Thread: Cardio question

whats your goal?

to loose body fat, and gain some muscle, but loosing body fat is the #1 priority.

then i would look into doing "hitt." do a search and you will find lots of info on it. it is the best way to lose fat. if you dont decide to go with hitt, then you want faster with lower resistance.

thanks

Originally Posted by Katia7

thanks

my pleasure

My Approach To Doing Cardio For Optimal Results by Tim Wescott

Most bodybuilder`s, fitness enthusiasts, and personal trainer`s, will tell you that the best time to do cardio is early in the morning, on an empy stomach. For some reason, which most of them don`t know the answer to, they will tell you this is the perfect time to facilitate fat burning. I`m here to say they are off base in this approach to losing bodyfat, and I will tell you why. As bodybuilder`s, most of us endeavor to eat 5-6 meals a day, spaced out over three hour intervals.This helps to keep blood sugar levels stable, keeps us in an anabolic state, by maintaining a positive nitrogen balance, aids in better digestion and assimilation, and also helps to keep the waistline smaller, as most of the meals should not be big meals, per se`!

After sleeping all night for 6-8 hours, or whatever amount is required for you personally, the body, upon arising in the morning, is in a very catabolic state.This means a state of negative nitrogen balance,something no bodybuilder wants. To perform cardio at this time, on an empty stomach, creates a further state of catabolism, thus resulting in muscle breakdown, and muscle tissue loss.The exact opposite of what bodybuilding is all about! It`s true that blood sugar levels are low in the morning, but so are amino acids,the building blocks of protein. If you must do cardio in the morning.... no big deal, just make sure to have a protein drink, or a light protein meal, 45-60 minutes before the aerobic session. Your first priority in the morning, after fasting all night during sleep, should be to feed the body protein and carbs, thus restoring the body to an anabolic state once again. You always want to remain in this anabolic state, if possible, thats why we eat every three hours or so.

In my opinion, the best time to do cardio is after you workout with the iron. Performing your cardio workout after training with the weights, is the most ideal time to burn fat. The reasoning behind this thinking is that during your weight training workout you are using glucose, and stored glycogen, as fuel for energy. Glucose and glycogen are sugars, and sugars are carbs. You want to use carbs as fuel for your training ideally,to sustain you throughout the workout. After you are done training, your glucose and glycogen levels are obviously depleted, thus making this the perfect time to perform your cardio, and to use stored fat as fuel. At this time, if you are on a high protein diet, as most bodybuilder`s are, or should be, the body will burn fat as fuel, to help get you through the cardio session.


Keep the cardio intense and brief, or the body will once again go into a catabolic state and use protein for fuel literally eating your hard earned muscle tissue alive.Doinf too much cardio is detrimental. The type of cardio that you perform is up to you, but I would recommend doing 15-20 minutes of "High Intensity Interval Training". Hereafter known as HIIT !! HIIT cardio involves an all out burst of effort for about a minute, followed by a cool down pace, also for a minute or so, or until the heartrate slows down substantionally. As I stated above, 15-20 minutes of HIIT is great and usually enough for most people. I personally wouldn`t go over 30 minutes tops.

One of the advantages of performing HIIT cardio is that it accomplishes more in a shorter time period. Another more important benefit, is that it raises the heart rate and the metabolism. Your metabolism stays elevated long after your cardio session is done.This enables the body to keep on burning more fat just by going through your normal daily routine! I call this effect the "Afterburn" !!

I use an Eliptical Trainer most of the time, and I find by using this particular apparatus, I burn over twice as many calories using HIIT, over more traditional methods I have employed in the past.The Eliptical Trainer also has virtually no impact on the feet, hips, or knees. So there it is, my take on doing AM cardio, and why I think it should not be done on an empty stomach. Try it out and lose some of that excess bodyfat, while retaining your hard earned muscle, you`ll be glad you did !!
TRAIN HARD !!!
My Website:
http://www.geocities.com/timbuktuweights/

My Forum:
http://timwescott.proboards18.com/index.cgi

Thanks tjwes
I never do cardio 1st thing in the AM. If I don't eat breakfast, I can't push as hard doring the cardio and I come home STARVING.

You`re quite welcome Katia7,glad you liked the article !!

Originally Posted by tjwes

My Approach To Doing Cardio For Optimal Results by Tim Wescott

In my opinion, the best time to do cardio is after you workout with the iron. Performing your cardio workout after training with the weights, is the most ideal time to burn fat. The reasoning behind this thinking is that during your weight training workout you are using glucose, and stored glycogen, as fuel for energy. Glucose and glycogen are sugars, and sugars are carbs. You want to use carbs as fuel for your training ideally,to sustain you throughout the workout. After you are done training, your glucose and glycogen levels are obviously depleted, thus making this the perfect time to perform your cardio, and to use stored fat as fuel. At this time, if you are on a high protein diet, as most bodybuilder`s are, or should be, the body will burn fat as fuel, to help get you through the cardio session.

Good summary,

Would you advocate the same thing for a BB versus a person just trying to lose excess fat ? The fat person would want to maximize fat burn instead of focusing on maintaining muscle tissue.

For the BB, would you advocate eating shortly before your workout then or not. If you do eat first, then it seems that you are just burning off the food in your workout rather than bodyfat.

Your expertise is appreciated in advance.

Anybody that was just concerned with losing fat at the expense of muscle tissue would be in the wrong.

Lean tissue burns calories.

As far as eating before I would drink a shake in water or have some BCAA`s about 45-60 minutes before training.I would not eat too many carbs as you have sugar stored in your liver and muscles.

It is a mistake though to get up in the AM and not eat food no matter when you do your cardio.

You gotta` eat to stay in an anabolic state.

I always do cardio on empty stomach when doing it in the AM. Not a lot of muscle loss, but a lot of fat lost in my case. I guess everyone is different

http://www.musclemedia.com/training/hiit.asp