Cardio Debate

[madeincanada]

alrite, i figured i would try to spark up a debate. specifically concerning Cardio. What is everyones philosophy. do u do your cardio in the morning, afternoon or night. how about food, on an empty stomach, or with some BCAAs and a whey shake, or after u train. Or do some of you weight three hours after ur last meal and do cardio just before u go to sleep.

im just doin this to see if there is a general consensus or if there is a polar opposit .

[Mr.Freeze]

depend on whats your goal! there is so many ways to do it!

[ergie]

the biggest reason people do cardio is to lose fat, I've always done cardio after a workout so that there is little glycogen in your muscle cells therefore your body starts using your stored fat as energy. This is also possible first thing in the morning on an empty stomach, this is how I've always done and its always worked for me.

[Mr.Freeze]

yeah! in the morning with a good coffee!!!

[madeincanada]

well whats ur different philosophies for different goals.

[Matthew]

I found it worked well with cardio any time of day, controlled calories and a little help from a fat burner like *********'s helios. I was a walking pool of water when doing cardio.

[madeincanada]

ok well i found for me it that morning cardio (20-40) an hour after some fast acting whey and BCAAs works well. i have also found that during the off season i only have to do about three day of cardio after my workout (20min) to maintain my muscle to body fat ratio.

[LeanSize]

the biggest reason people do cardio is to lose fat, I've always done cardio after a workout so that there is little glycogen in your muscle cells therefore your body starts using your stored fat as energy. This is also possible first thing in the morning on an empty stomach, this is how I've always done and its always worked for me.

But that would also cause muscle loss as well. How about if you had a protein shake and some healthy fats lke 20 mins before cardio?

[ergie]

I've never had a problem with muscle loss doing cardio like that but I could see how that would become a problem......... I start a cutter in Feb so I'll experiement and see how my body reacts

[ladyliftin']

Hi there.

I do read that apparently to achieve optimum fat loss that doing cardio in the morning on an empty stomach is good. Even more optimum is doing intervals of hard and fast, like sprinting during running, and then 30 minutes is sufficient. Better than 45 to 50 minutes at one pace. When I do this it kills me :eek: but the results are better.

I guess everyone is different. I mostly do cardio after my workout and I now always have a pre-workout shake. If I don't I crash during cardio and start to feel like a cooked noodle. I think it takes a while to figure out what works best!

[ftm]

If you're on a low carb diet the timing of cardio shouldn't be an issue right ?
Personnaly I've had best results on emty stomach (drink a litre of water before + multivitamin + eca stack). Works good.

Right now I'm doing 30 minutes of "hard and fast" (2 minutes 6km, 1 minutes running, etc...) on empty stomach. A lot more efficient but the I'm building too much resistance. It's now becoming easy to run for longer periods of time). Would be interesting to see if muscle twitch types are changing in the long term (don't wanna look like a marathon runner lol..)

[Mr.Freeze]

If you do bike, stairmaster or running on a mat use the random mode! thats the way i like!! :)

[InsulinShock]

But that would also cause muscle loss as well. How about if you had a protein shake and some healthy fats lke 20 mins before cardio?

A small WPI shake prior is okay. I prefer some BCAA's. Scratch the healthy fats. I do not see any reason why you would want to do that before a cardio session.

[saskbb]

For contest prep, I do 2 cardio workouts aday. This year I'm doing it first thing in the AM with no food and second one after my evening meal. I also trainned 6 days a week doing a high paced o2 debt workout until 9 weeks out now I'm heavy/med 5 days a week.

My cardio is always slow and steady start at 20 min per workout 20 weeks out than now has increased to 2 - 60 min walking on the treadmill burning 525-600 cals per workout.

I perfer to eat more cals and carbs and burn them off than overdoing the veggies thing.

Seems to work for an old fart like me

Will

www.myspace.com/willinregina

[R.F.S.]

