Best Cardio For Not Losing Muscle Mass

As the title says... I've seen alot of people asking questions along these lines, and I'm very curious myself. Currently my cardio routine involves walking on a treadmill about five minutes to get warmed up. I then job at about 8 mph for 20 - 30 minutes. My current level of fitness is such that my heart beats at the high end of the "Target Heart Rate" the entire "jogging" period.

If you had 30 - 40 minutes to run or walk on a treadmill each day, let's assume the treadmill goes up to 15 degrees, is jogging on it the whole time a BAD idea? Would it be better to run faster in smaller bursts of time? Or would it be more prudent to keep your heart rate high by increasing the elevation settings?


Share what you do! I'm interested in seeing some different ideas here! Thanks.

If you want things you haven't had before, you have to do things you haven't done before.

Proactive - To act rather than react. To be driven by enduring values and principles rather than the winds of circumstance and change.

I'm looking for the same answer cause there's no way i'm going to work hard to lose something else i've also worked hard for.
In the January issue of Fitness Rx, quote from Army captain Greg Plitt "I keep my heart rate relatively low and go for at least 45 minutes, three to four days a week. If you do cardio too intensely, your body breaks down carbs and muscle instead of fat. But if you keep the intensity low enough to carry on a normal conversation, your body will break down fat for energy."
I guess I followed what he says so right now my routine is 5 mins scretching, 2 mins walking on treadmil as warm up then jog 40 mins and walk 2 mins afterwards as warm down.
I'll also like to see other's routine to compare.

Thanks for the quote!

I've been running fast enough and with enough of an angle that I couldn't possibly hold a conversation with someone... I'm completely wasted when I get done with my routine.

Can anyone confer what the quote is saying? For the time being I guess I'm going to have to tone it down.

I'm going to miss the endorphin high (or whatever it is) that I get from running like a mad man, though.

If you want things you haven't had before, you have to do things you haven't done before.

Proactive - To act rather than react. To be driven by enduring values and principles rather than the winds of circumstance and change.

I've taken the initiative to do some of my own research. I've came up with a few links that I think most people will find useful.

There seems to be genuine benefits to both high intensity and lower intensity cardio. If for no other reason, cardio is kind of like weight training, you shouldn't let your body get used to doing the same routine at the same intensity. In terms of the best time to do cardio, it seems more prudent to do cardio in the mornings, prior to eating. By doing this, your body has to turn straight to fat reserves for energy.

For retaining muscle mass, the general concenusus is that a lower intensity cardio routine is probably best. However, none of the sources making that claim had any real scientific evidence to support that assumption. Essentially, every move you make uses, and therefore breaks down muscle tissue. One article put it this way, "When you fast overnight as you sleep, you lose muscle too, but that doesn't mean you should stop sleeping!"

For low-intensity cardio, you can either keep it moderate enough to carry on a conversation without sounding out of breath. Or, if you want to be a bit more technical, you can monitor your heart rate and keep it in a range slightly less than your maximum heart rate. Simply take your maximum heart rate (220 - your age). Then take 75 - 85% of that number. That number would represent where you want your heart rate to be for the duration of the routine.

But wait... high intensity cardio has many benefits! Keeping your heart pumping close to it's maximum heart rate for an extended period of time puts your body into a bit of oxygen deprivation. This makes your heart beat faster for several hours after training. In the long run this burns more calories for you throughout the day than your low intensity workout does.

Additionally, pushing yourself to the max and keeping your heart rate quite high is good for the heart. After all, you heart is a muscle too! And let's not forget, high intensity training takes less time to burn the same amount of calories.

I love the feeling I get from running and I like the idea of strengthening my heart. I don't like the idea of running so much that I lose a little muscle. Therefore, I'm going to go with a more balanced (split) cardio routine. Low Intensity one day and High Intensity the next! This will alleviate any worries, as unfounded as they may be, that I'm running off my muscles. It will also allow me to focus on a incline or stair stepping cardio routine one day -which is great for your hamstring and glute tie-ins. I can focus on a high intenstity (endorphin high), heart exercising routine the next!

Anyway, I hope these ideas help! Please remember that I'm in NO WAY an expert on this... I've just assimilated the ideas I got from many different reliable sources on the web.

