Does an hour of cardio a day burn muscle?

skinnyitaliannn
skinnyitaliannn Posts: 187
in Fitness and Exercise
I'd like to do cardio for about an hour today, but I heard past 40 minutes and your body begins to burn muscle instead of fat :( is this true?
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Replies

  • disasterman
    disasterman Posts: 746 Member
    This oughta be good...
  • fatboypup
    fatboypup Posts: 1,873 Member
    in before the lock
  • skinnyitaliannn
    skinnyitaliannn Posts: 187
    What? lol
  • 4theking
    4theking Posts: 1,196 Member
    To say that at exactly 40 minutes your body starts breaking down muscle is a bit humurous. I always recommend short duration cardio to preserve muscle but just as important is enough dietary protein, proper recovery time, strength training, and a small caloric deficit.
  • fatboypup
    fatboypup Posts: 1,873 Member
    cardio till you puke is my motto
  • emtjmac
    emtjmac Posts: 1,320 Member
    In before sarcasm.
  • BigBrewski
    BigBrewski Posts: 922 Member
    bump should be good for some laughs after eveyone gets to post their 2 cents.
  • Chipmaniac
    Chipmaniac Posts: 642 Member
    No. Next question.
  • Determinednoob
    Determinednoob Posts: 2,001 Member
    cardio till you puke is my motto

    Care to back that up with a pony?
  • shelbiejo
    shelbiejo Posts: 283 Member
    Ummm... :laugh:
  • Goosiesnougs
    Goosiesnougs Posts: 420
    Here we go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • etherealdoll
    etherealdoll Posts: 25
    Shout-out to all the previous responses for demonstrating exactly why I hate most people on MFP
  • fatboypup
    fatboypup Posts: 1,873 Member
    cardio till you puke is my motto

    Care to back that up with a pony?
    MOAR PONY!?!?
  • iWaffle
    iWaffle Posts: 2,208 Member
    I'd like to do cardio for about an hour today, but I heard past 40 minutes and your body begins to burn muscle instead of fat :( is this true?

    Before the sarcasm..... excessive cardio is not a good condition for muscle development. What's excessive? An hour is probably on the upper end of what I would do but it's not going to start sucking off muscle if you go over 15 minutes. Eat a nice amount of protein (1g per pound lean body weight), do some strength exercises to help preserve those muscles, and by all means do your cardio.

    Will you have smaller arms if you're more into cardio than those who never do it? Of course you will but you need to remember that those 20 inch arms with a 45 inch waist line doesn't look nearly as impressive as 15 inch arms with a 30 inch waist. To the poor guy with the large arms and huge gut on the ab machine at my gym last night, no we'll never see your abs. You're fat! Go do some cardio and eat better.
  • Determinednoob
    Determinednoob Posts: 2,001 Member
    He is just building them up for when they are exposed next summer
  • Prettylittlelotus
    Prettylittlelotus Posts: 239 Member
    Shout-out to all the previous responses for demonstrating exactly why I hate most people on MFP
  • MissyBenj
    MissyBenj Posts: 186 Member
    My trainer suggested that I tone down the cardio if I want to gain muscle mass. On strength days I (try) to only do 20-30 mins, on my non strength days then I run as far/long as I want to. I dont believe it's a certain amount of time in one run that hurts the muscle growth, but you need to make sure you are balancing.
  • iWaffle
    iWaffle Posts: 2,208 Member
    He is just building them up for when they are exposed next summer

    I hope so. He had some pretty nice tattoos that I admired. It would be cool if he was in better shape.
  • baptiste565
    baptiste565 Posts: 590 Member
    cardio doesnt necessarily burn mucsle. going into a calorie deficit because of cardio and not lifting weights start protein synthesis to offset will.
  • Thundermtn
    Thundermtn Posts: 57
    Oi vey... this is a flamer topic...

    Bottom line, put simply... the body will burn available energy sources.. typically this is through carbs and fats.. Losing any type of muscle mass has more to do with inadequate diet than burning cardio. You gotta feed the machine kids...

    an hour of cardio will be fine... of course, there are so many factors to any of these questions.. Are you high intensity training,,or low intensity. blah blah blah....
  • Determinednoob
    Determinednoob Posts: 2,001 Member
    If you actually want to build muscle, the more cardio you do, the more you need to eat, and your cardio need not interfere with your muscle recovery.
  • TexasTroy
    TexasTroy Posts: 477 Member
    I agree with one of the other posters.....I prefer short burst of intense cardio. Helps burn more calories without risking muscle loss from excessive cardio session's. besides, why in the hell would ya wanna spend an hour doing cardio?? Hit it hard, hit it fast and get the hell outta there!!!
  • bdotshaw
    bdotshaw Posts: 90 Member
    Shout-out to all the previous responses for demonstrating exactly why I hate most people on MFP

    Exactly. Douchery at its finest.
  • Crochetluvr
    Crochetluvr Posts: 3,276 Member
    No. I don't think your body has a way of knowing 40 minutes in order to switch over to muscle.
  • baptiste565
    baptiste565 Posts: 590 Member
    I'd like to do cardio for about an hour today, but I heard past 40 minutes and your body begins to burn muscle instead of fat :( is this true?
    NOT TRUE! its anything after 40min 11sec. (sarcasm)
  • AbsoluteNG
    AbsoluteNG Posts: 1,079 Member
    If you workout your muslces on the same day you do lots of cardio, you should be fine. I have a friend who is constantly gaining muscle mass by doing 6 miles in 48 mins and then he hits the weights for another hour. He also drinks a protein shake while doing weights.

    Edit: He worksout 3 to 4 times a week and he's constantly gaining muscle.
  • baptiste565
    baptiste565 Posts: 590 Member
    Shout-out to all the previous responses for demonstrating exactly why I hate most people on MFP
    u hate us but cant stay away. we r like those sour candies. they taste sooo bad but u gotta have another one. (just jokes lol)
  • algebravoodoo
    algebravoodoo Posts: 776 Member
    Oi vey... this is a flamer topic...

    Bottom line, put simply... the body will burn available energy sources.. typically this is through carbs and fats.. Losing any type of muscle mass has more to do with inadequate diet than burning cardio. You gotta feed the machine kids...

    an hour of cardio will be fine... of course, there are so many factors to any of these questions.. Are you high intensity training,,or low intensity. blah blah blah....

    Ach, was soll's denn? Some days I cannot believe the stuff people will believe without ever taking enough personal responsibility to do a little research.

    Your answer is sensible. Back when I had more disposable time, 90 minutes of pretty intense cardio followed by an equally long and intense strength training session was my idea of a good time. BUT I was eating to support those efforts and rotating types of activities to avoid injuries and maximize results. My body fat dropped from almost 30% to 12% in what felt like overnight (really about a year) and no muscle loss at all. That being said, that regimine worked for ME. There are too many variables to even think such a rule could hold true.
  • disasterman
    disasterman Posts: 746 Member
    I like this answer. Personally, I feel that mixing it up has given me the best results. There's a lot of science to it with extreme and sometimes passionate ideas coming from places of knowledge and sometimes just blind faith. But I like to keep it simple.

    Then again, I'm not trying to get huge and I'm not extremely obese either so keeping a balance of cardio and strength exercises seems to work for my goals.
    Oi vey... this is a flamer topic...

    Bottom line, put simply... the body will burn available energy sources.. typically this is through carbs and fats.. Losing any type of muscle mass has more to do with inadequate diet than burning cardio. You gotta feed the machine kids...

    an hour of cardio will be fine... of course, there are so many factors to any of these questions.. Are you high intensity training,,or low intensity. blah blah blah....
  • DexterDarko
    DexterDarko Posts: 235
    You don't want to get injured or anything by doing too much, but if you're in shape for it I don't think it's bad for you. But I prefer to do more in smaller time, because you burn more with a higher heart rate and I don't really feel like dragging out my pain and suffering :D

    Too much impact can take me out of the ball game for at least a day, so.

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