It seems to be a consensus that the early morning cardio before eating is preferred for the best success. I was just wondering what everyone thought was the second best option if the morning workout wasnt possible. Thanks for your input.
Associate Member
It seems to be a consensus that the early morning cardio before eating is preferred for the best success. I was just wondering what everyone thought was the second best option if the morning workout wasnt possible. Thanks for your input.
AR-Elite Hall of Famer (RETIRED)
After training....
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Yep, PWO when glycogen levels have hopefully been depleted!
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pwo if its fat loss you are after and are only trying to maintain mass - but if you are trying to gain mass then i believe that cardio straight after resistance training will hinder the recovery and growth process if growthis your goal then cardio should be as far away from resistance training as possible
9/11/2001~343 Never Forget!~E-HOF~RETIRED
Doesnt have to be this way, I believe you can do cardio and not hinder your gains as long as it's done in moderation AND your diet is accounting for it. I have also seen several people (myself included at times) who's training intensity was hampered by their lack of cardiovascular conditioning. This really only becomes evident when training legs. When performing 3-4 sets of squats in the 12-20 range I have had to pause more than a time or two to dig out those last few reps. Same thing goes for heavy walking lunges. The pause wasnt because my legs were dead it was because my lungs were not catching up.Originally Posted by sparkant
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I do agree that the second best time for cardio is after training as you have deleted your glycogen stores. But, at the same time there is a difference between having depleted glycogen stores and having depleted glycogen stores after a hard workout.
I believe there is an exceptional difference. Yes it is good to do cardio when your glycogen stores are depleted, but is it good to do cardio when glycogen stores are depleted after a heavy workout?
For me, I truly say no. Again, I will agree that doing cardio when your glycogen stores are depleted is great but after a workout it is not the second best alternative because your muscles are instantaneously craving to be repaired.
For instance, lets say I hit back super hard and directly after my workout my muscles are looking for fuel to start repairing themselves. Your body is carving for protein and nutrients to start rebuilding the muscle but I have nothing to give them. Then on top on it, not only do I not feed them what they crave but then I start to burn even more calories and put my body under more stress.
You have now put your body in Catabolism mode. In this instance, I believe it would be more beneficial to take in 50 grams whey and some carbs to replenish and build the muscle and stop further breakdown.
I would then do my cardio later on at night.
I do agree that if you are just looking to lose weight and fat only that is a good practice but for someone looking to build I would suggest the latter.
Last edited by calstate23; 12-23-2010 at 11:05 PM.
AR-Elite Hall of Famer (RETIRED)
Of course your muscles will be craving nutrients after training, but doing some low intensity cardio after training will NOT hurt gains in anyway.
It's one of the biggest myths out there that you need to have something IMMEDIATELY post work out.
It takes up to 24 hrs to replenish glycogen, so you're kidding yourself if you think you're going to do it in 10min after a work out with some oats and whey.
If you're concerned about your body becoming catabolic, then sip some BCAAs during training and into your PWO cardio.
But honestly, unless your diet is shit, and you're training for 2+ hours then you don't need to worry as much about catabolism as you may think.
I've done PWO cardio (45min to an hour) for a long time, and never had a problem being catabolic, not gaining, or loosing muscle.
New Member
I once had a wrestling coach in high school tell me that if you really want to lose weight fast, you should do cardio immediately before going to bed. I don't know if this is good advice or not, or if it might be good for fat loss but bad for muscle gains. Any input?
9/11/2001~343 Never Forget!~E-HOF~RETIRED
As usual much of this is "goal dependent". I agree with D7M on the PWO cardio, if your diet is dialed you really shouldnt have any issues. Take a huge step back and think about it for a minute. How long is your weight training workout? I am hoping it's 35-45 minutes or an hour MAX. So adding in 30-45 minutes PWO cardio runs this total to 60-90 minutes or there abouts. Again, if your diet is where it needs to be your body should be able to go an hour-hour and a half without needing to stop and eat something in between to inhibit muscle loss.
Also, regarding muscle loss, if you are looking to get contest lean, losing some muscle is going to happen. We obviously want to minimize this but it's a necessary sacrifice to get down in that 6% range or below for the majority of individuals.
"Who wants to be Clark Kent, when you can be Superman."
After training.
Senior Member
I dis-agree with you, in fact recently has been proven that distance runners improved their times when adding lower body resistance training to their workouts.
I have been in the military 9 years, and often find my best 2mile times and 5miles times have been when I was hitting the gym heavy. . .As Fireguy stated you just have to plan for it in your diet
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