Why triple cardio sessions before competition?

[feelingreat]

I've been reading a book that states, weightlifting increases your metabolism over the next 48 hours which increases your fat loss. I'm a definite believer in this.
The book also states that doing cardio increases calories burned however only increases your metabolism over the next half hour, which in essence really does not decrease your fat loss, which is what most women want.
My questions are:
why then do bodybuilders, close to competition time, increase their cardio workout like crazy if they're trying to get rid of the fat when weight lifting is really the only way to get rid of fat. AND
What does burning calories have to do with burning fat? How does that all work?

 

[nikkita]

close to competition cardio is not only for burning fat, but for getting rid of excess toxins which are contained in the sweat and reduce overall water retention if any... because in competition the aim is to get as lean and cut as possible.

 

[nikkita]

by the way, on contest preparation a competitor gets rid of the fat by different changes in diet and manipulation of carbs and fat.

 

[vachelle72]

I am not a competitor but I do know that Cardio done consistently and with intensity will always burn fat and calories , but the "burn" from cardio is not as long lasting as the "burn" from weight lifting.

For ease of numbers let's say that you can walk at an intense pace on the treadmill for 30 minutes and burn 300 cals. Say you take the same 30 minutes and lift , well you might only burn 150 calories in those 30 minutes , but the burn will continue hours after training , and accumulate to 300 + more calories. As an example last night I took a 40 minute kickboxing class and my heart monitor clocked 618 calories burned. You couldn't do that in 40 min of lifting. So it is really a matter of time.

If a competitor needs to drop weight for a comp , they can knock it out quickly by ramping up the cardio , instead of weighting days for the muscle to do it.

Plus , usually the amount someone has to eat to put on enough muscle to be competitive , there will always be excess fat that can not be burned off by lifting alone.

Combining lifting and cardio is really the way to go for the average healthy individual.

 

[Daisy_Girl]

Plus , usually the amount someone has to eat to put on enough muscle to be competitive , there will always be excess fat that can not be burned off by lifting alone.

A copmpetition diet is comprised of foods that rarely cause fat gain. This is why they are called CLEAN DIETS. Excess calories cause fat gain. And a competition cutting diet is NOT one that causes fat gain. True, competitors eat often (6-8x a day) but the foods are VERY clean and unprocessed.

Eating to PUT ON muscle is done months before the competition. It is a different animal than pre-competition training

 

[vachelle72]

OK Daisy , you have taken what I said out of context. You seem to be very sensitive and angry!

It seems you only regard one opinion , yours.

 

[superqt4u2nv]

OK Daisy , you have taken what I said out of context. You seem to be very sensitive and angry!

It seems you only regard one opinion , yours.

Are you joking???

This is not opnion this is cold hard facts about body building.

 

[Daisy_Girl]

OK Daisy , you have taken what I said out of context. You seem to be very sensitive and angry!

It seems you only regard one opinion , yours.

OMG you are fucking kidding me right? What a fucking joke!

 

[Sassy69]

Dependign on where you are coming from and how far out from your comp you are, there are several phases to a competition diet. More cals may be appropriate further out but generally you want to keep the amount of fat gain very very limited.

Cardio has a place in competition prep, again depending on where you are coming from and how far out you are. My training partner was doign 3 1 hr cardio sessions/day for the last few days this week for her show tomorrow -- this is primarily to pull out as much water as possible. Up until that its been 2 x 1 hr cardio /day. Personaly I'd normally say this is excessive, but again depends on your program and where you are coming from and also how it all fits together w/ your diet.

As Daisy said, eating for muscle building really needs to be done further out than say 3-4 months out from a show, or "off season". THere is a point where the diet you do simply cannot support muscle building any more and you begin cutting and / or shaping for whatever is your competition goal.