Of everything I've looked at, the following links seemed to be the most informative:

Not All Cardio Is Created Equal

Maximum Cardio

Does Cardio Make You Lose Muscle?

I hope this helps!

mda1125 fixed link

If you want things you haven't had before, you have to do things you haven't done before.

Proactive - To act rather than react. To be driven by enduring values and principles rather than the winds of circumstance and change.

very good post.as for me i prefer high volume.

Nice post!

Without writing my own long post, I'll direct you to this link.

Cardio Coach

I've been doing this one for about 3 weeks now. Lost no muscle at all. And I'm looking leaner. My cardio capacity has also increased. It really is the perfect blend of everything above. All you really need is a way to measure your heart rate zones. You can do any cardio exercise you want.

This post is a great topic.

Marc C. David
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I would suggest low intensity cardio for about 20-30 mins on a incline of 10-12. Now for precontest, I would suggest 30-45 mins of low intesity on 10-12 incline, and when u get closer doubling up ur cardio sessions.

Bench-305(5 partial reps)
Squat-450(4 reps)
deadlift-435(2-3 partials)
front squats- 225(6-8)
leg press-835(8reps)
at 19!
priceless
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good post, yea usually i do cardio for 20 minutes at 4.5 speed on 11.5 incline.
-Mike

I do 30-45 minutes of Cardio On the Eliptical, a different Program each time, I only do the cross training programs, which are 1-3 I think, now I also use a Heart rate monitor and there are zones, I keep my heart rate between 60-70% and THAT is the fat burning zone. I keep it usually steady at 68/69% so right on the cusp, I also am doing this on a lever 13-14 resistance out of a 20max, and I up that. the reason for the different programs each time is so your body does not get used to the same exercise so it keeps it guessing.

Heres what i've been told and has worked for me. In order for you body to burn fat, it needs oxygen to break it down. I believe this is called oxidation or whatnot. Now once you start run/jog hard, you start to pant, and all that oxygen is getting rushed to your stressed muscles. Where as with a fast walk, you breathe normal, and your body can spare the oxygen to burn fat. Think about it. How many marathon runners are there that you see that are ripped? Now i don't mean a muscle type ripped, for they obviously have catabolically broken their muscle down. I mean a ripped in the sense that you can see all the muscle they do have, rippling and striated. I haven't seen it. Most runners i see i have a little layer on them. So what i do is walk relativlely intensely 2-3 times a day for 30-60 minutes. Shreds the fat right off, but never goes hard enough/long enough to take off muscle.

i reckon the best cardio to burn fat while possibly even building muscle would have to be interval training. So for example on a machine which you can go very intensely on, like the recumbernt bike or the X-trainer, step machine etc... I like to do 2 mins on a moderate level then for 30 secs go full intesity then 2 mins of moderate then 30 secs of full intesity and so on for about 15-20 mins.

ORIGINAL: Marc David

Nice post!

Without writing my own long post, I'll direct you to this link.

Cardio Coach

I've been doing this one for about 3 weeks now. Lost no muscle at all. And I'm looking leaner. My cardio capacity has also increased. It really is the perfect blend of everything above. All you really need is a way to measure your heart rate zones. You can do any cardio exercise you want.

This post is a great topic.

Sean O'Malley and CardioCoach rule!!

"If there's nothing else that's relevant, I'll be leaving now"

"Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground"

I'm new to this forum but would like to add some insight. I've been working out for about 16 years and The best advice I ever recieved was from Muscle media Magazine. Before about 2002 they were pretty hardcore with great info with science to back it up. Long story short they were always big into the high intensity interval training. (I.E. 5 minutes of warm-up 30 seconds of sprinting, 30 seconds of walking repeated 10 times, then 5 minutes of cool-down.) It's always worked for me and I seem to lose very little muscle mass when doing it. There point was look at a long distance runner(low intesity cardio) very htin but no muscle. Look at a sprinter Ripped with massive quads and lot's of muscle! You do the math!

I agree, i do MAX-OT and if you go to http://www.ast-ss.com/max-ot/max-ot_intro.asp, it is a full bodybuilding course dedicated to MAX-OT weight training and it includes interval, intesne cardio training as well have a look.

guerilla cardio seems like it might be a good way to keep muscle and burn fat but its very hard and intense