It doesn't matter when you do cardio, morning lunch at night etc....The whole thing about doing cardio in the morning on an empty stomach is bs. When you wake up in the morning you're in starvation mode, which means it's harder for you to burn calories because you have no fuel (food) to assist your body in burning those extra calories. I would eat a small meal or shake 1-1.5hr before cardio and make sure your heart beat is around 135-150bpm. If your trying to lose fat 25-30mins 4x a week is all you need to lose bf without too much muscle. If your just trying to maintain what you already have 2x a week should be sufficient for most people.

[gustavo77]

It doesn't matter when you do cardio, morning lunch at night etc....The whole thing about doing cardio in the morning on an empty stomach is bs. When you wake up in the morning you're in starvation mode, which means it's harder for you to burn calories because you have no fuel (food) to assist your body in burning those extra calories. I would eat a small meal or shake 1-1.5hr before cardio and make sure your heart beat is around 135-150bpm. If your trying to lose fat 25-30mins 4x a week is all you need to lose bf without too much muscle. If your just trying to maintain what you already have 2x a week should be sufficient for most people.

Morning cardio on an empty stomach is more effective than at other times of the day bro...blood sugar levels are extremely low, glycogen levels in the liver and muscle are low and the body will more readily tap into fat stores. If morning cardio was not anymore effective than at other times of the day why would all the pros be doing it and why on earth would all the gurus to the pros suggest it??

[bigdaddydrew123]

the biggest reason people do cardio is to lose fat, I've always done cardio after a workout so that there is little glycogen in your muscle cells therefore your body starts using your stored fat as energy. This is also possible first thing in the morning on an empty stomach, this is how I've always done and its always worked for me.same here after a workout for same reason , mouring will do same thing but i work 6 am not possible.

[R.F.S.]

Morning cardio on an empty stomach is more effective than at other times of the day bro...blood sugar levels are extremely low, glycogen levels in the liver and muscle are low and the body will more readily tap into fat stores. If morning cardio was not anymore effective than at other times of the day why would all the pros be doing it and why on earth would all the gurus to the pros suggest it??

I have tried both morning and evening cardio and i can honestly say that I don't really see a big difference. What i wrote is based on what i have learned and been taught. It works for me and others that get trained by my trainer, not saying that morning cardio doesn't work i just don't believe that it's more effective, but that's just my opinion. Remember one person can convince hundereds of people that what he does is the only way and the better way, but that doesn't mean that it's right!!

[rbehniwal]

AM empty stomach if i can get out of bed...otherwise after workout for about 30 minutes. AM seems to work better for me personally.

[Hobo4hire]

i gotta agree with ^^^^^^^^^^ morning on an empty stomach with green tea has made all the difference

[wantmoremass]

re: glycogen levels being low after you lift, does anyone consumer their PWO nutrition after weights and before cardio, or wait until after cardio too?

[Musclehead]

No difference imo on time of day. Total calories burned during the 24 h period determine fat loss.............although if doing a competition I think you should try for every last once of fat...so in the morning on an empty stomach may have the edge.

[SteveMan]

I take in my PWO which is just Whey,BCAA's and glutamine after weights then hit cardio right away. Some people say it is not wise to take in protein before cardio as your body will use the protein for energy. But it takes longer then 45min to even utilize it so no need to worry.

And when you do cardio on a fairly full stomach your body burns more carbs then fat, but it really makes little difference in the end because when you burn glycogen your body will burn more calories throughout the day to restore glycogen levels. I think the fact is calories are calories and your body has no choice but to expend them regardless of when you do cardio.

[R.F.S.]

Just a quick tip, look into some of Scott Abel's cardio techniques. Treadmills and olipticals are becoming a thing of the past.

[bigdaddydrew123]

re: glycogen levels being low after you lift, does anyone consumer their PWO nutrition after weights and before cardio, or wait until after cardio too?i do after cardio but i dont know if its a huge diff. i just figure if you want to tap into fat stores , you wouldnt want all that sugar and protein in ya. plus id be a fartin machine