So, I heard cardio can make you flabby?
stormynytes4ever
Posts: 60 Member
I've heard that more than 40 straight minutes of cardio can actually destroy muscle mass if you don't weight train along with it. So, question one: is this really true? Question two: if it's true, is it better to do your cardio in small spurts so breakdown doesn't happen? I live nowhere near a gym and have very little room in my house for weight equipment other than small dumbbells. My 'weight training' is usually just against my own body weight. So, suggestions? Comments?
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Personally I would not worry about it too much. Eat well. Do some cardio. Do some weights. It will be fine and your body will soon be looking great. I think there is some truth in what you say, but I don't think it burns up enough muscle to out weigh the benefits of cardio when you have weight left to lose.
And you can do lots with body weight exercises. The key is to make them harder as they get easier (so squats become prisioner squats, become pistol squats and so on). Dumbells are great, or a kettlebell takes very little space. Or you can just pick heavy stuff up from around the house! This is my favourite workout for at home:
http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/12/09/beginner-body-weight-workout-burn-fat-build-muscle/
Its amazing how far you can get with your bodyweight.
Good luck!0 -
I've heard that more than 40 straight minutes of cardio can actually destroy muscle mass if you don't weight train along with it. So, question one: is this really true?
Absolutely not true. Otherwise any sportsman doing a cardio intense, long duration sport like soccer, tennis, rugby, distance running, cycling would be flabby.0 -
thanks, I'll have to give this a try.Personally I would not worry about it too much. Eat well. Do some cardio. Do some weights. It will be fine and your body will soon be looking great. I think there is some truth in what you say, but I don't think it burns up enough muscle to out weigh the benefits of cardio when you have weight left to lose.
And you can do lots with body weight exercises. The key is to make them harder as they get easier (so squats become prisioner squats, become pistol squats and so on). Dumbells are great, or a kettlebell takes very little space. Or you can just pick heavy stuff up from around the house! This is my favourite workout for at home:
http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/12/09/beginner-body-weight-workout-burn-fat-build-muscle/
Its amazing how far you can get with your bodyweight.
Good luck!
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From what I understand, being in a caloric deficit and doing long intense cardio is going to have a negative impact on your muscles. Probably nothing to worry too much about, however. If you're in fact doing some body weight execising, that should counterbalance it a bit.
E.g. marathon runners are usually very skinny. Body builders often do quite little cardio, because it can have a negative effect on their gains.0 -
From what I understand, being in a caloric deficit and doing long intense cardio is going to have a negative impact on your muscles. Probably nothing to worry too much about, however. If you're in fact doing some body weight execising, that should counterbalance it a bit.
E.g. marathon runners are usually very skinny. Body builders often do quite little cardio, because it can have a negative effect on their gains.
^ I agree that it is the caloric deficit cardio causes that has an impact on the muscles. Doing weight bearing exercises while in a caloric deficit can help you keep lean body mass.0 -
Weight training is there to keep muscle on your frame. When you work out, you place a demand for that particular muscle group to either stay the same, grow, or even shrink. This will also be true for your eating habits. which will be the most crucial in determining the results you get. So to answer the topic question with the above already stated: Cardio is not going to make you flabby ... it's going to depend on how your eating. If you are in a surplus of calories( eating more than you burn per day) then you will gain weight ( water, fat and if your lucky muscle). If you are in a deficit( burning more calories than you eat per day) then you will lose weight ( water, fat and yes, possibly muscle.) Hope that helps. Good luck in achieving your goals. Keep it simple, keep it smart and you will be just fine. Don't waste your time over thinking it.0
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From what I understand, being in a caloric deficit and doing long intense cardio is going to have a negative impact on your muscles. Probably nothing to worry too much about, however. If you're in fact doing some body weight execising, that should counterbalance it a bit.
E.g. marathon runners are usually very skinny. Body builders often do quite little cardio, because it can have a negative effect on their gains.
That's not quite true. Competitive marathon runners are thin because added muscle is added weight which can slow you down. They don't aim to add muscle and often are have a naturally slender frame anyway. It's more of having the body type best suited for the activity.
Ever look at some of the Ironman pros?
Craig Alexander - won the World Ironman triathlon - that's a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride and a 26.2 mile run - a considerable amount of cardio
Yes, too much cardio and improper nutrition can burn muscle but it is incorrect to say that over 40 minutes of cardio burns muscle.
