Max amount of time for Cardio

[critter]

what is generaly the longest you should do cardio.. everyone always suggest doing it 45-60 minutes at 65%-75% heart rate (im assuming cortisol levels start getting to high after a certain point) which is why you dont do cardio after you workout..?? if going longer then an hour should one drink a gatorade/powerade to bring cortisol levels down.

[znak]

Really depends on what your goals are and where you are now. If you are trying to burn fat, do 45 minutes after your work out. If you are trying to bulk up, you may not want to do cardo at all. What are your goals?

[Blown_SC]

Really depends on what your goals are and where you are now. If you are trying to burn fat, do 45 minutes after your work out. If you are trying to bulk up, you may not want to do cardo at all. What are your goals?

I disagree...
If you want to lose fat, doing cardio, 45 mins at 65-75% in the AM, on an empty stomach, will give you the best results...
If you can't manage this EVERY day, then yes, AFTER your W/O is best... but AM on an empty stomach is sooo much better.
Also, keep it under an hour bro. I doubt you want to lose muscle, and I feel cardio much past an hour could cause your body to become catabolic. JMO.

[SwoleCat]

Cardio after weights is pretty pointless. You cut into recovery time from an anaerobic activity by introducing an aerobic activity. Secondly, you MUST ingest a simple carb/protein shake (dex/pro) after working out, so as soon as you step off the cardio machine and down that shake, you immediately blunt lipolysis. (Fat burning stops cold!)

Not ideal. Split them up, and let your DIET be the factor in getting you ripped.

~SC~

[decadbal]

Cardio after weights is pretty pointless. You cut into recovery time from an anaerobic activity by introducing an aerobic activity. Secondly, you MUST ingest a simple carb/protein shake (dex/pro) after working out, so as soon as you step off the cardio machine and down that shake, you immediately blunt lipolysis. (Fat burning stops cold!)

Not ideal. Split them up, and let your DIET be the factor in getting you ripped.

~SC~

preach brotha preach...

[DBarcelo]

There is no set answer to that question. It depends on your goals and your body type. But you should try to keep anerobic and arobic seperate. If you do cardio after working out, you shouldn't eat or drink for a few hours after the cardio, so, if you do it right, you'll end up so wasted that you won't want to stick with the program for very long. And the last thing in the world you want to do is to drink Gatorade or Powerade after doing cardio. By doing that, you just wasted all of your time doing the cardio. Most fat burning occurs AFTER you've done cardio, not while you're doing it. You can do cardio for hours if you want to, but the longer you do it, the more muscle you'll end up breaking down. If you have a very high body fat, then that's okay, but if you have a slightly high body fat, then it may not be worth it.

[critter]

thaks for the replies, I do keep my workout and cardio separated.. another quick question. How long should i wait till i drink a carb/protein shake after doing cardio.

[CutMeUp]

thaks for the replies, I do keep my workout and cardio separated.. another quick question. How long should i wait till i drink a carb/protein shake after doing cardio.

...you dont...

pro/fat after cardio, pro/carb after lifting

[DBarcelo]

...you dont...

pro/fat after cardio, pro/carb after lifting

I have to strongly disagree there. You should wait at least a few hours before eating or drinking anything except for water after cardio. If you do, you're causing yourself to miss out on the major fat burning time. Your body is looking for anything to feed off of after intense cardio and it's going to feed off of itself (which is what you want it to do). Whatever you put in your body is going to be the thing that it starts to feed off of, because your body really doesn't want to feed off of itself. After anerobic workout you want to eat and drink but not after an aerobic workout, unless you're only interested in raising your stamina and have no interest in burning fat.

[Bryan2]

I have a demanding schedule and can only do cardio after a workout. I know pwo nutrition is key but from reading these posts would it be detrimental to down a protein drink right before cardio?
ive always waited until after cardio to have the protein but never knew this would halt fat burning!!!

or would the best thing just be wait at least an hour or two after cardio to down the protein?

[DBarcelo]

I always tell people they should eat a little oatmeal before doing cardio. It does go against the idea of burning, but it gives you the energy to go a little longer and a little harder than if you had nothing in your system at all. And like I've said before, you get to benefit more from the post-cardio fat burning.

I wouldn't take protein before doing cardio, because protein tends to cause some amount of stomach bloating and that will cause you to not be able to go thru an entire cardio session. It can also lead to stomach cramping if you force yourself through it. It really depends on what protein you're using and how your body reacts to it.

