Why do bodybuilders walk for cardio?

[lucky8926]

Bodybuilders fear being catabolic more than the plague...

HA!!!! Thats great......

[TDE]

This is what i've gotten out of the thousands of articles out there

dduuuddeee...

ur 5'11'', 290....i bet most ofthat is fat, and very little muscle.

in this case, high intensity woulkd be better for you, since you would be burning very little muscle n e wayz

[bond21]

when u guys are saying HIIT what intervals are u talking about?

30 second intervals, 3 minute intervals, 1 min intervals or what?

[ElMariachi]

One thing people fail to understand is it's not the amount of calories you burn DURING your cardio session that is important...but rather what your intensity is during it.

For instance...

I can either walk on the treadmill at a low to moderate intensity for 45 mins and prolly burn about 300 calories or more.

OR

I can get on the treadmill and do high intensity interval training for 20 mins. I may only burn 130 calories at the most.

Now, looking at the two scenarios above, one might think well it's obvious that burning 300 calories or more during the 45 minute cardio session is a more result-producing method.

WRONG!

The fact that you burned 300 calories during that cardio session means very little compared to what went on during the high intensity cardio session that only lasted 20 minutes and burned 130 calories, at the most.

When you do high intensity cardio, you may not burn that many calories during the session, but that is not what's important...and this is where too many people get hung up on numbers. What high intensity cardio does (that low-moderate intensity cardio does not) is SPIKE your metabolism for maximum fat loss IN THE HOURS AFTER your session is completed.

High intensity cardio forces your body to burn a ton of calories in the several hours after your cardio session is over with...something low-moderate intensity cardio does not do.

People need to ask themselves...is this low intensity/long duration cardio actually changing my metabolism?? The answer is no. Only high intensity cardio forces your body to adapt to new levels and elevates your metabolism as a whole.

And why would one actually WANT to do 45 mins of cardio (or longer) when better results can be accomplished within 15-20 mins of high intensity cardio??

Good stuff. I can't believe how many people freak out when it comes to doing cardio. Its like we have 10000 folks here who are apparently in the running for Top 5 at the Olympia, so they dare not risk losing 0.00005 pounds of muscle.

[ElMariachi]

So what speed should we run in order for it to be High intensity? 7mph 9mph 10mph 12mph?

Stairclimber......../END THREAD.

[bond21]

and im not doubting todd, but is it true you can get a killer workout by walking with an incline on the treadmill?

i thought that u had to run really fast, i never knew u could walk at a high incline for ur work period.

[raysmith]

It seems tons of BBers walk a ton for cardio instead of running or HIIT. Why? or am i mistaken?

Is it b/c they have so much LBM and so little bodyfat that they'd lose muscle if they ran too much or something?

Because running with 16+ stone on your frame kills your joints. IMO

[Takuth]

Fat burning = 60% to 72% of MHR

MHR = your age - [minus] 220

Lower intensity burns more fat than high intensity.

If your taking some types of gear, it already speeds up your HR, so a simple fast walk, with resistance [incline] is all you need to get into the correct cardio/fatburning zone known as the Kreb Cycle [Aerobic/Anarobic].

sorry for the mispells, its late here.

hope that helps.

[EazyE15]

and im not doubting todd, but is it true you can get a killer workout by walking with an incline on the treadmill?

i thought that u had to run really fast, i never knew u could walk at a high incline for ur work period.

Depends on the speed you walk and the incline level. This is my treadmill, i can walk at this incline @ 4mph and reach my target heart rate, around 70-75% of my HRM.
The further into a cardio session the easier it is to reach my target zone. I usually jog for the first 15 mins then walk with the incline for the last 15 mins. If i start the workout with the incline and 4mph it will take a lot longer to reach my zone than jogging does. But imo incline walking is less taxing and uses more of the leg/thigh muscles.

Tbh i wouldnt call it a "killer" workout. HIIT is a killer, 70-75% max heart rate is just low intensity cardio really. You sweat but should still be able to have a conversation with someone.

[bond21]

yea but todd said it was a form of HIIT because ur body is working hard.

For example power walking at an incline of 9 for 2-3 mins then a rest period, power walk at incline of 9, rest etc.

so confused...

[EazyE15]

yea but todd said it was a form of HIIT because ur body is working hard.

For example power walking at an incline of 9 for 2-3 mins then a rest period, power walk at incline of 9, rest etc.

so confused...

