A few Cardio Questions..

[trisdog]

Hey guys, I been wondering... I know your suppose to run maybe 65-70% of your max HR for about 30-45 mins if you are trying to drop the body fat.. My question is what exactly happens if you run longer periods for like over an hour or so maybe even 2 hours.. what happens to your body ? do you stop burning the fat and start burning muscle or something I was just curious.. or maybe it is good to run for that long? What would be the minimum amount of cardio to do to loose BF and what is OVER doing it?

thanks in advance.. I just got a new polar HR monitor its pretty sweet the F6.. anyway I want to do things right, I have my diet right for the past 2 weeks and already lost 5 lbs without cardio and people are saying im looking bigger so i am guessing i lost body fat! hopefully!

and any other tips for loosing BF would be appreciated!

[trisdog]

forgot one question.. lets say I would like to run at night after i work out.. how many hours should I wait to do cardio after an intense workout? or Should I not run AFTER a workout at all ? I workout in the evening anywhere around 4-7PM ... thanks!

[JohnboyF]

After workout cardio is okay. After doing some reading they say you should only do about 30 min after workout. And get your protien and carbs in.

P.S. Never do Cardio then Train..

I cant answer all the question but 5-6 days at 30min is good for fat burning.

[JUICEME]

From what I have read, 30 -45 minutes is plenty after a work-out, you dont want to over train it can to very stresful on your body.

[trisdog]

So i can start cardio right after my work out? i thought i read somewhere that you shouldn't do cardio right after your workout.. that its catabolic or something .. am i mistaken?

[~fuelforfire~]

I do my cardio right after my workout, but i dont see any harm in doing it before your workout, some people like to do it to get there heart rates up, all depends on the person i guess

on legs day though id defenatly do your cardio after, get that lactic acid build up out of the legs, and i dont see a need to be running that long unless your training for a marathon or something

[trisdog]

hypethetically speaking if i ran for 2 hours would i burn more fat? or you body burns the energy else where? ... or is 45 mins runing at the same heart rate as effective as running 2 hours?

[trisdog]

anyone else have any input? Is it good to do cardio 2x a day? say once in the monring then once in the evening?

[~fuelforfire~]

anyone else have any input? Is it good to do cardio 2x a day? say once in the monring then once in the evening?

Sure, you can do that, but id check your diet if youre going to be doing this.

[trisdog]

what kind of diet should i be on if i do cardio 2x a day?

[~fuelforfire~]

what kind of diet should i be on if i do cardio 2x a day?

ive never done it two times a day so i dont know, but i suggest pming a guy named webb, or better yet go to his thread 8 weeks out in the competition q and a forum.

[Cornholio]

What will doing the cardio before a workout hurt?

[Cornholio]

I do mine after now but I used to do about 10 minutes of cardio before just to warm up.

[helium3]

Hey guys, I been wondering... I know your suppose to run maybe 65-70% of your max HR for about 30-45 mins if you are trying to drop the body fat.. My question is what exactly happens if you run longer periods for like over an hour or so maybe even 2 hours.. what happens to your body ? do you stop burning the fat and start burning muscle or something I was just curious.. or maybe it is good to run for that long? What would be the minimum amount of cardio to do to loose BF and what is OVER doing it?

thanks in advance.. I just got a new polar HR monitor its pretty sweet the F6.. anyway I want to do things right, I have my diet right for the past 2 weeks and already lost 5 lbs without cardio and people are saying im looking bigger so i am guessing i lost body fat! hopefully!

and any other tips for loosing BF would be appreciated!

if you were to do cardio for over an hour you would be surceptable to some muscle loss although your body would be utilising your fat stores it doesnt just use them it taps your glycogen/carb/sugar stores as well and not forgeting your protien(muscle).ask your self this do you see any huge muscular long distance runners?

secondly although partly answered in my first point,i personally would never do cardio after a workout because the amount of energy consumed(carbs/sugar/glycogen/atp among others)is great and if you were to run on empty as it were,where do you think your body will get its energy from if the above stores are depleted?yep the old muscles can take a hammering as well as the very little amount of energy you have left.do it on a seperate day your body needs time to recover.but if you must do it at least get a protien shake and some good carbs down before you do cardio to replenish your stores.

