Cardio…
Some Love It… Some Hate It…
But regardless of how you feel, it’s a must in order to get ultra lean and ripped.
Practically every bodybuilder and fitness competitor that I know of does cardio (and lots of it) in order to get ripped for competition.
Even though cardio works great for burning bodyfat, you run the risk of also burning up some of your hard earned muscle mass in the process. During cardio your body not only burns fat for fuel, but it can also dip into your skeletal muscle tissue and use it as a source of easily accessible Amino Acids to help fuel your exercise efforts.
This is definitely something we do NOT want to happen. This is why you often see folks who do excessive cardio training looking flat, scrawny, and stringy… NOT the look you’re after if you are training to be a bodybuilder. You want to have a big, full, and defined physique – Not skinny and flat looking.
So how do we overcome this dilemma?
Simple…
Just take a serving of Branched Chain Amino Acids before you do your cardio workout.
Research has shown that taking Branched Chain Amino Acids can keep you anabolic even while you do cardio! In fact, supplementing with BCAA’s has been shown to increase protein synthesis by 33% while at the same time decreasing catabolism.
What I suggest you do is take a serving of BCAA’s right BEFORE you start your cardio workout. And another serving right AFTER you finish your cardio workout.
If you are going to do an Extra Long cardio session (1 hour or more) you can even take a serving of BCAA’s right in the middle to help keep your body in an anabolic state.
It’s OK to take several servings of BCAA’s like this because they are basically just super fast absorbing protein that gets easily and rapidly used by your working muscles. Rather than breaking down your hard earned muscle tissue, your body will use the BCAA’s instead…
Helping to keep you in a more anabolic state!
You can (and should) also use this BCAA’s supplement trick with your weight training workouts as well. It will work wonders for keeping your body in an anabolic state and maximizing your muscle gains during any type of exercise or activity – Be it cardio, weight training, or playing sports.
68 Comments
Comment navigation
Rodrigo
Lee I want to build strength and size I started doing cardio because I feel like its holding me back from making strength Gains and all that I hear cardio increases red blood cells and all that do you know any other benefits why we should do cardio no matter what?
Kevin
Awesome Lee…Quick tip, add Glutmaine to your BCAAS as well (they act synergistically) BCAAs are the most UNDERRATED supplement. Period. So underrated I made a video on them. Check it out and let me know what you think if anyone’s interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26CtyRFJRP8&list=UU7fXsSKjgpd2M5rqipplg6g&index=22&feature=plcp
Personal Trainer Mumbai
Thanks for Info Lee!
Fernando
Hi Lee.
This is really good information. Usually I do my cardio (10 minutes) right after my weight training. I also drink BCAA’s during my training so I think I’m doing the right thing here 🙂
Keep coming with this useful information.
Priceless!!
Robert Valdes
Great info Lee. Been withyou a few years now and love your products. Bobby Valdes on Facebook. Will post you info. 🙂
Alex
I take a mix of BCAA’s, Glutamine and Vitamine B6 during my workouts and cardio and the recovery is amazing..
What do you advise as a post cardio shake ? just protein, also carbs or none ?
What about the post workout shake on a cutting phase, should i have carbs or not ?
Keep up the good work !!
Thx
mike
YOU HAVE JUST PROVEN US RIGHT.
PROMOTING EXPENSIVE SUPPLEMENTS BY THE
HANDFUL,FOR YOUR FINICIAL GAINS.
SEEMS LIKE YOU HAVE STRAYED FROM YOUR
ORIGINAL GOALS OF HELPING PEOPLE.
WE’LL TAKE EVERYTHING YOU SAY,WITH A TON
OF SALT FROM NOW ON.
PROMOTING POWDERS AND PILLS WITH
ALL KINDS OF CRAP IN THEM.
HAVE YOU NO CONSCIOUS ?
jb
i hope he is concious its his concience im worried about
Julio
Sounds like good advice, Lee! How much bcaa’s would you recommend for a person already taking a pre-workout and whey shake (with bcaa’s) post workout?
mike
jb,
thanks for the word correction.we will not buy anything he recommends.
