to all the cardio lovers and experts (or at least know more than me)

[bodyhard]

I am competing for the first time in my life in August of this year and although I have trained all my life I have never trained to lose bf/weight. The biggest I have ever been was 193lbs at 10%bf

So far I have been told that I need to come in paper thin if I want to even make a good impression to the judges. The problem is I am already light so just the thought of LOSING weight (damn all my life I wanted to gain!) drives me nuts but I know I have to do it if I want to do good. I was told to come in at 155lbs.

So if anyone is interested I would like to hear from some of you folks on how to do cardio to lose bodyfat and not too much muscle. Right now I am doing 20 minutes a week on some machine that is like a treadmill but you move your arms back and fourth as you move your legs as well.

Any feedback is much appreciated!!

[user464444132bbg]

Bodyhard, I'm a big believer that nutrition is the way to go. I can get away with 2 hrs. of cardio a week and maintain a 15% body fat average. When I was doing tons and tons of cardio I was never under 18%.

That being said, and with you already being so low in body fat, I would think making some nutrition changes might work for you and adding in maybe 2-3 hrs. of cardio a week. It's a trial, error thing. You have to see how your body response to what you change.

[FatherOfThree]

I dunno much about much when it comes to this stuff, and I will man up and admit that

So may I ask for my edjumacation: my little calculator says 193 lbs - 10% = 173.7 lbs So why in the world would you want to compete at 155lbs? I mean that would be losing almost 20lbs of muscle right?

[justtryn]

I have to agree here bodyhard. You do NOT want to drop down to 155 lbs. You would not look good at all. 180-ish sounds more like it.

As to the type of cardio to do - I'm a believer in "steady state" cardio - 40 minutes sessions with your heart rate between 120 and 140bpm - the supposed fat burning level. Start with three days a week and adjust based on your results... of course, make sure your diet is dialed in... and keep your protein levels high.

[bodyhard]

Bodyhard, I'm a big believer that nutrition is the way to go. I can get away with 2 hrs. of cardio a week and maintain a 15% body fat average. When I was doing tons and tons of cardio I was never under 18%.

That being said, and with you already being so low in body fat, I would think making some nutrition changes might work for you and adding in maybe 2-3 hrs. of cardio a week. It's a trial, error thing. You have to see how your body response to what you change.

When you say 2-3 hours a week I am assuming you mean breaking it up so that I get 2-3 hours in a given week correct? Not in one day?

[bodyhard]

I dunno much about much when it comes to this stuff, and I will man up and admit that

So may I ask for my edjumacation: my little calculator says 193 lbs - 10% = 173.7 lbs So why in the world would you want to compete at 155lbs? I mean that would be losing almost 20lbs of muscle right?

I am not 193lbs now (that was the biggest i have ever gotten wanted to reach 200lbs at 10%) I am currently at 185lbs at around 8-10% bf.

[bodyhard]

I have to agree here bodyhard. You do NOT want to drop down to 155 lbs. You would not look good at all. 180-ish sounds more like it.

As to the type of cardio to do - I'm a believer in "steady state" cardio - 40 minutes sessions with your heart rate between 120 and 140bpm - the supposed fat burning level. Start with three days a week and adjust based on your results... of course, make sure your diet is dialed in... and keep your protein levels high.

So 40 minutes every session? Total 120 minutes for the 3 days.

So my 20 minutes a week is waaaay too low huh? But I lose weight relatively easy that is why I am so afraid of doing too much cardio.

[FatherOfThree]

I am not 193lbs now (that was the biggest i have ever gotten wanted to reach 200lbs at 10%) I am currently at 185lbs at around 8-10% bf.

Still though if you compete at 4% and you are 9% now that's 5% to go... so 185lbs - 5% = 175.75 lbs

I'll shaddup now, I don't want to ruin your thread on you, I just don't get it.

[StartinOver-68]

It is supprising how much we match up when I was your age. I did my first (and last) local BB contest at age 42 at 5'8" 185 lbs when I started training for it. I knew very little about nutrition back in the 70's, and I went at it all wrong diet wise. I dropped down to 154 lbs and still was not cut. Be very careful with diet, and as others have suggested go easy on the cardio.

The younger pic in my bio is one week before contest at that weight. Below is a contest pic. Have a laugh.

