Off-Season Cardio

[KyMuscle]

Fellow Masters, what's your take on off-season cardio?

One school of thought recommends no, because it takes away from your ability to push the weights, and hampers recovery. Plus, the less cardio done in the offseason, the less you end up having to do pre-contest because your baseline starts at zero.

Another school of thought says yes, because it actually speeds recovery AND increases your appetite so you can eat more. Plus it keeps you leaner.

Then there's the cardiovascular heath factor, ever more relevant to us older lifters.

I change my opinion about off-season cardio frequently. Currently I'm doing none.

Yet, this summer, when I wasn't doing serious bodybuilding training, I was in terrific cardio shape. I bicycled regularly, used the Stairmaster, and was doing a fast-paced weight-training program.

Yesterday, doing sets of 10 reps on deadlifts, I was breathing like a locomotive after each set. Seemed like my recovery between sets took forever.

Thinking about adding in 20 minutes of cardio 2-3 times weekly. Would probably be fast walking on an inclined treadmill.

Opinions.

[joedemarco]

I generally stay away from cardio during the off season. I stay relatively lean by just eating "clean" and lifting. Can I go out and run a 5 or 10K race right now? No f--king way...but who cares...I'm a bodybuilder. I just want to increase muscle mass in the off season, and cardio isn't going to help me do that.

By not doing any cardio for several months, I feel that my body reacts to it better when I do begin to add it in during contest prep.

...and that's my 2 cents...

[Mac]

By not doing any cardio for several months, I feel that my body reacts to it better when I do begin to add it in during contest prep.

...and that's my 2 cents...

2¢ with a million dollars of wisdom.

[Hammerfit]

I dont do any either except for the occasional 30 or 40 mile cycling.

[Mac]

I dont do any either except for the occasional 30 or 40 mile cycling.

Which seemed like your occasional was every other day. I always thought you did crazy amounts of cardio after reading your log.

[KevinCouch]

Don't do offseason cardio and I don't plan on doing precontest cardio either! I have a very fast metabolism and I realize that cardio is a must for some bb to get in shape but I would rather stay in shape all year long and concentrate on keeping as much muscle as I can during precontest phase. If I see that I maybe be behind in my prep I might add a week of cardio but that's it.
Kevin

[Hammerfit]

Which seemed like your occasional was every other day. I always thought you did crazy amounts of cardio after reading your log.

yeah I told one of my buddies I havent done cardio since august and he reminded me of the hundreds of miles I logged on the bike I know it is but I dont consider cycling cardio, it's more of a fun thing for me

I agree w Kev, though and I heard Chris Aceto say the same thing the other day. If your in good condition cardio isnt the thing that you need to depend on to get into contest condition, it's done with nutrition. Now if you're a really big guy like my client, Adam I showed the other day, you got to do cardio (lots of it) and nutrition. I got that kid doing 6 days of fasting and 3 days of post cardio while on 4 days of 40 carbs and 3 days of 100 carbs. It's all relative.

[Hammerfit]

Don't do offseason cardio and I don't plan on doing precontest cardio either! I have a very fast metabolism and I realize that cardio is a must for some bb to get in shape but I would rather stay in shape all year long and concentrate on keeping as much muscle as I can during precontest phase. If I see that I maybe be behind in my prep I might add a week of cardio but that's it.
Kevin

Yeah Kev, but ur a freakin freak! That's a good thing!

[KyMuscle]

Kevin wrote:

Don't do offseason cardio and I don't plan on doing precontest cardio either! I have a very fast metabolism

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!! :babyboy:

[Rick Prince]

I am currently weight training 4 days a week and do steady state cardio on a bike 40-80 minutes on the 3 days off from weight training.
When I go on my contest prep diet, weight training will be back to 5-6 days a week and my cardio will move from the bike to a stepper, elliptical, or treadmill on a 15 degree incline.

My metabolism is slow and if I don't keep my body fat under control during the off-season, my cardio could be as much as 3 hours a day during contest prep. A lot of muscle can be lost doing 3 hours of cardio a day.

[axioma]

cardio consists of 10 min warm-up, 10 min cool-down. I want ALL energy to go to growth. I cardioed myself into an ethiopian last year, won't make the same mistake.

I workout with enough intensity that it IS my cardio. Reading a book between sets? I am just trying to fucking breathe, coaxing myself out of tachycardia...read?

[freebirdmac]

What's cardio??? :p

[Baldiewonkanobi]

Cardio smardio. To me its the antethisis of Bodybuilding. Mmmmm maybe near contest time if then.


Baldie

[KyMuscle]

Hmmm...seems that only Rick Prince and I are the only ones who even think about doing cardio offseason.

Like Rick, I have a slow metabolism, unlike some of you freaks. For my last show, four years ago, where I reached my leanest-ever condition, I worked up to 2 hours of cardio daily. One hour first thing in the AM, one hour after dinner. Fast walking on an inclined treadmill.

Gotta wonder how much larger I might have been without all that cardio...IF I could have gotten peeled.

Thanks for the input... freaks!

[Scoobysnacks]

I was asked to give my two cents.

I used to be against it in the offseason. Figured well Im ecto I wont grow with it. BUt the problem is even though Im ecto if I push the cals anything up above 4000 mark which I need to pack on size I get "fat." At least fat for me needing a 20 week contest diet to do it right.

I now do 20-30 mins cardio with heart rate at 100bpm every morning. Its not that exhaustive by any means but it sure does make me ready for my morning grub. Its also very heart friendly.

You cant tell me 20 mins daily is gonna hurt my response time when prep starts plus Ill be 7% and ready to roll so I can diet a lot less time.

