HighIntensity.net View Mike Mentzer Bodybuilding Topic

What cardio do people do? Val what cardio do you recommend on top of some increased volume and shaping exercises for more muscle maturity?

Well, IIRC Mentzer says that cardio makes inroads into the recovery process, If you are lifting to failure and allowing for proper recovery and growth periods you will be burning enough calories (assuming your consumption is less than what you burn) to reduce fat while at the same time increasing muscle mass.

I choose to go against Mentzer′s philosophy just because I am a rugby player, and as you might guess. I have to run at times.

Yeah, cardio really isn′t necessary for any aspect of HIT. If you want to get more ripped and shaped just lower your calorie intake to less than your maintenance level. In other words, eat less, and your body will be forced to burn the fat. Remember it takes about 10 hours of cardio to burn of one pound of fat so if losing fat is what you′re after cardio is not the most effective way. Not only that, but as Golgo mentioned, doing cardio also dips into your recovery reserves leaving that much less for muscle recovery and growth.

As far as "muscle maturity" is concerned, that is a term that may mean different things to different people. I think what people are refering to when they say "mature looking muscle" is that the muscle has the ideal shape and is well defined. You may want to try an all dumbell workout for a while that is mostly made up of isolation exercises that hit different angles of the same muscle, but dont go crazy with the volume. You may be able to do a little more volume but no need to do multiple sets of the same exercise. In my opinion if you are just wanting to get really ripped and shaped a little overtraining may not be so bad, just don′t take it to the extreme (my personal rule when getting ripped is no more than 3 sets per bodypart, which is overtraining). Remember you probably wont see strength or mass increases, but then again that isn′t what you are looking for by the sound of it.

One thing to point out, from someone who has done abbreviated training for YEARS. Do SOME kind of conditioning work, it′s easy to lose it training infrequently.
I′ll risk not gaining an ounce of muscle so I can keep my heart in shape and "me" feeling more vigorous. 🙂

Az

I personally don′t do any scheduled aerobics. If I feel like taking a walk or something spontaneously, I will. There are many people that have never done much aerobics in their lives who live to be 100 years of age. I think it is HIGHLY overrated when it comes to health. Your best bet is to stay away unless it keeps you happy.

Darrell