--->**Question On Cardio Intensity and Burning Fat**<--

Wussup all,

Quick question here, from my understanding you get into the fat burning zone after about 20 mins or so of cardio after your body uses the carbs for energy. My question is could I speed this up by doing some kind of intense cardio at say 165-170 BPM (my max HR is 201) to more quickly get rid of the glycogen and then after say 5-10 min go to my normal cardio at 135-40 BPM..? I hope you understand what I am trying to explain. The whole reason for this thread is I want to know if that will work so I can do my normal 45 Min of reg cardio but get the MOST out of the 45 min because the INTENSE cardio beforehand will have taken care of the glycogen and I'll be dipping right into the fat.


Peace

Thanks in advance ya'll

Gotta bump this..

peace

Come on this board is full of geniuses, I've got a lot of views but no info..hook me up :)

peace

ok yeah, thats a good idea, but after a certain point you start to burn muscle and protien for fuel not fat, so interval training is the best to do, you could burn out first then try to burn the excess fat, i would do thresh hold runs then one long day per week.
peace

coo, I just jog/sprinted on a treadmill for awhile kept my HR at like 170 or so for awhile then switched to the bike and kept my HR at 140sh for the remainder of my cardio like 1/2 hour.

peace

:) bump

hehe, sorry, this is getting views but no replys....bump


peace

hehe, this is beginning to look doubtful...come on ya'll this is the best board on the net, SOMEONE knows the answer for me :)

peace
:unsure:

Im not real sure any info i would give would help out on this so ill bump

a couple questions though.

when are you doing your cardio? AM or PM?
are you lifting before or after your cardio?
are you eating anything before your cardio?

Derr, I should've let ya'll know..I'm doing my cardio in the morning before breakfast on an empty stomach..excpet a 1 scoop opt whey in water and 5grams of glutamine. I lift in the afternoon. The question is not only for in the morning but sometimes on my non-lifting days I don't make it in the morning before breakfast.

peace

In the morning your body is best suited to burn fat because u have "fasted" all night and you should have very little carb or sugar in your blood, forcing the body to tap into fat stores for energy. Me and lil red usually hit our cardio after about 45 minutes of lifting, trying to call on the same principle...we burn our "quick energy" fuels out of the bloodstream during the workout and when we do 20-30 minutes of cardio we SHOULD be burning fat. It's worked well for us so far. Everything I've read says your best fat burning potential is early AM before breakfast.

JMO

DDF

because your body is depleted in glycogen, wont it burn fat AND PROTEIN?

how can it ONLY burn fat?

this is qhat i wanna know!

i think i will take the protein and glutamine before the run too

Your body primarily burns stored liver glycogen while sleeping, And even afterr depleting muscle glycogen during workouts and cardio you can draw off your liver glycogen stores as well. However, there is never a time when your body burns just fat for fuel during cardio. It's just the ratio of fat to glycogen is higher at lower intesity training. You can work at higher intensity levels and burn more calories, and as much fat in a shorter time but the fat to glycogen ratio will be lower. Personally I don't think you should perform cardio after a workout since it's so important to get your post workout nutrition quickly. But to answer the original question...the 20:00 time does not have anything to do with depleting stored glycogen...it is just approximately how long it takes to trigger the higher ratio of fat burning.

thanks for the responses but Im still confused about one part here...If I was to sprint or do a HIGH intense cardio session for 15 mins wouldn't I burn the glycogen faster? then I could go and do my low intensity cardio?

peace

my main concern is the sacrifice of muscle tissue

you've gotton some great advice so far. I believe that it is true that you will tap into your fat stores more easily if you are doing your cardio in the morning. Also, it is a good idea to do this after your weight training becuase you have depleted your glycogen stores.
If I am understanding your question correctly, you are asking if you up your intensity for the first 5-10 minutes and then go down to a lower intensity for the rest of your workout, would you speed up the process of depleting your glycogen stores and burn fat quicker? Unfortunately, the answer to that question is no. By increasing your intensity, you will burn more calories right away, yes, but you won't necessarily be burning fat. You burn more fat by working at lower intensities for a longer duration of time. This is because it takes approximately 20 minutes to reach the point where your body has depleted those stores and turns to body fat stores. In only 5-10 minutes of exercise, no matter the intensity, you will not have reached this point yet. You will only tire yourself out quicker and your body will be more likely to turn to muscle (protein) for energy later in your workout.
This is based on my knowledge (Clinical Exercise Pysiology)...Please, anybody correct me if I am wrong. I would hate to be giving incorrect advice.

No, i appreciate the advice and as far as I know you are correct. I was just wondering if I could do a high intesnity exercise for 10 mins or so to SPEED up the process of burning the glycogen, that way I could get into the fat quicker and then lower the intesnity. I guess its a no answer so I'll go back to my hr cardio sessions :)

thanks all

Quote:

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Originally posted by overactive-girl
you've gotton some great advice so far. I believe that it is true that you will tap into your fat stores more easily if you are doing your cardio in the morning. Also, it is a good idea to do this after your weight training becuase you have depleted your glycogen stores.

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no one has answered the notion of whether muscle is burned as well.