ETA - Some bodybuilders do cardio, however, bulking is a different scenerio.0 -
When you are in calorie deficit you lose both muscle mass and fat. This is true when you do cardio only and weight train. However.... when you do only cardio you lose more muscle mass than if you were on a solid weight training program. Cardio only means you essentially become a smaller version of your previous self. For example, you can be 70kg and be 30% body fat and be 55kg and still be 30% body fat. This is how people become skinny-fat... they may be small but their body composition still has a large percentage of fat.
When you strength train while eating a calorie deficit you maintain as much muscle mass as you can. What this means is that you reduce the rate of muscle loss. You can only affect two things within your body... the amount of muscle you have and the amount of fat. Looking "toned" is a result of building/maintaining muscle mass while reducing your body fat percentage. Basically using the above example.... if you started at 70kg and 30% fat and you lifted weights while dieting to 55kg, your body fat percentage may drop to say 20% and your figure would be significantly better than the skinny-fat person of the same weight.0 -
Often when you work out hard you can burn muscle too. Its not going to make you flabby. Now what more serious weight lifters will do is drink a protein shake before and after a workout. Before helps negate a catabolic state where your body starts using muscle whereas after is to speed recovery of the muscles you just worked out. Runners and weight lifters do different amounts of cardio because theyre after different things. However you can look at Crosfit as an example since they do heavy amounts of both and are pretty big and pretty fit cardio-wise. However theyre not as fast as runners and dont lift as much as bodybuilders who put in the same amount of time. Besides, have you ever seen a flabby runner in the Olympics?0
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From what I understand, being in a caloric deficit and doing long intense cardio is going to have a negative impact on your muscles. Probably nothing to worry too much about, however. If you're in fact doing some body weight execising, that should counterbalance it a bit.
E.g. marathon runners are usually very skinny. Body builders often do quite little cardio, because it can have a negative effect on their gains.
Most bodybuilders limit cardio when bulking because essentially it just means that you would need to eat more to make up the extra calories burned. When they are cutting many do cardio... however, often they choose cardio such as HIIT or steady state which minimise muscle loss.0 -
Only if you eat cheesecake while you're on the treadmill.0
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From what I understand, being in a caloric deficit and doing long intense cardio is going to have a negative impact on your muscles. Probably nothing to worry too much about, however. If you're in fact doing some body weight execising, that should counterbalance it a bit.
E.g. marathon runners are usually very skinny. Body builders often do quite little cardio, because it can have a negative effect on their gains.
But the experience of body builders has virtually zero relevance for the average exerciser.0 -
When you are in calorie deficit you lose both muscle mass and fat. This is true when you do cardio only and weight train. However.... when you do only cardio you lose more muscle mass than if you were on a solid weight training program. Cardio only means you essentially become a smaller version of your previous self. For example, you can be 70kg and be 30% body fat and be 55kg and still be 30% body fat. This is how people become skinny-fat... they may be small but their body composition still has a large percentage of fat.
When you strength train while eating a calorie deficit you maintain as much muscle mass as you can. What this means is that you reduce the rate of muscle loss. You can only affect two things within your body... the amount of muscle you have and the amount of fat. Looking "toned" is a result of building/maintaining muscle mass while reducing your body fat percentage. Basically using the above example.... if you started at 70kg and 30% fat and you lifted weights while dieting to 55kg, your body fat percentage may drop to say 20% and your figure would be significantly better than the skinny-fat person of the same weight.
In 30 years as an exercise physiologist, having worked with thousands of people, I have seen plenty of people who were BORN skinny fat. I can't remember working with anyone who BECAME skinny fat from doing cardio.0 -
First of all, that was really just an example of different archtypes of training. The person in question would ideally fall somewhere in the middle. I didn't say ANYTHING about triathlon. Nor did I say that bodybuilders didn't do cardio. Of course they do. They key is really that whilst in a caloric deficit your body is likely to burn muscle along with fat when doing alot of cardio, unless (and maybe even if) you do strength training along with it. The cardio in itself won't have a negative effect on muscle building.0
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First of all, that was really just an example of different archtypes of training. The person in question would ideally fall somewhere in the middle. I didn't say ANYTHING about triathlon. Nor did I say that bodybuilders didn't do cardio. Of course they do. They key is really that whilst in a caloric deficit your body is likely to burn muscle along with fat when doing alot of cardio, unless (and maybe even if) you do strength training along with it. The cardio in itself won't have a negative effect on muscle building.
