The TSPA diet AND exercise program specifically tailored to burn fat at an accelerated speed for those who are dead set on seeing their abs.

Hey, we all have 6 pack abs, but some just can’t see theirs! HAHAHA

For us newbies to your site, you should post links to this THT training whenever you mention it. I’m looking it up right now… now I see that it’s your eBook. Might have to check it out when I’m done with my new 5×5 program. Cheers

Mark, I do agree with all your points mentioned above. Very good article! However, point number four kind of struck my attention and actually was the main reason for me to write a comment. Ok, I do agree that after a certain time you shouldn’t be training on a beginner’s routine anymore. The kind of routine you mentioned isn’t neccesarily a beginner type routine, though.
My friends and I have been on a 3 day 2 sets per bodypart routine since a year now and we have made terrific progress compared to the people only training one muscle group each day and rest for a week. There are many reasons that speak for our type of training. I’m not saying that THT is bad, it just wasn’t as effective for us as our routine.
So after all what truly counts is having a good foundation (which you built up probably through squatting 6x/week :-D) and incorporating progressive overload. Add solid nutrition into the equation and your body has no other option than to grow.

Well, that’s it from me.
Sorry for my long comment 🙂
Dorian

I mean, for some of us, certain cardio programs might be catabolic. And others of us might find (for various reasons, most likely to include the timing and diet) that cardio isn’t catabolic for us?

As a shameless self-plug, my site is really focused on the issues of bodybuilders/strength trainers who enjoy running (e.g. https://worldfitnessnetwork.com/2009/04/85-reasons-runners-need-to-lift-heavy-stuff/ ).

This cardio debate will last longer than all of us, I’m sure! So do what you love, as long as you are happy with the results you are getting.

Alright, I will concede that the point of comparison between marathon and bodybuilding is not very well drawn.

What I mainly was refuting was that cardio CAN cause catabolism and yes, it might very well be due to the reasons you stated: low carbs(aka readily available glycogen), insufficient food, overtraining (too frequent), etc.

I’ll do what you suggested… I’ll read around more than just a link or two. But I still think that cardio is good only for blood and heart health and for muscle building only good for warmup so as to promote blood flow, delivery of oxygen, flushing of lactic acid, etc.

But, despite my previous assertion, I’ll read around.

Have you seen a marathon runner???? They have no muscle mass because after all the glycogen and fat energy is consumed, muscle is broken down for energy. If you show me a marathon runner as big as Arnold then I’ll believe it.

When you want to build muscle – BUILD MUSCLE.
When you want to lose fat – add some cardio.

Cardio doesn’t build muscle so why bother?
4 – 5 intense weight-training sessions per week, every week, WILL improve general fitness. Will you become a superfit marathon runner? No, but who cares? If that’s your goal, MuscleHack probably isn’t where you should be getting your advice.

Look, work out your required calories for building muscle from one of my articles, then eat this amount and workout THT style. Why would you overeat by 300 calories only to give yourself the effort of having to do cardio to burn them off? Just don’t eat them in the first place.

On the other hand, you may be performing cardio and not eating these ‘extra’ calories, thereby actually creating a deficit when your goal is to build muscle! This is analogous to driving your car with one foot on the accelerator and another on the break!

For those determined to build muscle and lose fat simultaneously, yes it can be done. Read my article on it here https://tinyurl.com/dctax3 and/or buy my abs book for a full breakdown.

Cardio has its place folks, but DON’T overemphasize it!

Mark

Cardio affects the bulking phase because it’s:
1) Not giving your body adequate time to recover (which rest is the key to rebuilding of muscle tissue)
2) Burning up your energy stores which could negatively affect your intensity during weight training.
3) Burning more calories forcing you to eat more than you really need to. For MANS dudes, fat is a key energy source but it’s also not as efficient in converting to glucose as is simple/complex carbs, so over-training could promote catabolic (muscle breakdown) for energy promotion, not good!

Cardio is important for CARDIO-vascular health, no argument. But, it’s an accepted reality that to get maximum muscle gain during bulking, limit (or even remove) cardio until the cutting and recovery stages is fine. I don’t think people are going to die if they don’t do cardio for 8 weeks bulking periods.

So, If you absolutely feel you need cardio, expect less muscle gain, that all there is to it! Unless you’re a roidy-roy or genetic Herculean type.

Of course, this is just my opinion. Later guys!

As for cardio, I tend to agree, while cardio has its place without question, does it not stimulate the release of cortisol, the thing you want to avoid for muscle growth? While on that thought, have any of you guys tried insulin spiking to reduce cortisol straight after training? My research seems to show that spiking your insulin levels striaght after a workout dramaticly reduces cortisol in your system.

A glass of flat Coke doubled my insulin level for 30 mins (Build up then decrease) I would welcome any comments on this. 🙂

Anyway, this is a great one.