Simple question - hopefully there's a simple answer. Couldn't spot this in a search but it may be too obvious!

Take two hypothetical, identical body builders. One eats 3000 cals and does 500 cals of cardio a day. The other eats 2500 cals but does no cardio each day. Presuming each also does an identical weights program, will they both progress identically?

I'm just wondering if consuming the 3000 cals but burning them off gives an advantage over not consuming them in the first place. I'm just trying to figure whether my cardio is a waste of time.:lol:

Depends on how you define "progress", but I'll assume you're talking strictly body composition here.

Similarily? Probably. Identical? Probably not, because the two scenarios are not the exact same, and the metabolic impacts of more exercise/food versuses less exercise/food could vary things. I wouldn't read this with any guarantees that one will be better than the other.

Berardi's G-Flux idea is what you often see brought up on the Internet with these discussions, but I think you'll find things taken out of context sometimes here. Don't get the idea unless you have 6+ hours to exercise you're not going to see really positive changes, especially depending on where you're coming from. Keep in mind at least a decent percentage of his time is spent with athletes whose job it is to train.

I'd always look at quality over quantity first.

yeah by progress I meant in terms of lean muscle.

Thanks I'll check out 'Berardi's G-Flux'.