You gave the example of marathon runners as having little muscle, implying that is because of the amount of cardio they do. I gave another example of a sport where there is a ton of cardio but the competitors still have muscle.0 -
Bump!! 0
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Cardio is better than not working out at all but it's pretty much pointless. If you do a ton of cardio and diet to lose weight but don't lift you'll probably end up flabby and skinny fat.0
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agreed that cardio will not make you flabby!
as for weight training - check out You Are Your Own Gym. it's a bodyweight workout routine (and it's been kicking my a**!!) they have android/iphone/ipad apps that make it super similar to having a trainer stand next to you and tell you what to do!0 -
Losing weight by just eating at a deficit and doing cardio will cause you to lose about 28% more lean muscle on average than if you ate at a deficit and implemented a cardio and strength training program. I lifted during my entire 13 month weight loss and if I didnt I would haven ended up looking like a jellyfish. ( the reason why so many people still are not happy with the way they look even after they reached or even surpassed their goal)0
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Lack of muscle conditioning makes you flabby. Now can you burn muscle from cardio only exercise. Yes if you aren't consuming enough protein to help sustain it. In most cases, people do get enough, but because most cardio focuses mostly on legs, the upper body doesn't get the same kind of muscle conditioning which is why it's usually much "softer" than the lower body.
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Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition0 -
Not a very good example, most athletes are not eating at a deficit for long periods of time.I've heard that more than 40 straight minutes of cardio can actually destroy muscle mass if you don't weight train along with it. So, question one: is this really true?
Absolutely not true. Otherwise any sportsman doing a cardio intense, long duration sport like soccer, tennis, rugby, distance running, cycling would be flabby.0 -
When you are in calorie deficit you lose both muscle mass and fat. This is true when you do cardio only and weight train. However.... when you do only cardio you lose more muscle mass than if you were on a solid weight training program. Cardio only means you essentially become a smaller version of your previous self. For example, you can be 70kg and be 30% body fat and be 55kg and still be 30% body fat. This is how people become skinny-fat... they may be small but their body composition still has a large percentage of fat.
When you strength train while eating a calorie deficit you maintain as much muscle mass as you can. What this means is that you reduce the rate of muscle loss. You can only affect two things within your body... the amount of muscle you have and the amount of fat. Looking "toned" is a result of building/maintaining muscle mass while reducing your body fat percentage. Basically using the above example.... if you started at 70kg and 30% fat and you lifted weights while dieting to 55kg, your body fat percentage may drop to say 20% and your figure would be significantly better than the skinny-fat person of the same weight.
In 30 years as an exercise physiologist, having worked with thousands of people, I have seen plenty of people who were BORN skinny fat. I can't remember working with anyone who BECAME skinny fat from doing cardio.
I did. I'm stoked to be the smaller version of my fatter self (size 18 to size 4), but that's exactly what I am.
OK. I have much less of a tire around my middle, but I have lots of flab just llike I did 50 lbs ago.0 -
For at home workouts, I use the free YouTube videos from HasFit.com and BeFit.com (I'm sure there are a ton of others too). They have everything from cardio, strength training, yoga, boxing, etc. And all they use is your body weight and perhaps some small weights for extra resistance. It's a good full-body workout that definitely burns calories.0
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I have no clue if that's true or not, but I would suggest buying a resistance band, I have one and it really helps to build up my muscle, I don't go to a gym and have hand weights too, but I really like the resistance band though0
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Every time I research into this, I hear that strength training is more important than cardio. Not that you don't have to do cardio, it's just that, you REALLY should not leave strength training out of it. If you don't strength train, I suppose you might end up 'flabby'. I hear a lot of people saying that you need to strength train to help tighten up that extra skin you sometimes get after losing a lot of weight.
Bottom line, do both. They're both important.0 -
Not a very good example, most athletes are not eating at a deficit for long periods of time.I've heard that more than 40 straight minutes of cardio can actually destroy muscle mass if you don't weight train along with it. So, question one: is this really true?
Absolutely not true. Otherwise any sportsman doing a cardio intense, long duration sport like soccer, tennis, rugby, distance running, cycling would be flabby.
