Thread: Diet on Cardio days?

Unless it's some serious interval work, I don't feed cardio any differently from rest.

I don't do a lot of cardio though, and I'm not talking about eating for performance, okay? If you're training for a marathon, your diet should be appropriate to your goals.

Maybe after cardio you have something with higher carbs since your body needs to be replenshed more? Cardio for me is basketball in a few leagues. I always polish off a gatorade during and after I play.

You don't need to replenish carbs after cardio unless you're training for performance.

I don't see a reason to have more carbs on cardio days, unless your doing some serious HIIT. Then maybe a bit more, but nothing like a lifting day.

A more appropriate approach would be to balance your total caloric needs/goals for the day.

I was thinking on HIIT days too. I can still finish my HIIT sets, whether I eat like its a rest day, so I suppose this is good...

Originally Posted by Built

Unless it's some serious interval work, I don't feed cardio any differently from rest.

I don't do a lot of cardio though, and I'm not talking about eating for performance, okay? If you're training for a marathon, your diet should be appropriate to your goals.

I throw cardio in for caloric expendenture (sp?). Never more than half an hour of low-moderate cardio and MAYBE 10-15minute of low-moderate after HIIT.

To clarify on what I posted earlier, post-workout carbohydrate serves two main functions.

One is to stimulate insulin, which blunts cortisol while it helps shuttle nutrients into the now-primed and tramuatized muscle-tissue, to promote repair. The other main function is to promote reglycogenation - except that reglycogenation happens over the following hours and days, "spike" or not.

If you've just completely thrashed yourself with high-intensity training - heavy lifting, intense sprinting, complexes - post-workout carbohydrate will support the anti-cortisol function even while fat-burning is taking place. There is peer reviewed literature to this effect that I can dig up if someone actually wants to read it. So you can lift like a mofo, do some sprints, then get on the tready and sip your dextrose and whey shake while you cool down and you won't blunt the fat-burning because the intense activity stimulated the catecholamine-mediated release of free fatty acids. Once liberated, insulin or not, you'll just burn 'em off while you're walking it out.

That being said, if you aren't lifting and you only do a few minutes of sprints follwed by a half-hour walk, I hardly see the need for post-workout carb - that is, unless you really want it.

My .02

Originally Posted by Built

To clarify on what I posted earlier, post-workout carbohydrate serves two main functions.

One is to stimulate insulin, which blunts cortisol while it helps shuttle nutrients into the now-primed and tramuatized muscle-tissue, to promote repair. The other main function is to promote reglycogenation - except that reglycogenation happens over the following hours and days, "spike" or not.

If you've just completely thrashed yourself with high-intensity training - heavy lifting, intense sprinting, complexes - post-workout carbohydrate will support the anti-cortisol function even while fat-burning is taking place. There is peer reviewed literature to this effect that I can dig up if someone actually wants to read it. So you can lift like a mofo, do some sprints, then get on the tready and sip your dextrose and whey shake while you cool down and you won't blunt the fat-burning because the intense activity stimulated the catecholamine-mediated release of free fatty acids. Once liberated, insulin or not, you'll just burn 'em off while you're walking it out.

That being said, if you aren't lifting and you only do a few minutes of sprints follwed by a half-hour walk, I hardly see the need for post-workout carb - that is, unless you really want it.

My .02

Well put and couldn't be more dead on.

everyone knows it self body, when to add more carbs after the cardio days, cause the next day have to lift weights.

Originally Posted by alexvega

everyone knows it self body, when to add more carbs after the cardio days, cause the next day have to lift weights.