I am currently on Atkins and I am committed to two pretty intense 90 minute swim squad sessions on Wed and Fri mornings.

I know the BFL recommendation for the aerobic component of exercise is specific and different than this, i.e. no more than 20 minutes each time with specific intensities describe.

I want to keep up my swimming sessions. Do you think BFL can be done and the muscles still rested?

If so, would a modified schedule be something like:

M - 20 min aerobic
T - Chest weights
W - Swim
T - Leg weights
F - Swim
S - Chest weights
S - Free day

Does the order matter so long as the alternating days are there or should a weights day follow a free day?

Try it and see! Why give up an exercise you like? Let us know how it works for you.

The thing I would worry about is that the cardio would be so intense that you start burning muscle instead of fat, I'm not very good on the proper terminolgy but I think that is where you go into anaroebic instead of aerobic. I had wanted to increase my cardio the last time I did a BFL challenge and was really advised against it because of the risk of destroying losing muscle. There is probably a way of eating before the cardio that would prevent this from happening but I am not wise enough advise you on that.

Depending on what your carb level is on regular days, doing weights following a free day might enable you to have better performance.

Yes, this is what I am concerned about - the counter productive nature of the long sessions.

The next 3 weeks will be 3.5 to 4km swims over 90 minutes. Nothing high intensity, just lots of miles. The following 4 weeks will be intervals. High intensity, less miles.

If you could find out what the heartrate is for anerobic, then you could try taking your pulse and see if you needed to lessen the intensity of your swimming.

If you love it, do it. The best way to fight muscle loss is to eat a small serving of carbs and protein (30 ish g of each) within half an hour after you stop exercising. Vit C in the morning helps, too.

LSD cardio (long, slow distance) does tend to stay in the fat burning zone. The catabolic element is more the length of time involved. However, that can be mitigated via the above suggestion.

Cheers,

Friday

Thanks Friday - so it's catabolic then not aneroebic when you burn muscle?? I get totally confused over which is which

aerobic/anaerobic has to do with oxygen being present or not during oxidation. I am not sure of either is considered catabolic or not, to be honest. Anabolic means muscle-building, catabolic means muscle-destroying.

Cheers,

Friday

When you train with distance (slow to medium pace) it is aerobic, i.e. in the presence of oxygen.

When you do intervals (sprints) it is anaerobic.

I would say that BFL aerobic training moves from the former to the latter as the intensity increases.

Same with jogging/running vs. sprinting.

Now as for the catabolic thing, I understand that the longer the time period involved the greater the chance that it becomes catabolic. As you deplete glycogen the body moves to break down proteins to get the energy it needs. Fat can also be broken down, but it is not a simple case of moving exclusively from one to the other. When you are low on glycogen often some protein (via muscle) gets broken down in addition to fat. According to Atkins there are ways to eliminate this but according to my GP and swim coach you are still going to breakdown muscle with extended exercise if you don't take enough carbs.

Tornado, There is some info about this at the Dr. Sussmans fitness site click here for Dr.Sussmans Site I'm not sure exactly where it is, but he mentions that one sign of going into catabolic stage is when you get a taste of ammonia in your mouth while you are working out, this has happened to me quite a lot, not only during cardio but at the end of a weight session. I happen to be one of those people who goes into ketosis very easily and at what would be considered quite high carb levels (I've gone into ketosis at over 80 carbs a day after an exercise session) so it might be worthwhile that you check this out and follow the suggestions. It sounds like your are pretty well informed though.