You are reading something into this that isn't in the OP. Not everyone on here is eating at a deficit and a calorific deficit wasn't mentioned. Being inactive is the primary cause of people being flabby not doing (and I quote) "40 straight minutes of cardio".0 -
When you are in calorie deficit you lose both muscle mass and fat. This is true when you do cardio only and weight train. However.... when you do only cardio you lose more muscle mass than if you were on a solid weight training program. Cardio only means you essentially become a smaller version of your previous self. For example, you can be 70kg and be 30% body fat and be 55kg and still be 30% body fat. This is how people become skinny-fat... they may be small but their body composition still has a large percentage of fat.
When you strength train while eating a calorie deficit you maintain as much muscle mass as you can. What this means is that you reduce the rate of muscle loss. You can only affect two things within your body... the amount of muscle you have and the amount of fat. Looking "toned" is a result of building/maintaining muscle mass while reducing your body fat percentage. Basically using the above example.... if you started at 70kg and 30% fat and you lifted weights while dieting to 55kg, your body fat percentage may drop to say 20% and your figure would be significantly better than the skinny-fat person of the same weight.
In 30 years as an exercise physiologist, having worked with thousands of people, I have seen plenty of people who were BORN skinny fat. I can't remember working with anyone who BECAME skinny fat from doing cardio.
Oh please, babies aren't born skinny-fat. Is that what you tell your clients? People become fat the usual way (being sedentary and eating a surplus) such that their body fat percentage increases (hello obesity). Then when people decide to "lose weight" through diet/cardio they get smaller, but often still retain a higher percentage of body fat.
The key message is that you can change the ratio of muscle in your body and achieve a leaner look. One thing for sure you will not achieve this through cardio and diet alone. You will maximse your sucess if you make strength training a priority in your routine.0 -
When you are in calorie deficit you lose both muscle mass and fat. This is true when you do cardio only and weight train. However.... when you do only cardio you lose more muscle mass than if you were on a solid weight training program. Cardio only means you essentially become a smaller version of your previous self. For example, you can be 70kg and be 30% body fat and be 55kg and still be 30% body fat. This is how people become skinny-fat... they may be small but their body composition still has a large percentage of fat.
When you strength train while eating a calorie deficit you maintain as much muscle mass as you can. What this means is that you reduce the rate of muscle loss. You can only affect two things within your body... the amount of muscle you have and the amount of fat. Looking "toned" is a result of building/maintaining muscle mass while reducing your body fat percentage. Basically using the above example.... if you started at 70kg and 30% fat and you lifted weights while dieting to 55kg, your body fat percentage may drop to say 20% and your figure would be significantly better than the skinny-fat person of the same weight.
In 30 years as an exercise physiologist, having worked with thousands of people, I have seen plenty of people who were BORN skinny fat. I can't remember working with anyone who BECAME skinny fat from doing cardio.
Oh please, babies aren't born skinny-fat. Is that what you tell your clients? People become fat the usual way (being sedentary and eating a surplus) such that their body fat percentage increases (hello obesity). Then when people decide to "lose weight" through diet/cardio they get smaller, but often still retain a higher percentage of body fat.
The key message is that you can change the ratio of muscle in your body and achieve a leaner look. One thing for sure you will not achieve this through cardio and diet alone. You will maximse your sucess if you make strength training a priority in your routine.
People are born with specific body types--genetically determined frame sizes, patterns of body fat, etc. Surely you know this? You must have noticed that people sitting next to you look differently than you.
Maintaining a somewhat higher percentage of fat does not make you "skinny fat". Someone who loses a lot of weight through cardio and diet, or even cardio alone, may not have the same level of muscle mass as someone who lifts, but, again, that does not make them "skinny fat".
My problem is not with strength training--there is no disagreement about its benefits -- but with the obsession that many lifters have with proselytizing their personal preference as the "one truth faith" and the promiscuous and inaccurate use of the term "skinny fat".
"Skinny fat" has become the new "starvation mode" cliche and it has led to such bizarre and laughably ridiculous statements such as "cardio can make you flabby" and "cardio burns muscle", and the even more ridiculous and absurd assertion made earlier that someone could lose 15kg of weight and still have the same % body fat as when they started, which would not only require a loss of over 10kg of lean mass, but would take the the person down to a level of fat-free mass that is almost never seen in someone unless they are born with a certain body type.0
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