Manitoba Muscle
Darren Mehling
BA, CSCS
As a strongman competitor, Darren has pulled 50,000 lb trucks and dead lifted 805 lbs. As a competitive bodybuilder, he has won Provincial Super-heavyweight & Overall titles. As President & CEO of FREAK Fitness, he has coached his clients to hundreds of Novice, Provincial/State, National, and IFBB Pro titles. Having been involved in the sport of bodybuilding for over 20 years, Darren has his finger on the pulse of the local and international bodybuilding scenes, and will be keeping you informed through his column, “Freak Fitness."
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Is Cardio Catabolic
Q. Is cardio catabolic? How much and what type of cardio do you recommend for your athletes?
A. Cardio is catabolic, just as weight training is catabolic, in that it breaks down nutrients. What foods we eat, how much and when we eat those foods, what nutritional supplements we take, and how much we rest allows us to maintain an anabolic environment even in the face of intense cardio and weight-training sessions.
Even though I don’t have my bodybuilders doing any cardio in the off-season, in pre-competition phases, I have not and will never prescribe more than two 60-minute sessions per day. And in these rare cases, this recommendation comes after weeks of progressively building up time based on weekly updates and feedback from the bodybuilder. In all cases, I ensure that he or she is switching up the type of cardio to minimize overuse injuries.
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