Currently Im my biggest offseason ever 192 around 7% on calipers, and im doing cardio daily albeit very slow, but it sure does allow me to eat more and Im staying very lean.

Ive also found with my offseason guys I prep that this is working well for them too they are all telling me they are leaner and bigger than they were at this time last year.

lastly, im only 33, but I need to concern myself with my heart, guys over 40 I think its even wiser to do offseason cardio.

But, this is just my two cents worth, which judging by the responses here isnt even goiing to be worth that much.

[AVBG]

^^ I am with Scooby.

[Hammerfit]

I was asked to give my two cents.

I used to be against it in the offseason. Figured well Im ecto I wont grow with it. BUt the problem is even though Im ecto if I push the cals anything up above 4000 mark which I need to pack on size I get "fat." At least fat for me needing a 20 week contest diet to do it right.

I now do 20-30 mins cardio with heart rate at 100bpm every morning. Its not that exhaustive by any means but it sure does make me ready for my morning grub. Its also very heart friendly.

You cant tell me 20 mins daily is gonna hurt my response time when prep starts plus Ill be 7% and ready to roll so I can diet a lot less time.

Currently Im my biggest offseason ever 192 around 7% on calipers, and im doing cardio daily albeit very slow, but it sure does allow me to eat more and Im staying very lean.

Ive also found with my offseason guys I prep that this is working well for them too they are all telling me they are leaner and bigger than they were at this time last year.

lastly, im only 33, but I need to concern myself with my heart, guys over 40 I think its even wiser to do offseason cardio.

But, this is just my two cents worth, which judging by the responses here isnt even goiing to be worth that much.

I dont necessarily disagree with ya, because the most important thing you said was "it works for me" I have just played around with it alot and can tell the nutrition and training as fast and as intense as possible works for me better than anything. I think you have a good plan though.

[Mac]

I now do 20-30 mins cardio with heart rate at 100bpm every morning. Its not that exhaustive by any means but it sure does make me ready for my morning grub. Its also very heart friendly.

You cant tell me 20 mins daily is gonna hurt my response time when prep starts plus Ill be 7% and ready to roll so I can diet a lot less time.



At this level, you still have some where to go to increase cardio as contest time approaches and get a response from your body. if you're doing one hour of cardio during offseason, I think that in order to effectively burn off fat pre-contest you'll have to step it up to a point where it will be catabolic to your muscle.

Having a level of cardiac fitness also enables you to train harder, so like someone else eluded to in an earlier post, their fast paced workouts is their cardio!

[mrky03]

I do hiit cardio, 3 times a week off season. I did it daily pre contest, I've done liss cardio. I not only hate it I think it makes me lose muscle. I take pre and post whey\carb shakes which I think helps also. I want to be in decent cardio shape but I don't want to look like an indurence athlete either. 16 min kick ass cardio on the recumbent bike is all I used last summer and I got in my best shape ever.

[Rick Prince]

Last off-season, I kept my calories down a bit and stayed leaner than the year before. My weight at the 2010 Alabama (176) was 7lbs heavier than in 2009 and I was much leaner.
This off-season (growth season), my plan is to take in more clean calories and stay lean with very low intensity cardio and some carb manipulation.

[Hammerfit]

Last off-season, I kept my calories down a bit and stayed leaner than the year before. My weight at the 2010 Alabama (176) was 7lbs heavier than in 2009 and I was much leaner.
This off-season (growth season), my plan is to take in more clean calories and stay lean with very low intensity cardio and some carb manipulation.

Good plan Rick, we're gonna need to be bigger to compete with the big boys in July

[daywalker72]

Don't do offseason cardio and I don't plan on doing precontest cardio either! I have a very fast metabolism and I realize that cardio is a must for some bb to get in shape but I would rather stay in shape all year long and concentrate on keeping as much muscle as I can during precontest phase. If I see that I maybe be behind in my prep I might add a week of cardio but that's it.
Kevin

fucker

[axioma]

I was asked to give my two cents.

I used to be against it in the offseason. Figured well Im ecto I wont grow with it. BUt the problem is even though Im ecto if I push the cals anything up above 4000 mark which I need to pack on size I get "fat." At least fat for me needing a 20 week contest diet to do it right.

I now do 20-30 mins cardio with heart rate at 100bpm every morning. Its not that exhaustive by any means but it sure does make me ready for my morning grub. Its also very heart friendly.

You cant tell me 20 mins daily is gonna hurt my response time when prep starts plus Ill be 7% and ready to roll so I can diet a lot less time.

Currently Im my biggest offseason ever 192 around 7% on calipers, and im doing cardio daily albeit very slow, but it sure does allow me to eat more and Im staying very lean.

Ive also found with my offseason guys I prep that this is working well for them too they are all telling me they are leaner and bigger than they were at this time last year.

lastly, im only 33, but I need to concern myself with my heart, guys over 40 I think its even wiser to do offseason cardio.

But, this is just my two cents worth, which judging by the responses here isnt even goiing to be worth that much.

Thanks for stopping by.

[axioma]

^^ I am with Scooby.

^^ditto.

[JoeB8962]

I can lose weight by just thinking bout it! No cardio for me!!

[mrky03]

When I was younger I did zero cardio. I still think doing the least amount nessasary is the way to go. I would waste away for sure if I started doing the amount that I read some people are doing!

[HeavyDutyGuy]

Generally not a fan- but doing so much walking to get between buses and places I need to go- I now whip off two miles like I was taking out the trash. Dont ask me about my squat and deadlift now though :(. Once we get a car again, will go into full bore ignore cardio mode for at least 6 months- I will have done my time!