Cardio before weight training

[vracula]

ok that's it ,i want to do my cardio,coz my diet is fine not too flash but fine.but the cardio man!the freaking cardio!!! never end up doing it at the end of my workout coz im so freaking tired,so for the past 2 weeks i have been doing it at the start of my workouts and although my weight training sessions arent as full throttle atleast im burning some fat off hopefully.

thoughts??

I seem to be fairly lean all around except ofr my lower abs,and they refuse to change.My diet is devoid of junk food and sugar,but i eat bananas,what's the consensus on this fruit?bad for a dieter?

[Pete_S]

The best times to do cardio are first thing in the morning (prior to eating) or at any other time where glycogen levels are low (eg. after your weights workout). Reason being is that you will burn glycogen before you start burning fat - so if you're training later in the day it is less productive at burning fat by doing cardio before weights

[hankforce]

"I seem to be fairly lean all around except ofr my lower abs,and they refuse to change".

Join the club buddy lol!

I prefer before to warm up and then after to get the real work done. You can feel the real work being done after definately.

At least if you've had a good workout and you are tired for cardio, you can adjust your speed/effort to get thru. If you overdo the cardio you can then lose valuable energy for the workout which is obviously a cock-up.

[teamfatboy]

The best times to do cardio are first thing in the morning (prior to eating) or at any other time where glycogen levels are low (eg. after your weights workout). Reason being is that you will burn glycogen before you start burning fat - so if you're training later in the day it is less productive at burning fat by doing cardio before weights

:ditto: the other option is last thing at night - but "before weights" is the worst of all possible options, for the reason Pete_S says.

[MaroSturdy]

I seem to be fairly lean all around except ofr my lower abs,and they refuse to change.quote]

u need to get ur body fat percentage really low.. like 12% for that to change

[Lamborghinilova]

Yea, i read an interesting article about cardio before breakfast. It showed that you burnt more fat as a percentage, when compared to someone exercising at the same intensity, but the study was flawed as if you have breakfast you are able to exercise at a much higher intensity for longer, so you burn more claories, and if you do HIIT then you would raise your RMR higher for longer.

I thought it was interesting.

I tend to do my cardio straight after workouts, apart from the occaisional run outside, and as i work out in the morning, i find it sets me up for the day really well.

Another piece of advice.

Try running up a hill, or setting the treasdmill on an incline. you will burn waaay more calories for the same distance, and somewhere else, we also came up with the theory that you should drink chilled water, as it would take energy to warm it up. but as i type it now it sounds stupid. if i find a link i'll post it up.

one final thing, my cardio routine:

HIIT with incline=12-15 and speed either 9 or 12.5

i burn through the calories with this one.

but if you found that too hard (i can't maintain that for more then 20 mins)

then even if you have the speeds at a slow/medium jog, and a fast walk, you would burn just as much calories as running, and then more when in the jog.

P.S. if there is anything wrong with what i've said, please correct me

Hope that helps

[bigmd]

1st thing before breakfast or after weights, dont do it before, it will be to the detriment of your weight session if you do!

[Lamborghinilova]

1st thing before breakfast or after weights, dont do it before, it will be to the detriment of your weight session if you do!

If you were doing weights in the pm would you recommend before breakfast and after weights?

i.e. 2 cardio sessions a day?

or would this lead to overtraining, or catabolism? Or is it simply a case of depends on the person?

Thanks

[Luigi]

1st thing before breakfast or after weights, dont do it before, it will be to the detriment of your weight session if you do!

this is what my friend does, 30 mins on treadmill every day before weights, i have told him time and time again its stupid but he dosnt listen then wonders why his strength never goes up :doh:

[bigmd]

1st thing before breakfast or after weights, dont do it before, it will be to the detriment of your weight session if you do!

If you were doing weights in the pm would you recommend before breakfast and after weights?

i.e. 2 cardio sessions a day?

Thanks

No this is fine! if i am doing a morning weights session but want to do cardio 1st I would have a meal between the two and at laeast 30min rest. Im more talking about going into the gym spending 40 mins on a treadmill and then jumping straight into your weights as a NO NO!

if preping for a show 2 x cardio per day is fine and the morning and Post workout is a good idea.

[boostinggtir]

have a protein shake or gluatimine to make sure you don't burn muscle mass first thing in the morning.

[Lamborghinilova]

have a protein shake or gluatimine to make sure you don't burn muscle mass first thing in the morning.

Glutamine yea, BCAA's maybe(?), but wouldn't a protein shake either cause an insulin spike, or count as food?

Actually, that leads me to another question, does protein lead to insulin spikes? or is it just carbs?

