Best cardio when cutting

LDU

New Member
Just starting a cut, previous ive never used cardio alot when cutting.

Ive searched around but find arguments for all types of cradio as to why they are better.

Which is the best for cutting?

High intensity?
High intensity interval training
low intensity?

there the 3 most common types ive found researching online.

Thanks
 
The best cardio is walking at a comfortable pace, or anything that relaxes you, without tearing up your joints. Cardio in and of itself does not burn enough calories to warrant its muscle wasting and joint destroying effects. The values shown on exercise equipment are an absolute joke. I am almost 50 years old, hypo-thyroid, and stay at 9 to 12 % BF all year with zero cardio. It is very easy to out eat any exercise program.
 
I'd add to that, whatever fits best in your schedule. The point of cardio is cardiovascular fitness. Using cardio to add to your calorie defecit would really only help if you were an elite athlete, regular people are better served with stricter portion control and resistance training to lose as little muscle as possible while losing weight overall.
 
Thanks for both your replies,

Im aware that calorie deficit is the most important part of cutting. My previous cut was successful, you can see results in my trainig log as the first picture.
That cut was done with only a couple of cardio sessions, i though maybe adding regular cardio would add to a better result at the end of the cut.

Thanks
 
Probably the only thing that may make a difference is fat mobilization and thermic effect of protein. These are all secondary in effect compared to maintaining a calorie deficit, so when you've dialed that in, you can try taking advantage of fat mobilization and thermic effect of protein.

Basically, fat mobilization (breakdown of fat to be used as energy) only happens when most other energy sources have been depleted (in order, they would be mostly carbs then proteins in the bloodstream way before the body thinks of breaking down fat). Some people have tried to take advantage of this by doing their cardio in the morning, before filling up the gas tank so to speak, in order to encourage the body to stimulate hydrolysis of triglycerides to fatty acids &glycerol. This doesn't have to be done in the morning, any time that no other energy source is available, fat mobilization happens, but in a usual day, people are filled with enough carbs to last a normal cardio session that fat mobilization never happens, so the rationale behind "doing it first thing in the morning" is that it will take less time to achieve fat mobilization, as there should be far less carbs and proteins available when you have just woken up.

Thermic effect of food is the energy expenditure for processing food. Macronutrients have different thermic effects - fats are easiest to process (low thermic effect) while proteins are the hardest to process (high thermic effect). Fats have more calories per gram AND are easiest to process (low thermic effect), which means for each calorie you get from it (and that contributes to your maintenance calorie target), your body expends the least energy. Protein and carbs have the same calories per gram, but protein is harder to process, so for each calorie you get from protein, your body expends more energy. Ideally, then, exploiting the thermic effect of food means achieving your calorie targets by adjusting your macronutrient ratio to include as much protein and as little fat as possible.

I personally do not bother using both. I simply dial in my calorie targets and leave it at that. Since you asked, however, those two are the items I remember that may be of use to you.
 
cardio vs no cardio

Just starting a cut, previous ive never used cardio alot when cutting.

Ive searched around but find arguments for all types of cradio as to why they are better.

Which is the best for cutting?

High intensity?
High intensity interval training
low intensity?

there the 3 most common types i've found researching online.

Thanks

Any cardio that you do is going to reduce the anabolic environment within the muscle groups used for cardio. This has to do with the depletion of energy within those muscle cells and the increase in fat oxidation within the same (i.e. AMPk activity). The rest of your muscle groups should not be effected by the cardio so it's not that cardio in general will make you shrink.

I think if its really a matter of burning additional calories any of the three types you mentioned will probably give the same result. If you are not "cut out" for cardio, none of them will be enjoyable. ;)

Either way, I would suggest you use a Polar watch or some other heart rate monitor to watch your calorie count. Go by how many calories you burn, not by the clock. If you are going to count calories going in, you are better off counting them burning off for a true sense of what you are accomplishing.
 
thanks for all your replies.

After considering options im going to add in cardio for approximatley 300 calories worth of exercise IF weight loss stalls, 3 times a week. Currently at 2500-2700 per day, maintenance around 3000. Currently lost 2lbs, 2weeks.
 
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