Is it true too much cardio can burn muscles?
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choijanro
Posts: 754 Member
Is it true too much cardio can burn muscles? like the liss and hiit cardio
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I think that if you are going crazy with the cardio, meaning 6-7 days/week for hours at a time and constantly eating way below your TDEE, muscle loss would be inevitable. Simplicity... to preserve, make sure you are eating at TDEE or a bit more.
ETA: I don't know what the 'liss' is?0 -
I'm guessing liss refers to low intensity steady state cardio.0
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I would assume that if you consume enough calories to provide adequate energy for your runs, then your body would not have to resort to muscle consumption. Eat at maintenance + eat back exercise calories = maintain weight. I have been eating at maintenance and eating back my exercise calories since January, and have trained for and completed a tough mudder, and am now in the middle of training for a fall marathon. My weight has never varied by more than 2-3 lbs, and if anything; I've gained a lot of strength in my muscles.0
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I would assume that if you consume enough calories to provide adequate energy for your runs, then your body would not have to resort to muscle consumption. Eat at maintenance + eat back exercise calories = maintain weight. I have been eating at maintenance and eating back my exercise calories since January, and have trained for and completed a tough mudder, and am now in the middle of training for a fall marathon. My weight has never varied by more than 2-3 lbs, and if anything; I've gained a lot of strength in my muscles.
This. Make sure you have adequate caloric intake, keep your protein around .7-1g/lb of LBM, and you should be fine. If you're concerned, you could lift too.0 -
Some recommendations I have seen run closer to 1.3g.This. Make sure you have adequate caloric intake, keep your protein around .7-1g/lb of LBM, and you should be fine. If you're concerned, you could lift too.
Yes you need to eat or your body will start to canibalize your muscle; several of the weight guys in my office were saying that after 45 minutes of cardio this starts. ("Guys in my office" are not a solid reference)0 -
Some recommendations I have seen run closer to 1.3g.This. Make sure you have adequate caloric intake, keep your protein around .7-1g/lb of LBM, and you should be fine. If you're concerned, you could lift too.
Yes you need to eat or your body will start to canibalize your muscle; several of the weight guys in my office were saying that after 45 minutes of cardio this starts. ("Guys in my office" are not a solid reference)
LMAO re: guys in your office not a solid reference.
I agree, and put that out there as a minimum. My LBM is about 100 lbs and I'm eating closer to 120g protein.
ETA: Edited for crappy spelling0 -
Yes.
If you are in a calorie deficit, you should lift weights to reduce the muscle loss (you wont completely eliminate it though). If you don't want to lift weights, then stay at maintenance or higher. I train for Tough Mudders and other obstacle races, so I always include lifting in my workout routines. However, when I start training for my first full marathon, I plan on eating around maintanance (including eating back workout cals) since I probably won't have much time to lift. Can't wait for the pig outs!
Sources: Some of the bodybuilding guys on MFP & Lyle Mcdonald, et. al.0 -
I have heard, and someone who knows should chime in here, that if your urine is cloudy or your perspiration has a strong amonia smell after a workout that you are indeed burning muscle. Is that true?? I think I read this long ago in a runners world article. I used to run about 40 miles a week with only one day of rest and a really incredibly ignorant diet. I did have the cloudy urine thing going on a few times.
All this could be out dated by now since I read this stuff like 25 years ago.0 -
I have heard, and someone who knows should chime in here, that if your urine is cloudy or your perspiration has a strong amonia smell after a workout that you are indeed burning muscle.
It means that your protein/carbohydrate percentages are not right. Your body is burning protein for things it should be using carbs for which causes that smell. I've run into this a couple of times, after a day of proper eating it goes away.0 -
I have heard, and someone who knows should chime in here, that if your urine is cloudy or your perspiration has a strong amonia smell after a workout that you are indeed burning muscle. Is that true?? I think I read this long ago in a runners world article. I used to run about 40 miles a week with only one day of rest and a really incredibly ignorant diet. I did have the cloudy urine thing going on a few times.
All this could be out dated by now since I read this stuff like 25 years ago.
That's a general description of the side effects of ketosis.