[Optimass]

have a protein shake or gluatimine to make sure you don't burn muscle mass first thing in the morning.

Glutamine yea, BCAA's maybe(?), but wouldn't a protein shake either cause an insulin spike, or count as food?

Actually, that leads me to another question, does protein lead to insulin spikes? or is it just carbs?

No protein is the last nutritional component used by the body for energy .... I use WPI between the weights and cardio session PM. Cardio AM before breakfast ...

2 cardios is fine - just keep your heartrate at 60 - 70% of you maximal heartrate. (i.e Powerwalking) - you burn predominantly more fat at this level. I get best results from going from yoyoing from yellow to green / interval training.

[Lamborghinilova]

Thanks a bunch, that was really helpful.

Now i just need to invest in a heart rate monitor...

or get the one on the treadmill to work...

Oh, and just to clarify, so the body would rather burn fat then protein for energy? (sorry if i read it wrong)

[orange]

The number of calories you burn depends upon your weight, the activity you are doing and, most importantly, the intensity level with which you are exercising. Skipping rope is great at 121 calories/10 mins but a hardout stair climb is tough to beat.

Best if you can do it before breakfast alright.

[rooney111]

or right after weight training?

[teamfatboy]

Yep, that too...cardio before weights is the least desirable...you run all the glycogen out of the muscles during the cardio, so that when you come to weights, there's nothing there... forcing you to go lighter, less reps = less results.

Like BigMD says "Im more talking about going into the gym spending 40 mins on a treadmill and then jumping straight into your weights as a NO NO!"

[ohjoshua]

Yea, i read an interesting article about cardio before breakfast. It showed that you burnt more fat as a percentage, when compared to someone exercising at the same intensity, but the study was flawed

Link to this study please?

[Lamborghinilova]

it was in a magazine, which i can't find anymore....

i can't even remember what month it was...

someone else may remember...

it was in the letters section

sorry, not very helpful...

[BodySculpt]

The number of calories you burn depends upon your weight, the activity you are doing and, most importantly, the intensity level with which you are exercising. Skipping rope is great at 121 calories/10 mins but a hardout stair climb is tough to beat.

Best if you can do it before breakfast alright.

there's only one thing I can acheive before breakfast and thats to get out of bed... :-s unless anyone knows any tricks other than a can of "harden the f*ck up"

[Optimass]

The number of calories you burn depends upon your weight, the activity you are doing and, most importantly, the intensity level with which you are exercising. Skipping rope is great at 121 calories/10 mins but a hardout stair climb is tough to beat.

Best if you can do it before breakfast alright.

there's only one thing I can acheive before breakfast and thats to get out of bed... :-s unless anyone knows any tricks other than a can of "harden the f*ck up"

Morning wood :nod:

[Deafness]

I wouldn't mind picking at some of the masters minds on this topic to if thats ok..

I workout early morning 6-6:30am start with 20min Cardio on the tread mill; speed 5.0 grade 7.0 which I increase as I eat through 20 minutes.. finishing the last 2 minute at grade 13.0 (hard to determine what that would be I guess, but just mentioned it, for whole picture)..

I work my abs directly after cardio 2x - 4x 20 crunches

Then my weight routine, this happens Mon,Wed,Fri with Tues,Thurs,Sat as cardio day only which is 40 mins not 20, at the as time in the morning..

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I do all my cardio & weights training on an empty stomach (no food, I dont even brush my teeth, just gargle water and spit) But I do take 3 caps of hydroxcut hardcore PM and consume 1.5 -2 lts water during workout, I am a big guy.. not mass muscle like you all ..... well not yet.... I believe the cardio on the stomach has help me drop 250kg to 173kg ... I come across from BK website... where I learn't all of this.. if there any error to what i am doing.. it would be my own.

My questions would be, is it better to split cardio and weights? maybe rest 15 minutes after cardio and then do weights?

or is there no problem with what I am doing, at present.

I do have heaps of energy, my weight session takes 40- 50 minutes approx without the 20minutes on cardio.

thanks

[Pseudonym]

Hey Deafness. IMO, if your goal is to keep losing fat, then going straight from cardio into weights is probably the best idea if you can. It'll keep the heartrate up. If your main goal was to build muscle, then maybe cardio should go after weights, but I'd treat that as Phase 2, and not worry too much about it at this stage.

[Lamborghinilova]

Yea, but he wants to build up a nice physique once he has lost some more weight... possibly some BCAA pills to help with anti-catabolism? so that you arn't burning muscle as well...

[rx7rotary]

Once I finish weights, I jump on the threadmill level 15 @ 5.5ks an hour, walk 15min like that, then 5min level 0 , walk @7kph. Burns FAT!

mj