Peter
Woah woah easy guys. If im not mistaken the company shown is hos friends? And he recommeds it. Hea not shuving it down your throat to buy it. And the advice is solid bcaas for cardio or weight training is great to help preserve muscle. I use high amounts of it when i cut. Many do. Hes not promoting anything but a good supplement to make solid fat loss and muscle gains.
Amit
Thanx Sir for ur emails im daily read ur emails & folowing them.
Sold Out
Hmmm! What a sell out. But he’s got to afford all those holidays and petrol guzzling muscle cars he’s always bragging about hasn’t he. It’s a real shame he can’t apply some of that energy and drive he has towards an ethical and sustainable lifestyle. But with your ego driven types it’s all me me me and ***k the consequences to other people and our environment – it’s/we’re all ripe for exploitation. Interesting play on words there mistakenly or not – no I don’t think he’s what you’d refer to as a conscious being! But I’m hoping he’ll be questioning his conscience now.
Mat
Wow guys, no need to get all butt-hurt, and get your mushroom tip stuck in your zipper, its just advice, you can always do whatever the fuck you wanna do!
Michael Pearson
Lee,
It never ceases to amaze me how quickly people can be critical. BCAA’s have been used for a long time with proven success, but when you bring it to the forefront for the less informed, you are accused of doing it for profit.
Why don’t folks just use the information you provide if it is useful, and disregard what they don’t need? We all have to make a living, and touting a product you believe in will make a difference in a persons training is perfectly acceptable. Do people realize how much value you distribute for free? Videos and articles take precious time to produce, and you share them constantly for free.
With that being said, your honesty and integrity will always be challenged by the few. Just keep up what you are doing and share your knowledge and wisdom with those who actually want to learn and will use it to make gains.
BladeBla
Sell out or not & you boys make a few excellent points but that doesnt mean the advice is useless .
Dave
Lee I have found people like the ones below that are talking $hit because of the supplements you talk about will never make real progress. Supplements dont replace hard work, as much as people want to believe. On top of that, BCAA’s are CHEAP considering everything else that is out there. I like your thoughts on BCAA’s. In fact you are the second to recommend them to me in the last two days, and the first time was a recommendation from a powerlifter friend of mine going for a world record in March. I HATE buying supplements, but I will be buying BCAA’s based on my goals. Keep it up Lee!!
Thomas J Ahern(Irish)
I take L-Glutamine daily! As far as I know,it keeps the Amino Acids replaced.I may be wrong but
that’s just my idea.I’m 68yrs of age & I have been doing it for yrs.I’m also a recovering Alcoholic(19 1/2 yrs.That may have nothing to do with it. Thomas J Ahern(Irish) (I include the Irish because that’s my nickname & many people have no idea who TJA is!)
Mike from Camrose
Thanks for the excellent tip Lee. This just reinforces what I have heard many times before regarding BCAA’s and cardio. It seems to me that even though BCAA’s have been available for a long time they are just now starting to get the attention they deserve. What dose size would you recommend for a 200lb guy?
Tom
ok, little boys. I bet Lee doesn’t even make enough off of these to cover the cost of his website. I’ll also bet that he’s taking out of his own pocket to try and help people out.
as for the gas guzzling muscle car, a new camaro ss get better gas mileage than the average vehicle on the road. it’s not uncommon for them to approach 30mpg on the highway.
why all of the hate on someone who is working their ass off to better themself AND others in the process??? like they say….behind every sucessfull person is a pack of haters.
shr3dfr3ak
Not being funny but how has Lee strayed from his goal of helping people? he’s giving out useful information regarding fatloss whilst not losing muscle, what supplement is scientifically proven to help with this & and a link to purchase it saving you the hassle of finding it yourself! yes, he is probably making a bit of money to promote it but it also costs Lee money to get the useful info he shares into your inbox everyday!! you wouldn’t expect any of your local personal trainers to give you all this advice for absolutely nothing, would you??? as for the expensive product comment, high quality BCAA’s are going to come at a reasonably high price wherever you go to get them! high quality = high price! simples!!!
Mark
I use BCAAs while lifting but never thought to use them for my cardio workouts. Thanks for the info, Lee.
BladeBla
Take into account that they are young & are in Need/Want & are more than likely near breaking point with frustration .
Lee has to look at himself & how he does things .
If he believes in pre & post workout nutrition & most of us know that he he does & he is recommending a drink or powder he himself is using then that is one thing but if he is insulting our intelligence & pimping out whatever will give him the most return then that is another thing .
Lee needs the young lads to criticize him to keep him from becoming a complete obnoxious PR*CK because his ego has ran away with his delusion & his wee bit ov status & success has gone to his head .
“Everybody is stupid but me” wears thin quick & the boys are lettin him know it .
Dustin
A poor-man’s version of taking BCAA would be to use whey protein. (Quarter scoop to half a scoop.) Whey protein powder, purchased from online stores (or places like Costco) provides some of the cheapest protein/BCAAs around.
leehayward
========================
I personally believe in doing at least 3 cardio sessions per week, all year round. Regardless if your goal is gaining muscular bodyweight or losing bodyfat. Cardio will help improve your endurance, improve circulation, speed up your recovery, etc. It’s an important part of your Total Fitness Bodybuilding routine.
leehayward
=====================
I agree totally…
The key to getting the best bang for your buck with amino acids is using them when your body NEEDS them (i.e. before, during and after exercise). This will help keep your body in an anabolic state and aid with recovery and muscle growth.
leehayward
====================
It depends on how intense your cardio training is…
If you are just doing an easy to moderate intensity cardio workout then simply taking some BCAA’s will be plenty. Then afterwards have a solid food meal. But if you are doing a high intensity cardio workout you can have “pre/post workout supplements” just like you would for weight training.
In my case I’ll usually do cardio before breakfast. So I get up take my ephedrine & caffeine stack along with some BCAA’s and do my cardio (i.e. walking, jogging, biking, etc.). Then when I get home I’ll eat my breakfast which is usually a bowl of oatmeal with protein powder mixed in with it.
leehayward
==================
Glutamine is a great supplement and I also use it myself as well. But it’s the Branched Chain Amino Acids (leucine, isoleucine, and valine) that are mostly broken down during strenuous exercise. So if you can have those amino acids stocked up and in the body during exercise you won’t have to resort to burning up muscle tissue, rather your body can use the BCAA’s that you consumed to fuel your training.
leehayward
========================
Most BCAA products have recommendations on the labels that you should follow. But a rough guideline would be to take 5 grams for every 30 minutes of exercise. So if you are working out for an hour, take 5 grams before and 5 grams in the middle. You can also get amino acid drink mixes that you can mix with water and sip on during your entire workout which will basically accomplish the same thing.
leehayward
Now for the point you’ve all been waiting for… Please take a minute and read through the comments above (if you haven’t already done so). Most of them were simply questions about the suggestions given in blog post above, which is totally normal and to be expected.
But I really stepped on some toes here with this one and offended some people with my recommendation of taking BCAA’s when doing cardio. I admit that I didn’t see that one coming, but it makes for some interesting discussion non-the-less.
“Lee is a Sell Out…”
“Lee doesn’t care about helping people…”
“Lee doesn’t have a conscience…”
“Lee is ego driven and it’s all me me me and ***k the consequences to other people…”
Again, read through the comments. It’s all there…
Now obviously the easiest thing for me to do would be to just delete the negative comments and move on. After all, why dwell on all the negative things in life. I could easily ignore them and just focus on the positive comments and respond to the folks who actually felt they benefited from the advice that I shared.
But I’m NOT going to do that. I’m going to leave these comments up, I want to let everyone read them, because this has inspired me to cover this topic in more detail. In fact, the discussion of this topic in detail will be my next blog post.
