short vs. long

[perfectbeast2001]

My problem with cardio is my time restraints. This isn't ideal but the only time I can really do it is BEFORE a weight session unless I was to ditch my training partners. Still tend to have good sessions but obviously I lift a lot better when I don't do the cardio. My question is how serious is the negative impact of this?

Doing cardio directly before weights session is an awful thing to do. Better off doing no cardio if thats all you can manage. You are burning precious glycogen stores with cardio which will mean fat loss is at a minimum. You will then commence a weight session with depleted glyogen stores which will force your body to tear down muscle tissue. You could drink a pro/dex shake after your cardio then commence weights but really not ideal. I work 2 jobs and support a family. Make time.

[Milderbeast]

Doing cardio directly before weights session is an awful thing to do. Better off doing no cardio if thats all you can manage. You are burning precious glycogen stores with cardio which will mean fat loss is at a minimum. You will then commence a weight session with depleted glyogen stores which will force your body to tear down muscle tissue. You could drink a pro/dex shake after your cardio then commence weights but really not ideal. I work 2 jobs and support a family. Make time.

Yes mein furher :-D In all seriousness though thanks. A few years ago I did a 14 week stint of dieting down with cardio before my weights session - I browsed around the magazines (didn't have the net back then) looking for what the negatives would be and the best I could find was that "it wasn't ideal". Things went ok but I know they could have been a hell of a lot better. I'll take a look at how I can re-arrange things and if worst came to worst I'd go for the shake option - I could do 45 mins back end of each of my weekend workouts for definite then it's a case of slotting in another 1 or 2 through the week.

Ps - dunno if that was your column that used to appear in MD but it was always a good, informative read.