How much is too much cardio? I have read that too much will make you lose muscle. According to them 3 times a week for 20 to 30 minutes is too much. Jim

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According to whom? I'll bet those people who said you'll lose muscle doing 20-30 minutes of cardio 2-3x a week, do very intense cardio while cutting their caloric intake significantly below maintenance, and there may be other contributing factors you're not aware of. There's simply more to it than that.

First, it depends on how high the intensity of the cardio is, i.e., if you are burning fat or muscle glycogen as a fuel source. Low intensity cardiovascular exercise, burns a much greater percentage of stored fat than high intensity exercise. If you want to primarily burn bodyfat, you want to stay at a lower heartrate. You'll burn significantly more fat performing 45 minutes of cardio at 50%-60% of your age predicted heart rate maximum, than you will doing 20 minutes of cardio at 85%.

Secondly, individual genetics play a role in how much fat you burn, and lean mass you maintain, as does the amount of calories you are consuming, and where the calories come from. Unless you have a very difficult time maintaining lean muscle mass, I seriously doubt you'll burn any muscle, performing cardio at 65% of your age predicted max heart rate (or less), if you are taking in enough calories to sustain the lean muscle mass you have. Andrea

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How often should I perform the cardio routine for best results, considering my goal is to build muscle without gaining fat? What results can I expect? Keeping my current BF% or even working of fat while gaining muscle? Henrik

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3-5 days a week depending on ability to vary exercises. If you want to just maintain, 3 times/week is ideal. EVERY WEEK.

Know that the body changes FROM INSIDE, OUT. You will notice a certain muscle density that wasn't there before first as you are actually "exchanging" your metabolism for one that functions different ALL day long. You can get more lean using this protocol simply because you are not losing muscle which IS what burns fat. In big picture, MUSCLE burns fat, not "exercise". Vince

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Having gone thru the same stage, I pulled off 20 lbs in 12 weeks (Weight training & doing cardio 5-6 x a week, 1 -1 1/2 hrs a session). It pulled off the extra lbs but cost me alot of size also. I think it really depends on your metabolism, but 20 minutes cardio 4 x a week, (along with training) should pull off extra fat without costing you too much size. Hope this helps. Frank J.

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I have a ton of respect for female BBers, especially those who can get into single digits of BF. Andrea, food aside, tell us about your cardio routine(s) in order to get BF low. Chris L. Johnson

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Actually Chris, you'd likely be surprised by how relatively little cardio I did compared to most bodybuilders. On average, I did only four or five 25-30 minute sessions a week, usually on the treadmill at a lower speed and full incline.

As heart rate increases, you burn less fat for fuel, so I tried to keep my heart rate at about 50-60% of my age predicted max heart rate (under 70% VO2 max).

I found it relatively easy to keep my heart rate elevated during my workouts, by simply decreasing the resting period between reps and sets. I think this had a far greater impact on my bodyfat than the cardio. Andrea

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I'm just pondering the question of how much cardio I should be doing. Currently I do 2-3 cardio workouts a week, really intense at 30-40 minutes each. Is this a good ballpark figure? Grant

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Depends on where you ARE and what your objectives are. Generally speaking, three sessions of 20-25 minutes of moderate-high intensity are optimal for overall effect (cardio health & fat-burning) without being detrimental to weight training (specifically strength). Vince

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What are your goals? What is your current level of fitness (ie body comp, VO2max, etc)? By cardio do you mean aerobic training on stationary devices such as treadmills and stepmills? Or free moving events like running and jumping? Or circuit training? Or something else?

The reason why I would like for you to be more specific is that while any form of exercise can produce general improvements in health, there are also specific effects that result from the mode or type of activity. Tom

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I currently weigh 75 kilos, at 5'8, with an aim to build mass. My goal is to gain another 10 kilos within 6 to 8 months. I have been training for the past 18 months (well, training CORRECTLY for the past 18 months) and have made a 10 kilo gain (I was 65 kilos) but as of late, find it exteremely difficult to gain weight. My metabolism is off the charts and my cardiovascular fitness is great. Grant

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Grant: I would not do any direct aerobic type of training. Your cardio training can easily be accomplished with a properly designed weight-training program. In brief:

—Determine any weak points and prioritize them (not overtrain them)

—Set up a 12-16 week training program and divide it into 3-4 week blocks

—Set specific goals for each block

You can condition your cardiovascular system very nicely by simply moving from exercise to exercise with minimal rest periods. A nice way to do this is set up your training so that you are alternating antagonistic type movements (ie bench press & barbell rows, barbell curls & lying extensions, etc). Tom

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