[znak]

I disagree...
If you want to lose fat, doing cardio, 45 mins at 65-75% in the AM, on an empty stomach, will give you the best results...
If you can't manage this EVERY day, then yes, AFTER your W/O is best... but AM on an empty stomach is sooo much better.
Also, keep it under an hour bro. I doubt you want to lose muscle, and I feel cardio much past an hour could cause your body to become catabolic. JMO.

I agree (basically because it is a scientific fact) that AM cardio on an empty stomach with a three hour wait until your next food intake is ideal. No question here.

Critter's question was what is the longest you should do cardio and he, himself, said it shouldn't done it after a work out. My answer was: what is your goal, what is your time schedule, what shape are you in? And "No", cardio after a workout is not completely forbidden.

You have look at the person.

Let's say a guy is in pretty bad shape, hasn't worked out since high school, weighs 190 and is 33 years old, has four kids and a demanding wife and only gets three days at the gym. I would recommend lifting for 45 minutes and 45 minutes of cardio in the same session. He will get tone and lose fat quickly enough to keep him coming back. Is this what I do? No. But can it be appropriate? Yes. Would 90 minutes of cardio be bad for him if he got in the groove. No. He has fat to spare

How long should you do cardio? Same answer. What are your goals? What shape are you in?

There are physiological rules that should be accounted for, but NOTHING is etched in stone.


PS- Thanks for your input, DBarcelo. Your postings on this board are typically really awsome!

[IronReload04]

wow!!! what i though was right i now realize is dead wrong. i was under the impression that protein had to be downed after cardio to fight cortisol and catabalism????? from the time you go to sleep, through cardio, and 3 hours after is a long ass time to without protein, wouldnt you loose muscle.
i really really thought protein had to be consumed after cardio to preserve muscle?????

[critter]

heh... im in pretty good shape (12% body fat give or take) 5'5" @170 and just looking to get a little leaner. i started back working out about two months ago and my diet in itself has made a huge difference but just trying to find out other info to make the best of what im doing

[DBarcelo]

wow!!! what i though was right i now realize is dead wrong. i was under the impression that protein had to be downed after cardio to fight cortisol and catabalism????? from the time you go to sleep, through cardio, and 3 hours after is a long ass time to without protein, wouldnt you loose muscle.
i really really thought protein had to be consumed after cardio to preserve muscle?????

It depends on your goals. If you're just looking to get healthier and get more indurance, then yes, that's the way to go. If you're trying to cut body fat and lose weight, then no, you don't want to take in anything right after cardio, because you will stop the breakdown of fat dead in it's tracks. You will have broken down some fat, but you will have only broken down half of what you could have broken down had you not had that protein right after. You should drink about 8 ozs of water right after so you don't dehydrate.

[DBarcelo]

PS- Thanks for your input, DBarcelo. Your postings on this board are typically really awsome!

Thank you very much. Just trying to help out.

[DBarcelo]

I didn't answer part of your question. Yes, you will lose some muscle if you're not working out also. If you work out also, you will probably still be able to make gains, but it will just be a little slower than normal.

[MrDezel]

what about when you're on cycle and trying to put on lean body mass? Should you still wait to eat after AM cardio?

[IronReload04]

I didn't answer part of your question. Yes, you will lose some muscle if you're not working out also. If you work out also, you will probably still be able to make gains, but it will just be a little slower than normal.

are you saying that as long as i have a weigt lifting program, that if i wait 3 hours to eat after cardio, i will not loose muscle?

[IronReload04]

are you saying that as long as i have a weigt lifting program, that if i wait 3 hours to eat after cardio, i will not loose muscle?

o ya, i will also be taking 5 g glutamine b4 and after

[DBarcelo]

what about when you're on cycle and trying to put on lean body mass? Should you still wait to eat after AM cardio?

If you're on cycle and trying to put on body mass, you probably shouldn't be doing cardio. That's normally part of the bulking cycle. If you're a heavy person already and you need to do cardio year round, then you may want to do cardio while on a cycle. In any case, I wouldn't really want to go that route exactly, I would go no more than an hour without eating anything. When you're on a cycle, you're paying good money for a result that requires plenty of protein, minerals, vitamins, amino's, etc. You need your nutritien in order to get the maximum effect from your cycle. That's not the best time to be trying to cut down, if you want that, then just add some GH to the cycle.

[DBarcelo]

are you saying that as long as i have a weigt lifting program, that if i wait 3 hours to eat after cardio, i will not loose muscle?