[QUALITYGUY1]

I am not 193lbs now (that was the biggest i have ever gotten wanted to reach 200lbs at 10%) I am currently at 185lbs at around 8-10% bf.

Post a pic taken today @ 185 and it will be much easier to give a worthy critique as well as advise.

[user464444132bbg]

When you say 2-3 hours a week I am assuming you mean breaking it up so that I get 2-3 hours in a given week correct? Not in one day?

Yes, I meant like 45 min. to an hour a day, not all in one session. And I agree with Justtryn, steady state is the way to go. Get your heartrate up but not to a point where you're wheezing, get it to where you are breathing ok but breaking a sweat. That is the best fat burning cardio you can do.

Do you have a HR monitor? I can give you a specific bpm you should aim for for steady state if you want.

[bodyhard]

Post a pic taken today @ 185 and it will be much easier to give a worthy critique as well as advise.

will do

[bodyhard]

Yes, I meant like 45 min. to an hour a day, not all in one session. And I agree with Justtryn, steady state is the way to go. Get your heartrate up but not to a point where you're wheezing, get it to where you are breathing ok but breaking a sweat. That is the best fat burning cardio you can do.

Do you have a HR monitor? I can give you a specific bpm you should aim for for steady state if you want.

No I do not have a HR monitor sadly I don't even have a clue what that is

OK 45 minutes I could probably deal with. I will try 45 minutes 3x a week see how that goes.

Thanks again

[bodyhard]

It is supprising how much we match up when I was your age. I did my first (and last) local BB contest at age 42 at 5'8" 185 lbs when I started training for it. I knew very little about nutrition back in the 70's, and I went at it all wrong diet wise. I dropped down to 154 lbs and still was not cut. Be very careful with diet, and as others have suggested go easy on the cardio.

The younger pic in my bio is one week before contest at that weight. Below is a contest pic. Have a laugh.

wow that is amazing, we are so similar, any advice you can give me would be a blessing!

[bodyhard]

Still though if you compete at 4% and you are 9% now that's 5% to go... so 185lbs - 5% = 175.75 lbs

I'll shaddup now, I don't want to ruin your thread on you, I just don't get it.

Don't feel bad I don't get it either

[Nikonguy]

It is supprising how much we match up when I was your age. I did my first (and last) local BB contest at age 42 at 5'8" 185 lbs when I started training for it. I knew very little about nutrition back in the 70's, and I went at it all wrong diet wise. I dropped down to 154 lbs and still was not cut. Be very careful with diet, and as others have suggested go easy on the cardio.

The younger pic in my bio is one week before contest at that weight. Below is a contest pic. Have a laugh.

Sorry to bust in on bodyhard's thread but.....that may not have been what you wanted for a contest StartinOver-68 but DANG IT! I'd settle for it!....now back to our regularly scheduled program

[bodyhard]

I apologize for posting several times to quote people I do not know how to quote multiple people on one post.

[carbkilla]

You can get a heart rate monitor at walmart. It's a band you wear around your chest and it sends a signal to a wrist watch display. I never made any progress untill I got one.


CK

[justtryn]

Bodyhard - go with the steady state - 40 minutes, 45, what ever, three times a week to start. I would bet you, you'll start dropping the fat. If you plateau, add another day or two. When it gets real close, if you still have fat to drop, you'll probably need to do cardio every day - maybe twice a day. Horrible, I know! I hate cardio! bleh!! You don't have far to go... I REALLY think you can nail it at 175.

[SumthinOrNuthin]

OK, if you're 185 now and 10% of that is BF, that means 18.5lbs of you is BF and the other 166.5 is muscle, skin, bone, fluids etc.

So ...... assuming that you will not gain or lose any muscle between now and show time, and are going to focus on burning fat .... if you lose 10lbs of BF, that will put you at 4.5%BF and a body weight of 175.

Now, I aint an expert on pre-contest dieting, but there is additional weight to lose in the form of water. Coming in at 155, when you already have a lean weight of 166.5 sounds crazy, but that lean weight does include body fluids, such as water. So, I'm wondering if there are a few lbs of water weight to drop, which would, I think, disappear in your last week or 2, and come right back again after your show. But going down to 155 still sounds too far to me. 170, maybe, but not 155

[Original Poster]

I would agree 155 for you is insane.
175-177 is what I think you'd kick ass at.

Good Luck BH.

I'll leave all the cardio suggestions up to others.
My practices are a bit extreme by some people's standards.

Fitnessfreak said it best however.......you need to find what works best for you.

Good luck with your contest prep. I look forward to seeing and hearing about the results you get.

[Daimozz]

I apologize for posting several times to quote people I do not know how to quote multiple people on one post.

to the lowerright of each part of the post in a thread is a multi quote button( the one in the middle of the 3 ''+) just click it on each quote that u want to select then edit the quote to make it shorter if u want...... u can play with it to see what it does.... hope this helps....

[SumthinOrNuthin]

Cardio - deffo agree on getting a cheap heart rate monitor that tells you what your rate is as you're working. It'll only cost you a few dollars.

The fat burning zone, as they call it, is between 70 and 75% of your max heart rate.

Max heart rate is 220 minus your age, so for you, its 178.

70% of your max of 178 max is 125, 75% of that is 133.

So, whatever you're doing, aim to have your heart rate between 125 and 133

As for types of cardio, depends what you can put up with! The thing you're using now is, I think, a cross trainer, and is a great thing to be using. There is another machine called the eliptical (sp) trainer which is exactly the same without the moving handles. And of course there's the good ol' treadmill, bike and rower. You should be able to get your heart rate to the required level by power-walking on a moderate incline on the treadmill

Really, any of the machines will probably do it for you. Just try different things, or choose your favourite and keep an eye on your heart rate

[StartinOver-68]

I'd be glad to give you advice BH, but as I said I went at it all wrong. I'll leave the constructive advice to others that are more knowledgable. I simply pointed out that if you do the diet thing too far you WILL lose muscle and retain the smooth look. I personally think from the way you presently look at 185, that a 10 lb. SLOW drop is plenty.
Plus in the contest posing I would accentuate your back and lat poses with angles to also show you small waist. They are definatly your strong points.

[bodyhard]

WOW! Thanks everyone for your replies, I have learn more on cardio in this short thread than I would if I googled it (Yes thats a word look it up )


I appreciate the feed back, I will put this into practice ASAP if I start losing too much weight I will back off a bit, but thanks to all of you I have a starting point.

My 20 minutes a week seems ridiculous now

[justtryn]

Glad to be a help!

[Mr. Someday]

BH - like I told you when you first contemplated competing, you should be asking these questions to your prep person, not the over 35 forum (no offense to posters, there is actually some very solid advice in here). Unless you are some kind of genetic freak, prep by consensus is almost gauranteed failure.

Secondly, your final weight doesn't matter, only your conditioning. When you drop water at the end you could very well go below where you thought you would come in at, but if you are dry and hard on stage it will be rewarded.

[bodyhard]

Mr. Someday I understand where you are coming from, but I have to disagree to a point (I understand that you been there done that) but I am the least knowledgeable on lowering my body fat while maintaining LBM via cardio/diet, thus any information I get from these great people is worth my while, also my financial obligation (as I stated in my PM to you) is a big factor right now.

[Ramon66]

your diet needs to be perfect either Keto or very low carb and fat with high protien.
windsprints 20-30 min a day 4-5 days a week will also help reduce BF without eating muscle
sprint rest, 10-20sec sprint with 1 min rest or till heart rate comes to 120-130BPM or so. OH and you need to talk to some BB guys and gals, because a day or 2 before your contest there is a carb loading phase. and then just before the show a cosumption of glucose or some sort of simple carbs to achieve that vascular look. also you need to know how to dehydrate prior to contest this is what gives you that paper thin skin. I know a BB attempting to turn pro. he applies preperation H to abs glutes and legs or any other area, then tans just before contest. this removes water from under the skin, but only last for HRs not days so these are the tricks you need to find out. good luck

[Ramon66]

BH - like I told you when you first contemplated competing, you should be asking these questions to your prep person, not the over 35 forum (no offense to posters, there is actually some very solid advice in here). Unless you are some kind of genetic freak, prep by consensus is almost gauranteed failure.

Secondly, your final weight doesn't matter, only your conditioning. When you drop water at the end you could very well go below where you thought you would come in at, but if you are dry and hard on stage it will be rewarded.

I do believe MR. someday knows of what he speaks honestly this is not the forum I would chose to get info for contest prep.
In fact I would try to find anothe competitor with experienc willing to help you and PM him or here to death. but good luck no mater what.