Ross
Dave,
BCAAs are cheap?! lol definitely NOT!
Peter
….well what f#cking brand are you buying!? I cant get a tub of 100 servings for roughly 20 dollars if not less. Bcaas are dirt cheap compared to any oter supplement
Diego
I’ve noticed I’m getting somewhat of a potbelly so I’m going to start with cardio and put this to use
cup off coffee with protein plus glutamine and BCAAs.
Derek C.
Ross,
I wouldn’t say they are expensive. Just gotta buy smart. I use truenutrition.com, they’ve got a 30 serving for around $15.00. I do workouts every other day and take them preworkout. So a 30 serving supply lasts me almost two months. Now if you workout every day and take them before and after your workouts thats a different story. Thanks Lee for the good info!
Dave
Ross,
Pure BCAA’s, with nothing else. I just googled it, see for yourself. 17 bucks for a months suppy online. from Optimum Niutrition. dumbass.
aaron
Hey lee, I have a bit of a problem. Becouse I’m training for the army which means that I need to work on my cardio alot, but Becouse of that I have had to put bodybuilding on hold. And I have lost a lot of muscle mass. How do I prevent this from happening any further? Also I dont have a lot of spare money, so buying supplements has also been an issue!
Alex
leehayward,
Thx 4 the help Lee 😉
Could you just please tell me if you use, or how much you use, simple carbs post workout on a cutting phase ?
I’m now starting to cut and i really dont know.. i have cut before without carbs PW but my recovery was really slow and my next workout would suck, whats your oppinion on this, will the carbs stop the fat burning and EPOC ?
As for the hatters, i really think you should keep the posts, so we can have a good laugh with them, and just ignore them, you know exactly how many of us respect your info and your lifestyle, BCAA’s are the most important suplement of all, if i could just buy one suplement it would be BCAA’s.. so your advice is as solid as it can be..
Keep it up !!
Thx
leehayward
===================
Aaron I wish I had a good answer for this, but I don’t…
The type of training you do in the army is going to be geared more to conditioning and muscular endurance. Now you can still build an awesome physique that’s in great shape and one that most people would LOVE to have. But it’s not the ideal situation for bulking up, gaining muscular bodyweight, and developing a big thick bodybuilder physique. Most people I know who go through military training end up losing weight. It’s very rare to see people actually “bulk up” and get bigger with the high volume conditioning training that they do. And I think if you were to ask the guys you know personally in the military that they would agree.
leehayward
================
It depends on what phase you are in during your fat loss program. If you are just starting to lose fat then you can keep simple carbs in your post workout shakes and still lose fat. I recommend that people try to lose fat on as high of calories as they can, and only make changes as your fat loss progress starts to plateau. Don’t start off depleting yourself right from the start. If you start off on a very low calorie / low carb diet right from the start what are you going to transition into once your results start to plateau?
In my case, post workout carbs are one of the last things I’ll cut out and only in the final phases before a bodybuilding competition. But I’ll get my bodyfat percentage down into the single digits and have visible abs well before cutting out post workout carbs.
leehayward
Note:
This comment is in response to everyone who got upset with my post and amino acid recommendations above.
======================
I was just skimming through some of my older blog posts and I found this one in particular:
https://leehayward.com/blog/is-blast-your-bench-a-scam
Granted this particular post focuses on just one of my programs in particular, The “Blast Your Bench” program, but the info I wrote in reply to the negative mail I got about that program, it could also apply to any one of the programs or products that I recommend here on my website.
So for those people who feel that I’m out to scam the world and that I’m a sell out who doesn’t care about helping people, or that I don’t have a conscience, or whatever negative things you wish to say about me… I would recommend that you read that blog post above.
And if after reading that you still feel that I’m trying to cause you more harm then good, so be it. Let’s just agree to disagree and go our separate ways. But please keep in mind that you are here on my website on your own free will. No body has forced you to come here. You are allowed to leave this page, you are allowed to un-subscribe from my e-mails, un-subscribe from my YouTube channel, and un-friend me from facebook, or whatever.
