Cardio debate

[sportsautograph]

I have two questions I need help with. The first is the old debate regarding cardio.

Presently, I go to the gym 4 days a week for about 1- 1.5 hours a workout to hit the weights. I alternate between upper body and lower body each workout and abs every workout. Two of my offdays I do cardio on my bike for 40-45 minutes. I also hit the bike one other day during the week for the same time frame.

My question is how long should my cardio sessions be and how often should I really be doing cardio? I have been told if I go too long like 60 min doing cardio I will begin burning muscle not fat.

Second question, is how much protein should I take in to tone or slightly build?

Overall, I eat pretty healthy. My normal food intake per day consists of serving of cheerios or oatmeal, 4-5 servings of fruit, 3 servings of veggies, 1-2 of chicken or turkey, almonds as snacks, & tuna fish after every workout.

I am presently 165lbs, 5'11.

 

[ManLondon]

I am really just a novice. You may like to cross-check my thoughts with experts. Here are my 2 cents for all they are worth - esp. when you have not had any responses so far.

I alternate between upper body and lower body each workout and abs every workout.

I have heard experts say that you need to alternate abs as well. Abs need rest as well.

Second question, is how much protein should I take in to tone or slightly build?

If you are planning to bulk up, people say that you need 1.5 to 2g of proteins per pound of lean body weight.


Please consider taking complex carbs supplements as well.

 

[dex215]

Cardio for fast loss is best done after weight training. The reason is you will burn the muscle glycogen off while you weight train. So when you do cardio at 55%-65% of your mhr you will better be able to convert fat into a useable energy source. It's not doing cardio for to long it's doing it to intense for to long. If your body is in need of energy fast it will get it from the muscle tissues. It is easier for it to pull BCAA's from the muscle then convert fat.

Realisticlly you only will need .75g - 1 g per pound of leanbody mass. Unless your test levels are abnormally high your body won't use all that protein at once. To get tone it's all about the calories. They have to be consistant every day for your baody to know what you are trying to do to it. If your not counting you need to be.

 

[gymcoch]

long aerobic sessions ("cardio") CAN make make you lose lean muscle tissue if you are trying to bulk up/increase hypertrophy. You didnt say what your goal was.
If it's just to be healthy, there are many cardiorespiratory benefits to aerobic exercise. If fat loss is what you are looking for, you need to concentrate on the weight training, diet, add some HIIT training and do aerobic exercise as an afterthought.
It would take a very intense weight training workout to burn all of your glycogen stores.
London-man is correct in that you should treat your abs as you do every other muscle group.
1g of protein per pound of bodyweight is a good guideline if you are weight training hard and looking for hypertrophy, Based on what you mentioned you are eating, it sounds like you're on the right track!
Hope this helps!

 

[cosmo moody]

Fighting the confusion

ok so if fat loss is the goal, I should be focussed on Weight trainning. Correct?

Should I be trainning to failure every set? And what's the deal with High weight low reps Vs. Low weight High reps. is one more efficient for losing fat and building muscle?

I have seen size increase in arms and chest in the past few weeks but the gut remains unchanged and I still feel like I don't really know whta I'm doing.