Hello guys ......there is something that its been bothering me every time I start doing cardio when dieting!!! Some people say that Low intensity cardio is the way to go!!! Other people say that HIT cardio is the best to burn fat!! Other people are against HIT...they suggest that HIT catabolize your muscle mass!!!!! On the other hand long distances runners are skinny while 400 meter runners look strong and ripped!!!!!!!! So what is the best form of cardio for the bodybuilder trying to
retain his strength and muscle mass?
I was searching for the answer and I found some interesting information from well recognized coaches and trainers that I want to share in this forum:
1. Coach Charles Poliquin: “We're made to throw a rock at the rabbit, not to chase it. We're basically anaerobic animals. The quickest way to get lean is through diet. If you look in the world of sports, triathletes and marathon runners have body fat percentages ranging from between 11 and 14%. Four-hundred to 800 meter runners have body fat between 4 and 6%. Exercise intensity is the key, not duration. Take a picture of all the fat cows on the bikes at Gold's or World Gym. Go back next year and compare: they're all still fat or more likely: fatter!”
2. Coach Christian Thibaudeau: To get very lean and muscular you must have pretty much everything in order, from diet to rest to training. While a proper strength training program will help you get lean, it's really hard to get a high degree of definition without some form of "road work," unless you're genetically gifted for leanness. As I already mentioned, I'm not a fan of low-intensity cardio work. While it's adequate for fat loss, I feel it can have a negative effect on strength and ultimately muscle mass. Interval training and/or long distance sprints are optimal to maximize fat loss while retaining muscle mass.
3. Hugo Rivera: “ High Intensity Cardio or HIT for short, has been proven in many studies to be more effective in burning body fat than traditional, less intense, cardio. Reason for this is because according to studies, HIT elevates your metabolism for hours as opposed to more traditional cardio, which only elevates it during the actual workout. While you mostly burn glycogen (stored carbohydrates) when you do HIT, you end up burning more body fat at the end at the day due to the fact that the metabolism has been revved up longer. In addition, the shorter duration of the activity is more conductive to keeping muscle mass in caloric deprived situations (such as when you are dieting)”.
4. Dr. Lonnie Lowery : Do low-moderate intensity "cardio" so as not to interfere with training load. Although harder cardio does indeed burn fat, I vastly prefer the low-moderate intensity approach. I simply lift too close to the overtraining envelope to add-in hard cardiovascular exercise. Outdoor walking (it's intense enough if you're near or over 200 pounds or wearing an X-Vest) and uphill treadmill walks at a heart rate around 120 bpm drain calories and body fat without kicking up cortisol, other stress hormones, and beating-up the joints. Whether your priority is the holy grail of size plus extreme leanness or it's performance in a given sport, I think there's no better way to address fat loss!
5. Coach Charles Staley: “Clearly HIT. There's really no debate on that. And you don't need a university degree or advanced physiology textbooks to understand why this is so: when you expose your body to repeated long-duration excursions, your body wants to weigh less in order to become more efficient at doing what you're asking it to do. And the easiest way for your body to weigh less is to catabolize muscle (which of course, weighs more than fat)”.
Until now I have been performing low intensity cardio (3 or 4 - 30min sessions per week) because I am afraid of loosing muscle and strength .... However I think that after reading this I am going to give HIT a try. There are risks involved with each activity so I guess I am going to start with a short duration HIT type of cardio............... Also feel free to post your experiences. I think that would be good to hear from someone that has used HIT in the past with or without success!!
Let’s keep learning
. I think I made a big mistake because it’s too much volume and intensity for somebody in a diet. Also I almost didn’t make it to the gym yesterday to do cardio because I was feeling really tired (overall). Part of the business I guess!!! 
!!!!!!!!! However I managed to have a decent back workout last night. The gym was empty as usually happens on Fridays. I started with Barbell Rows (Dorian Style) Chins, Seated cable rows (Torso bent forward) I did biceps and 30 min of low intensity cardio. 