HIIT is judged by your heart rate not how fast/slow you workout.
Like for a 400lb man, his HIIT could be walking at 3mph for 1 min, then jogging at 6mph for 30 seconds. And that might be enough for him to reach his maximum heart rate, and so it would be HIIT.
But if i did the same as him (walking at 3mph and jogging at 6mph) i wouldnt reach my maximum heart rate, so it wouldnt be HIIT for me it would be very low intensity cardio.
So maybe Todd can incline walk in intervals and reach his MHR, doesnt mean everyone can.
Do you understand?

[jumpman122345]

Im 20 years old been lifting for about 4 years, im 6 foot 2 inches i weigh 202 and have about 19% body fat and im a fairly built, i want to get down to about 10% body fat without losing any strength or muscle. I just started doing 45 minute walks with a weighted vest on everyday and i have been doing that for about 4 days now, i wanna know if i should keep doing what i am doing and eventually i will see the results and abs...or run my balls off and run about 5 miles a day? or should i start doing interval running more?...any advice


Bench:250
Squat:270
deadlift:450

[MFT28Wayne]

From what I've read, if you're running at high intensity for prolonged duration, your body will tap on your muscles for energy because it can't breakdown fats fast enough. I walk everyday simply because I have the time to do so.. managed to lose 3kg in the past 7 weeks.. not a great deal but I did manage to gain some strength. HIIT has its place too .. it's more time efficient in terms of burning calories.. because your body transit back or forth between aerobic and anaerobic states. I'm planning to incorporate HIIT into my cardio routine like maybe once or twice a week for a better athleticism.

[katherinebrock2]

Glad I ran along this . I'm trying to lose fat and build muscle. This means I'm doing it right.

[jonathanajones3]

I'm a great believer in walking outside, its more theraupitic for your mind and body. Treadmills are okay, but I find you can become less bored from outside cardio. Arnie used to cycle along Venice beach, obviously for the views of Californian women around. Time goes past faster in different surroundings. Hill climbs are awesome as boosts your heart beat ten fold. So get out there, weather permitting and enjoy it... 35-45 mins for mod intensity.

[JohnnyJB1965]

stronglifts.com/hiit-interval-training-fat-loss

HIIT doesn't actually burn that much calories as time spent doing it is so short.

[mferrandi]

with a good diet you don't even need cardio

[Wolftenstein]

Sorry to dig this one up with my shovel, but my approach will be to neither walk nor run, but do both with a ton of added weight.

STRONGMAN!

farmers walk/run
yoke walk/run
husafell carries (bear hug a couple 80 lb. bags of concrete and haul ass, walk with 3 or more)
overhead lockout walk/run
zercher carries (similar to conan's wheel)

My other cardio idea is with my actual shovel, and like the above said strongman exercises, you're working your whole body instead of only legs. You don't want to use a little panzy shovel that can only fit 10 lbs of rocks or gravel on it, you want one that can handle 30+ so it will have a wider diameter and walls on the sides.

Or since most basic calisthenic bodyweight exercises are so easy and fall farther on the endurance end of the strength-endurance spectrum, you could interval rotate those for 30 minutes straight but we won't call that crossfit cause it's properly done exercises instead of floppy pullups and sloppy olympic lifts, just go about half way to absolute failure before switching so you can keep going, like if you can do 70 pushups just do 35 and then do 100 bodyweight squats if you really start burning at 200, then switch to situps, then pullups (real pullups), then start over again until it hurts so good.

[DougRarer]

Is this being based off of observations at the gym?

If so then there may be a situation that you do not know what else that person is working on for that day or week. They might be doing low intensity so that their primary workout (lifting) is not impaired due to lack of energy.

[Wolftenstein]

Is this being based off of observations at the gym?

If so then there may be a situation that you do not know what else that person is working on for that day or week. They might be doing low intensity so that their primary workout (lifting) is not impaired due to lack of energy.

I guess that's a good point, but your body can adapt to almost anything you do to it, just look at the military, a lot of people would classify such a regimen as overtraining, which perhaps it is for the first week or so, but the recruits adapt and overcome.

In addressing the issue of high intensity cardio causing to lose gains, I do believe this is in large part a myth, because you aren't burning muscle itself, but glycogen from inside the muscle fibers, which is easily restored and essentially burned and restored all the time anyways when you do your heavy workout. But for those who fear high intensity cardio kills gains, go do farmers walks with 100 lbs. in each hand as fast as you can and until your grip gives out and tell me if that kills your gains.