We do not use muscle cells as fuel during cardio. At low intensity, we tend to use fat; at higher intensity, we tend to use glycogen. Some folks burn more fat than others and how we use fuel can vary from day to day but the general rule (fat=low, glyc=high) is an accurate description.0 -
"Burning muscle" isn't the end of the world. Extreme starvation is obviously dangerous, but if you are a runner and lose some weight and some of it is lean body mass there is no need to worry. It's pretty much inevitable, as weight training merely slows the process.0
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It's generally only a concern when your % BF gets very low (and even the skinniest marathon runners have plenty of fat to use as fuel during long runs). As previously posted....make sure you're getting enough protein and include strength training to litigate muscle loss.
A bit of an aside, being very lean is advantageous for long distance runners - carrying extra weight, whether it's fat or muscle, increases the amount of energy required to run a given distance.0 -
"Burning muscle" isn't the end of the world. Extreme starvation is obviously dangerous, but if you are a runner and lose some weight and some of it is lean body mass there is no need to worry. It's pretty much inevitable, as weight training merely slows the process.
You're raising points that I've avoided because answering them would require more caveats than…bearable.
The OP's concern was about "cardio" and there have been studies that show that, under certain conditions, there may be damage to cardiac functions due to cardio - I'm alluding to the recent study that showed that when people run dozens and dozens of miles per week for extended periods (decades) there has been found to be a decrease in the improvement in cardio function. These are "edge conditions" = extreme activity carried on by a tiny percentage of runners.
In general terms, cardio does not "burn muscle" in the sense of using muscle tissue as fuel. We burn primarily fat, small amounts of glycogen, and tiny amounts of protein, the latter, IIRC, are not consumed as fuel but are broken down by the body to assist in the metabolism of fats and/or carbs.
While starving to death (the real one - not the MFP "I haven't eaten in three hours therefore I'm dying" starvation), the body will consume everything/anything to stave off death. But that's not "cardio" — that's what happens while a person is dying due to persistent, catastrophic failure to eat.
To address your point, the loss of "lean body mass" (LBM has many components, right?) during weight loss, which occurs in our species when we lose significant amounts of weight, is a very different issue than "does cardio burn muscle".0 -
I have heard, and someone who knows should chime in here, that if your urine is cloudy or your perspiration has a strong amonia smell after a workout that you are indeed burning muscle. Is that true?? I think I read this long ago in a runners world article. I used to run about 40 miles a week with only one day of rest and a really incredibly ignorant diet. I did have the cloudy urine thing going on a few times.
All this could be out dated by now since I read this stuff like 25 years ago.
Not sure about the ammonia thing, but Google MD says cloudy pee is likely from proteinuria, aka, excess protein in your system.0 -
I am speaking from experience only, but from my understanding as a runner, the physical therapist explained it to me that runners typically have weaker hips than other sports. Mainly, because we simply "burn ours out" - not meant physically burning out the muscle, but the simple overuse of running a lot, those are where the weaknesses show first. It's a matter of using them so constantly that they never truly "develop" into thick muscular form because of the activity they are being used in. Its why runners end up with knee pain. I'm sure I don't know the full explanation to explain it in proper terms. It's my laypersons view.0
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"Burning muscle" isn't the end of the world. Extreme starvation is obviously dangerous, but if you are a runner and lose some weight and some of it is lean body mass there is no need to worry. It's pretty much inevitable, as weight training merely slows the process.
You're raising points that I've avoided because answering them would require more caveats than…bearable.
The OP's concern was about "cardio" and there have been studies that show that, under certain conditions, there may be damage to cardiac functions due to cardio - I'm alluding to the recent study that showed that when people run dozens and dozens of miles per week for extended periods (decades) there has been found to be a decrease in the improvement in cardio function. These are "edge conditions" = extreme activity carried on by a tiny percentage of runners.
In general terms, cardio does not "burn muscle" in the sense of using muscle tissue as fuel. We burn primarily fat, small amounts of glycogen, and tiny amounts of protein, the latter, IIRC, are not consumed as fuel but are broken down by the body to assist in the metabolism of fats and/or carbs.
While starving to death (the real one - not the MFP "I haven't eaten in three hours therefore I'm dying" starvation), the body will consume everything/anything to stave off death. But that's not "cardio" — that's what happens while a person is dying due to persistent, catastrophic failure to eat.
To address your point, the loss of "lean body mass" (LBM has many components, right?) during weight loss, which occurs in our species when we lose significant amounts of weight, is a very different issue than "does cardio burn muscle".
All true, but I think when the OP wrote "burn muscle" he probably meant loss of LBM, having heard some broscience about cardio.0
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