[trisdog]

Yeah well what i did yesterday was after my workout I got a 40gram protein shake and a 66gram carb drink and rested for 10 mins then did cardio for 45 mins... would that be ok? or was i most likely still loosing some muscle?

[SwoleCat]

You drank that pwo recovery shake then did cardio 10 minutes later?

I'd never do that.

1) You burn your shake for fuel, no fat, so that's f*cked.

2) You burn that shake that was supposed to be for your weight training recovery, so now you've compromised that.

If you are going to do cardio after weights, re-do your split. Make the workouts only 30-40 mins, then add 30 mins. of cardio right after.

Then wait 5-10 mins, then have your recovery shake. You are still in the "anabolic window" to absorb all those nutrients quickly, you've mobilized fat during cardio, and you haven't over-trained and raised cortisol through the roof being that you have a short workout and cardio done in about an hour.
Cortisol and over-training come from being in the gym too long, not from handling your business.

~SC~

[helium3]

You drank that pwo recovery shake then did cardio 10 minutes later?

I'd never do that.

1) You burn your shake for fuel, no fat, so that's f*cked.

2) You burn that shake that was supposed to be for your weight training recovery, so now you've compromised that.

If you are going to do cardio after weights, re-do your split. Make the workouts only 30-40 mins, then add 30 mins. of cardio right after.

Then wait 5-10 mins, then have your recovery shake. You are still in the "anabolic window" to absorb all those nutrients quickly, you've mobilized fat during cardio, and you haven't over-trained and raised cortisol through the roof being that you have a short workout and cardio done in about an hour.
Cortisol and over-training come from being in the gym too long, not from handling your business.

~SC~

my workouts tend to be quite long,average 1 1/2hrs,in your opinion how long is the average anabolic window as ive heard conflicting stories?

[SwoleCat]

I'm not sure, but anything over an hour of weight training to me is pointless.

If you can't handle your biz for growth/stimulation/etc. in under an hour, you'd be wise to review your plan of attack or have someone design something for you.

~SC~

[helium3]

cool,my routine is working ok for now but ive been fine tuning it for a while and the only thing that was nagging me was the time it took as i workout 3x a week 4 would shorten my workouts enough,i have some ideas which i might go with.1hr workout would be great.

back on topic,i just think its better to do cardio on days off from the gym at the moment i dont run but instead power walk for an hour its low impact so no worries there.

[~fuelforfire~]

I'm not sure, but anything over an hour of weight training to me is pointless.

If you can't handle your biz for growth/stimulation/etc. in under an hour, you'd be wise to review your plan of attack or have someone design something for you.

~SC~

well depends really, if your working out by yourself an hour is easy, but when your working out with workout partners it tends to take a lot longer.

[helium3]

well depends really, if your working out by yourself an hour is easy, but when your working out with workout partners it tends to take a lot longer.

s@@t im so dumb i forgot to mention my workouts take that long cos i train with apartner.

[SwoleCat]

If you are both using the same equipment, yes. I usually would alternate exercises w/my partner when I trained w/one.

Chest for ex:

He'd do flat press first, I'd be next to him w/incline, then when we finished our 3-4 sets, we'd swap machines. Same for the assistor exercises.

We both knew we needed to get in, get out, get on w/our lives.

~SC~

[trisdog]

Hi, Thanks for the info swolecat .. My weight training does only take 35-45 mins at most... So just to make sure I understand what you said, You are saying right after my weight training without rest go right into my cardio (wich isn't intense cardio its at the 60% MHR level) then after that wait 5-10 mins than drink my PWO shake? Should this shake consist of carbs and protein? Like can I have a cup of brown rice for the carbs and just a regular protein shake would that be good? just want to get things correct.. I already see a difference i lost about 6 lbs in the last week and a few people are saying i look bigger (wich i guess is becuase my body fat is dropping? hopefully)

thanks again!

[~fuelforfire~]

If you are both using the same equipment, yes. I usually would alternate exercises w/my partner when I trained w/one.

Chest for ex:

He'd do flat press first, I'd be next to him w/incline, then when we finished our 3-4 sets, we'd swap machines. Same for the assistor exercises.

We both knew we needed to get in, get out, get on w/our lives.

~SC~

I enjoy the gym to much to just get in get out.

[SwoleCat]

The gym is fine to enjoy, but getting in and getting out is all that I need to do.

Handle biz and leave, that's what I do.

~SC~