If you have a GOOD weight lifting program, you should be able to greatly minimize the amount of muscle loss, if not be able to actually gain muscle while doing intense cardio. If you do gain, it will not be as much as if you were only doing the anerobic excercise though.

It also helps to have some good suppliments and a good daily vitamin.

[DBarcelo]

o ya, i will also be taking 5 g glutamine b4 and after

glutamine is good but not in it's free form. I really shouldn't say that it's not good in the free form, but in the free form, glutamine is used primarily in the digestive system and very little will actually enter into the blood stream. You should try to find a form of bound glutamine. I drink Juven and that has glutamine bound to two other amino acids. If you take L-glutamine, you're going to need a lot more than 5 grams to see any appreciable difference. You would need maybe 50 grams in order to get about 5 grams to pass the digestive tract. But that would also help to avoid muscle loss during a cutting phase.

[IronReload04]

if you have more fat, then could your muscles afford to go longer without eating after cardio than somone who has less fat. Lets say i am in the 18-20% bf range, will 3 hours without eating affect my muscle building, where 3 hours w/out eating would affect someone in the 7-8% bf more?

[MrDezel]

Thanks for the help bro! I finally can make sense of what to do and not do in regards to cardio while on cycle!

So let me make sure I understand what you're saying... I shouldn't worry about doing much of any cardio while on cycle if I'm trying to put on some LBM unless I am already overweight (which I'm not).

[chicamahomico]

You need to define your goals as specifically as possible before you design a training program, you simply cannot compare apples to oranges. Are wanting to lose bodyfat, compete in a triathalon, or just improve your CV fitness? You gotta mention goals in your posts because people will tend to give advice assuming your goals are similar, or the same, as their own.

[DBarcelo]

if you have more fat, then could your muscles afford to go longer without eating after cardio than somone who has less fat. Lets say i am in the 18-20% bf range, will 3 hours without eating affect my muscle building, where 3 hours w/out eating would affect someone in the 7-8% bf more?

Yes, you can afford to go longer without eating if you have more fat, but you're only doing this for the time after you've completed cardio. You're not doing it all day long. After that three hours is up, you go back to your normal schedule, be it eating every two hours or your three meals per day.

[DBarcelo]

Thanks for the help bro! I finally can make sense of what to do and not do in regards to cardio while on cycle!

So let me make sure I understand what you're saying... I shouldn't worry about doing much of any cardio while on cycle if I'm trying to put on some LBM unless I am already overweight (which I'm not).

That's right. Use that time as your bulking phase, but eat clean and try not to ad any fat.

[DBarcelo]

add any fat (to your body that is).

[IronReload04]

yeah, i definately go back to eating normally after fasting post cardio. but i think i am going to go 2 hours just to be safe.

Is their a good medium? i mean, once i get down to a bf i feel good about( not lookin to get ripped, just get rid of love handles from bulking up) Can i maintain that bf and still build optimal muscle? or do i need to be eating enough (clean) to add fat even with cardio to build optimal muscle?

[DBarcelo]

yeah, i definately go back to eating normally after fasting post cardio. but i think i am going to go 2 hours just to be safe.

Is their a good medium? i mean, once i get down to a bf i feel good about( not lookin to get ripped, just get rid of love handles from bulking up) Can i maintain that bf and still build optimal muscle? or do i need to be eating enough (clean) to add fat even with cardio to build optimal muscle?

If you eat really clean during your bulking phase, you won't put on fat or at least you'll hardly put on any fat. You can do cardio and only go one hour before eating again and then eat to bulk. If you tend to put on fat really fast. If not, just eat really clean while bulking and do cardio again after the bulking phase.

[IronReload04]

thanx for all the responses, they were a great help

[NATTY]

Shiot, I didn't know about waiting for three hours, oh well, Live and learn right Fella's. I guess Now, Im gonna get REALLY lean lol. Great thread guys, lots of great info.

[Cuttup]

Cardio after weights is pretty pointless. You cut into recovery time from an anaerobic activity by introducing an aerobic activity. Secondly, you MUST ingest a simple carb/protein shake (dex/pro) after working out, so as soon as you step off the cardio machine and down that shake, you immediately blunt lipolysis. (Fat burning stops cold!)

Not ideal. Split them up, and let your DIET be the factor in getting you ripped.

~SC~

I agree on whats youve said here excepts for the cardio being pointless after your workout. Doing cardio before your workout creates fatigue, thus leaving you with as much energy to keep and intense workout/and the ability to do a decent weight with decent reps.