In the mean time I’ll still be here offering help and advice to anyone who wants it and appreciates it.
leehayward
===============
I’m confused, I really am… Can you explain where your comments are coming from?
To the best of my knowledge I posted a tip about how taking amino acids during cardio can help prevent muscle loss. And I provided a link to where one can purchase amino acids if they desire to do so.
How has this caused my ego to run away with his delusion and cause my wee bit of status & success to go my head?
And when did I imply that “Everybody is stupid but me” to the point of it wearing thin?
If you could provide some clarification on your comments that would help me understand where you are coming from and what you feel I’m doing wrong…
Alex
leehayward,
Will do, thx again 😉
Please dont waste your time with these haters, they dont know shit about bodybuilding, period..
Everibody needs to support their family and you have a legal and decent bussiness, of wich i think you should be proud of..
I have never seen you advertise anything that doesnt work and many times i have seen you going against the tide in order to make things clear..
Answering haters or even wasting a second of your life worrying about them is givng them the power they shouldnt have..
Keep doing what you do best, theres a lot of us who support and trully respect your work !!!
Martin
Hi Lee,
I’m the first to admit that I’m incredibly skeptical of anything supplement companies push these days, after blowing literally thousands of dollars on supplements in my younger days, today I only use products that are proven ie: Whey protein, creatine, caffeine.
I think its justifies to be skeptical seeing that most, if not all, supplement companies still use steroid using models to promote their products. I have nothing against someone if they choose to use steroids, I just think its very misleading and unethical to imply that you will get results from product X and look like our spokesperson if you use product Y, when in reality the spokesperson is on steroids or HGH etc.
You mention in your article that:
“Research has shown that taking Branched Chain Amino Acids can keep you anabolic even while you do cardio! In fact, supplementing with BCAA’s has been shown to increase protein synthesis by 33% while at the same time decreasing catabolism.”
Perhaps in a future article you could prove a link to the references for this research, I probably try and get round to looking for it myself but may not find the particular study you are talking about.
If indeed the research is solid, I’ll add BCAA’s to my list of supplements, otherwise, my cash stays with me.
Thanks for all the great information you provide.
leehayward
Alex,
Thanks for the comments Alex, it’s always nice to know that the time and effort I put into doing this is appreciated by some people 🙂
leehayward
Martin,
I’ve got a link to good study that you should check out at:
http://jn.nutrition.org/content/136/2/538S.full
Tony J
I thought I was the only one sticking to cardio! Thanks for the support.
Tony J
leehayward,
Thanks, good info. here.
Alexander
For all you jerks bashing Lee saying he is greedy etc are just being silly. I have asked Lee several questions on his you tube channel. He has taken the time to answer mine and many many others newbie questions that probably would of taken us 5 mins to search for the answer. Now most people would just ignore them, or give the generic do a search. Fricking eh man what a greedy bastard taking the time out of his day to answer 100s of questions a day. Even worse is he takes the time to run this website and make all these free videos on you tube showing us tips and tricks for food, lifting, and other things.
Also blue star is very high quality stuff. I personally wish I could afford there protein, but I can’t at the moment. I do however take the omega 3s, and creatine. My gains have probably tripled since I made the switch to blue star creatine from walmart stuff. You can find cheaper alternatives but in my opinion $40 for 100 servings is not terrible,
Normally I don’t post on boards or anything. I just hope you bozos know how silly you look bashing on a guy that helps people everyday for free. How much did you pay to read this blog post? According to you guys he shouldn’t even recommend we go to the gym since that costs money.
deathangl13
@sold out- does every subject have to turn into a gay liberal political ideology? Why are liberal tree hugging nazis not practicing their favorite act of abortion at an accelerated rate for the betterment of society? Move to Iran or North Korea… you’d fit in much better, and be happier. Or just abort yourself with a Glock.
Scott
leehayward,
Keep up the good work Lee, many are thankful for the help you give!
Comment navigation