concept). That simple test correlates very well with the onset of the 4 mm (millimoles) lactic acid threshold, where the body begins to go anaerobic (more or less). Below 4 mm you can train for hours. Above that you find your workout times become progressively shorter to exhaustion.

Great story.

I've used Tabata myself, although I used it 3-4 times per week, and also used Fartlek as well.

Typically, I would do Fartlek once or twice during the week, and the Tabata 3 times. The Fartlek session would be 30 minutes long.

YIP
Zack

[JPM]

I'll have to backup the Tabata method (interval training).  For BB'ers, the 3 times a week effect appears to produce best results to insure nil muscle loss, all things being equal. The 20 second high intense level with the 10 second pause/rest period, followed by 4-6 cycles, appears to be one of the ideal way's for most BB'ers seeking fat lost. There are  many other interval training programs that are also worth researching. And like any othe extremly intense training program, the Tabata protocol should only be followed for short periods during a planned training year. Your fat burning metabolism can be geared up to burn fat even when you are at rest during the day and spare the muscle it's self.

 Endless hours on a treadmill (one example)  not only waste training time but can also cannibalize muscle tissue it's self, if on a reduced calorie intake. Plus the process of  recovery time and body repair are challenged greatly but overextending the cardio weekly workouts. This can all add up to pure muscle mass loss. Which is not the goal of any hard core BB'er. If you want to get cut, than you might try interval training (brief intense workouts) and reduced carb intake for short periods of training time. Good Luck.