Cardio or Harder Dieting, which is more effective for fat loss?

[Swole_2112]

I was talking to a friend of mind at the gym the other day. He said that when preparing for a show, he thought it was more beneficial to avoid cardio until the last three weeks before the show. He reasoning was that cardio promotes too much muscle loss (catabolism). I told him I thought that cardio should be done much earlier. My reasoning being that cardio allows one to continue consuming more muscle sparing nutrients while still losing fat. Anybody have any thoughts on this?

[ChuckLee]

I vote for strict dieting for sure.

[cranny]

I would have to say both of them together would be best. But if you only did one of them it would have to be diet. Some people can get away w/ this and others like me cannot. Cardio is a must when cutting for me.
As far as preparing for a show I would assume you would be running some type of gear while cutting. There shouldn't be any muscle loss if you're running an AAS provided you're not doing insane amounts of cardio.

[dubdubs]

I vote for both.. I need both to cut and tighten up. You know us women and those lovely hams.

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr :treadmill::treadmill::treadmill:

[TAZ]

I would have to say both of them together would be best. But if you only did one of them it would have to be diet. Some people can get away w/ this and others like me cannot. Cardio is a must when cutting for me.
As far as preparing for a show I would assume you would be running some type of gear while cutting. There shouldn't be any muscle loss if you're running an AAS provided you're not doing insane amounts of cardio.

I agree there are a few guys that can pull off the little to no cardio deal but not many. Being an endomorph I have better results by keeping the protein high and using upping the cardio.

-TAZ

[navalgazer]

depends on the person

i would see how far i could go on hard core diet and leave room for the cadio to pull up any slack the diet may leave

[jenscats5]

Depends on the person, I agree.....not everyone has the metabolism to be able to skip the cardio part.....

[Ulter]

You really have to just find out for yourself what works best. I know guys that win and NEVER do cardio. Others can't get away with that.

[J. Adams]

Strict dieting will always beat cardio in the long run.

[JG1]

diet is the cake, cardio is just the icing

[drrman]

if i were going to pick which one was most important to making me look the way i want i'd say diet, but NOTHING compares to the combo, i see no reason why one wouldn't want to do at least a little cardio even if just to take it a step further even if they don't think they need it

[dubdubs]

In the past I experienced nice gains and some loss with intense weight lifting, but I didn't get 6 pack lean till I really stepped up the cardio. As my coach told me Diet is the key factor in making any progress, its your fuel for your output. So if you eat like crap you train like it.. He did keep spiking the cardio on me for contest prep to cut cut cut.

These days, I don't do full blown hours of cardio like I used to when prepping, but it actually is a staple in my workouts and just makes me feel good :treadmill:

[sassy69]

Strict dieting will always beat cardio in the long run.

Depends - there's a point where cutting your diet down any further would be catabolic. Both are a must for me, but cardio is what makes me contest ready - otherwise there is simply no way. And for me not just 1 cardio session - it MUST be 2x /day.

[jagerbombme]

+1 1Xed at 1 hour = less results than 2Xed at 1/2 hour each

[JayC]

Ditto both, of course... but for me Cardio is key. I'm not a bodybuilder though ;) When I'd cut for wrestling or fighting, I did much better when increasing the cardio.. then better endurance was a bonus as well. I also feel the fat/cal burning lasted longer when increasing cardio.

[MR. BMJ]

Well I know this......

a.) Either cut back calories and do a little cardio. NOT excessive cardio.

or,

b.) Do not debit calories too much frommaintenance, and add in more cardio time.

You start doing too much of both (too few calories coupled with tons of cardio), you are gonna end up being disappointed after a few weeks with nowhere else to go for alternatives.

As for which way is better....that will vary individual to individual imo. No right way, just need to find what works best for you.

I like my protein high with a small debit in calories coupled with cardio at small amounts and then increasing as the weeks go by. If I need to dip my calories low for the final 2-3 weeks of cutting, then I have can do it at the end if need be.

BMJ
:bmj:

[IFBB PRO]

I would def not follow this guys advice, who would start cardio 3 weeks out, unless you just did a show a month before and was allready contest ready. That would be the only exception diet alone wont cut nothing and youl get smaller muscle wise even on gear

[JoeD]

Slightly off topic but I hate when people cut out cardio whether you're a bb-er/powerbuilder/powerlifter. Being in shape helps you recover quicker and handle more volume and get more gains. There are a handful of people who screw themselves out of gains because they don't have the preparedness to hang through a hard workout. The cardio is muscle burning is thought is EXTREMELY over stated by BB-ers and probably made up in some stupid mag like flex.

My vote goes to diet for being the better for fat loss but both is needed.

[cranny]

You start doing too much of both (too few calories coupled with tons of cardio), you are gonna end up being disappointed after a few weeks with nowhere else to go for alternatives.

BMJ
:bmj:

You just described my last feeble attempt at a comp. bro. I learned this the hard way.

[sassy69]

I would def not follow this guys advice, who would start cardio 3 weeks out, unless you just did a show a month before and was allready contest ready. That would be the only exception diet alone wont cut nothing and youl get smaller muscle wise even on gear

Not to mention conditioning - if you are looking to start up w/ an amount of cardio while you are nearing depletion stage already and you aren't conditioned for it, you're going to suffer. IMO you can condition for any amount of cardio but you have to be consistent w/ it - if you start slow & build, you have the base to do the more aggressive as you get closer - if you don't , then you don't. If I've been on my ass for a while (e.g. post foot surgery), it takes me a week just to get to the point where I can comfortably do 20-30 min of cardio again.

[matt_t2004]

If I had to pick one it would definatley be diet. Diet is probably about 80% of your results when it comes to cutting. You can train till your blue in the face and not go anywhere if your diet is bad. However I think that they should be unified for optimal results.

[KKAZ]

diet is the cake, cardio is just the icing

YUMMY.