Questions about Cardio

[mike-311]

I love lifting, I hate Cardo

I have a good bit of flab I want to purge myself of.

If I do a 10 or 20min cardio on a treadmill before a workout, will that take anythin away from my workouts?

Is it best to workout before or after cardio?

Does cardio effect strength and muscle gain at all.

is there anyway I can strip the fat without cardio.

Thanks Guys

[IronGame]

Best to do it after weights, same principle as fasted morning cardio. No/low glycogen in the muscles (either from being fasted for 8 hours or so OR from being used up during your weight session) so fat will be the primary sorce of energy used to fuel your cardio.

20min wont effect muscle gain, if anything it will improve nutrient uptake and help you change body comp for the better. Saying that 30-45min is ideal for burining fat. Or 15-20min HIIT

[Matrix]

You can definately strip fat without doing cardio. The answer is to increase the intensity of your workouts and /or manipulate your diet.

Although intensity in weight lifting programmes generally refers to the weight (load) lifted, in bodybuilding it igenerally refers to how hard the workout is.

An easy way to do this is to spend a training cycle of around 4-6 weeks resting a maximum of 60 seconds between sets. Beware though, this style of training is tough if your not used to it, and you will need to drop your poundages to compensate for the reduced rest.

This type of training causes a natural surge in your bodies anabolic hormones which in turn promote fat usage. This style of training can also burn more calories durining your workout as your heart rate stays elevated longer.

Many pro's from the golden era of bodybuilding re: Arnold, Nubret etc. and some newer ones train this way, especially pre contest.

The other way to achieve fat loss sans cardio is to make sure you are in a calorie defecit whereby you are taken in SLIGHTLY less calories than you body needs to sustain itself through metabolism and workouts.

I dont know what your current diet's like but you could try replacing your starchy carbs with fibrous ones and or small quantities of healthy fats for your last two to three meals of the day and increasing your protein intake to prevent muscle catabolism.

Also after 4-6 weeks you should increase your rest periods and loads to prevent overtraining and plateauing and to provide a different stimulus to your muscles. Good Luck!

[Pseudonym]

20min wont effect muscle gain, if anything it will improve nutrient uptake

Interesting you should say this, IronGame, because it's one reason I haven't been doing post-workout cardio (the other reason is laziness). I've always been anxious to get my protein into me asap post-workout, and I would have thought that doing cardio afterwards not only delays the protein shake, but also increases the likelihood that the protein will be used to replace energy stores (is glycogenesis the right term?) rather than building muscle. Can you explain a bit more on how it might improve nutrient uptake? That's very cool, if it does...

[mike-311]

thanks guys some good usable advice here.

muchly appreciated

[IronGame]

20min wont effect muscle gain, if anything it will improve nutrient uptake

Interesting you should say this, IronGame, because it's one reason I haven't been doing post-workout cardio (the other reason is laziness). I've always been anxious to get my protein into me asap post-workout, and I would have thought that doing cardio afterwards not only delays the protein shake, but also increases the likelihood that the protein will be used to replace energy stores (is glycogenesis the right term?) rather than building muscle. Can you explain a bit more on how it might improve nutrient uptake? That's very cool, if it does...

Sorry should have been a bit more clear, for fat loss post training or fasted morning cardio is best. For staying leaner during bulking, morning would be best, your right, you want to force those nutrients in asap after lifting when bulking. And you want to take advantage of depleted gylcogen stores when dieting.

"Bulking cardio" will help to shuttle nutrients around the body and should increase the rate of digestion throughout the day.

Chose 1, Bulk or Cut IMO trying to do both at the same time will get you halfway to no where.

[Pseudonym]

Gotcha. Cheers for that.

[NBS 4life]

Given that 20 or so minutes is done at the right intensity. Extreme intensity before weight can cause a sudden spike in cortisol from what I have read.

I fully agree with the bulk cut choice. Choose one or the other. Cardio while trying to bulk = muscle degradation.

[FoTwenny]

Bob Chicherillo recommends doing long and slow cardio to stay lean in the offseason. For example 45-60 minutes on the bike at 65 rpm, give it a try.

[morala]

Bob Chicherillo recommends doing long and slow cardio to stay lean in the offseason. For example 45-60 minutes on the bike at 65 rpm, give it a try.

i might have to do that though its very boring.

[teamfatboy]

Bob Chicherillo recommends doing long and slow cardio to stay lean in the offseason. For example 45-60 minutes on the bike at 65 rpm, give it a try.

Don't you mean 65% heart rate? :think:

[FoTwenny]

No, 65 repetitions per minute.

[Goldberg]

I agree guy's, cardio should be done year round for a number of reasons.

[Flex]

No, 65 repetitions per minute.

I think you mean 65 revolutions - heart rate would be better though as 65 rpm might be a doddle for the ultra fit and barely raise the heart rate, or it might be too high for someone extremely unfit and put them out of the fat burning zone.

[teamfatboy]

No, 65 repetitions per minute.

I think you mean 65 revolutions - heart rate would be better though as 65 rpm might be a doddle for the ultra fit and barely raise the heart rate, or it might be too high for someone extremely unfit and put them out of the fat burning zone.

I guess my point was that saying 65rpm gives no gauge of intensity - set load to 1 on a 1-20 electronic bike, it'll have you asleep, but set load to 20 on the same bike, and listen for the pings as your kneecaps explode trying to hold 65rpm.

I understood that physiologically, lower pedal RPM for any given work rate put a greater strain on the joints than a RPM in the 80-100 range.

[FoTwenny]

Yeah sorry, meant revolutions.