Question: How is everyone altering their cardio POST CONTEST?

[TheStiffmeister]

getting up to the contest point we are hitting cardio twice a day, doing intervals etc.

it is one thing to slowly start introducing more calories back into the diet, but how do you alter your cardio?

Keep doing twice a day with the calories slowly increasing by 300 cals then cut back the cardio about a week to 2 weeks later?

Any info or opinions are greatly appreciated.

[Whomper107]

It's not uncommon for people to come out of contest preps with VERY overtrained legs between lifting and daily cardio. I know that was the case for me, so I replaced all MISS with just walking outside, and cut intervals from 3x a week to once, and eventually none.

Assuming your legs are not aching on the daily and you have a choice in the matter, it's mostly a question of if you would rather eat less or move more.

[stayfit2008]

Cardio?,..whats cardio??? :)

[TheStiffmeister]

It's not uncommon for people to come out of contest preps with VERY overtrained legs between lifting and daily cardio. I know that was the case for me, so I replaced all MISS with just walking outside, and cut intervals from 3x a week to once, and eventually none.

Assuming your legs are not aching on the daily and you have a choice in the matter, it's mostly a question of if you would rather eat less or move more.

true, most people i see competing naturally have very small legs that dont matchup with the rest of their body.

ever considering other types of cardio to try to conserve the legs?

swimming?

arm bike?

row machine?

lots of sex?

[ronin_ts]

true, most people i see competing naturally have very small legs that dont matchup with the rest of their body.

ever considering other types of cardio to try to conserve the legs?

swimming?

arm bike?

row machine?

lots of sex?

haha or it could be they didn't pay as much attention to training their legs then their upperbody?

attached a mate of mine whos natural and has some chunky legs

[fltallpaul]

As crazy as it sounds I think my legs actually improved during prep. My cardio program was probably alot less than most but I found my legs getting bigger as my conditioning improved and leg workouts get better.

My cardio pre contest per week was
two 30 minute LISS sessions
two 10 HIIT sessions

post contest I am doing 3 LISS at 20 minutes and 1 or 2 HIIT sessions but not nearly as all out as before...just some outdoor sprints.

I am sure the legs start to suffer when your doing hours and hours of cardio.

[ronin_ts]

As crazy as it sounds I think my legs actually improved during prep. My cardio program was probably alot less than most but I found my legs getting bigger as my conditioning improved and leg workouts get better.

My cardio pre contest per week was
two 30 minute LISS sessions
two 10 HIIT sessions

post contest I am doing 3 LISS at 20 minutes and 1 or 2 HIIT sessions but not nearly as all out as before...just some outdoor sprints.

I am sure the legs start to suffer when your doing hours and hours of cardio.

Same thing happened to me...Stationay Bike was my best friend

Now Post Contest only doing 4 days a week of cardio for 30 minutes and 5 minute cooldown...mixing it up with HIIT and moderate on those days. increasing my intake every week

[TheStiffmeister]

Same thing happened to me...Stationay Bike was my best friend

Now Post Contest only doing 4 days a week of cardio for 30 minutes and 5 minute cooldown...mixing it up with HIIT and moderate on those days. increasing my intake every week

do you plan on maintaining that level of cardio? my concern is just stopping it altogether and my body being like ok lets pack on some **** mass

[TheStiffmeister]

As crazy as it sounds I think my legs actually improved during prep. My cardio program was probably alot less than most but I found my legs getting bigger as my conditioning improved and leg workouts get better.

My cardio pre contest per week was
two 30 minute LISS sessions
two 10 HIIT sessions

post contest I am doing 3 LISS at 20 minutes and 1 or 2 HIIT sessions but not nearly as all out as before...just some outdoor sprints.

I am sure the legs start to suffer when your doing hours and hours of cardio.


not bad man. any specific diet? UD 2.0? I was considering it as a contest diet but not quite sure on the consensus.

[ronin_ts]

do you plan on maintaining that level of cardio? my concern is just stopping it altogether and my body being like ok lets pack on some **** mass

Atm I am going to maintain this to keep my metabolism roaring. My macros are now 1200 above Pre-Contest diet.

After a prolonged diet your body will always wanting to packs on the weight Ive found doing some cardio was the best way on controlling it

[DanTheManB]

I stopped 100% ...not the smartest thing to do but I was pretty tired from EVERYTHING and keeping up with cardio was the last thing on my mind

[AustrianOakJr]

I ditched both LISS and HIIT. HIIT right away....b/c I hate it (who doesnt?). Then I gave LISS about another 2 weeks and gave that the boot. Now, I do two days of MISS cardio just to keep the heart and circulatory system in shape. I do a medium run (8 min mile pace) on the treadmill for a mile and then a fast, incline walk for a mile.

[zcholla]

Like most topics covered this one yet again falls in the "depends on the person" category. If you are someone who is more ecto then yo ucould probably just drop it pretty quickly and if your more mes0/endo then you will want to taper back the cardio as you taper the diet up. Any extreme decreases in activity and increases in caloric intake is going to cause the body to store that fat like a mutha. Just dont shock the body by going from full contest prep to full Bulk season. Test your body and see how you react to certain things and adjust your workouts an diet as you need. This sport is all about learning what works best for YOU and it justs takes some experimenting to figure it all out and get it right. but whatever you do GOOD LUCK and keep working hard to get back to the stage.