I've reached a point where I think that I'm at just about my ideal weight and body fat level, and that the main sticking points for me on the definition side of things is the small amount of loose skin on my abdomen.
I could feasibly stick at trying to lose a bit more fat and become totally ripped up, giving my skin time to shrinkwrap itself round my muscles, but I'm frankly becoming impatient and I think I'm capable of making very significant gains over the next few months; plus I'm fairly happy with my definition and I can complete that when I've added some lean mass. I'm theorising also that because there's a bit of loose skin I may not suffer as many stretchmarks if I make really quick "newbie gains" over the first month or two.

When I'm fully into my bulking phase I intend to continue doing light cardio 2 or 3 times a week, but only for 20 mins a session; as opposed to the 3 hour-long session I currently do, while I know this might inhibit my gains, I'd prefer to gain slowly and retain as much muscle definition as possible than gain quickly but put on too much fat.

My question is this, what should I do regarding reducing cardio?
Would it be preferable to drop the amount of cardio gradually whilst ramping up my calorie intake, or should I simple just drop to 20 mins of cardio (but still slowly increasing cal intake) instead?
Or does it simply not matter much either way in the long run?

Either links to threads I might have missed or to articles on this would be appreciated also.

Thanks.

Since I'm an impatient type of person, I'm going to try the quick route, I'm going to drop my cardio to around 20-25 mins today; let's see what happens.

the 3 hour-long session I currently do :d_eek: :d_eek: :d_eek:


My question is this, what should I do regarding reducing cardio?
Would it be preferable to drop the amount of cardio gradually whilst ramping up my calorie intake, or should I simple just drop to 20 mins of cardio (but still slowly increasing cal intake) instead?
Or does it simply not matter much either way in the long run?
This is JMO, but I really don't think you need to slowly do either. If you were ramping up your cardio I'd say do it slowly, to let your body adjust to the new demands. This obviously isn't needed here.

With the cals, how much are you increasing? 500? 1,000? If it's closer to the latter, you may want to increase gradually (over a week or two). But if your diet plan is solid and you're not scrambling around at the end of the day and eating junk to meet your new calorie requirements, I think it's fine if you start immediately, with no "ramp-up" period.

Again, JMO.

:gl:

Typo on the "3-hour long session" thing, should have been "3 hour-long sessions" :D

Typo on the "3-hour long session" thing, should have been "3 hour-long sessions" :D

::wipes the sweat from the forehead!:: :eek: :eek: :eek: