cardio question

[PumP~N~Swole]

As some of you probably know from previous thread I can't lift at the moment so I'm going to do cardio sessions and abs until my injury is better. I started today doing cardio first thing in morning on empty stomach. My question is would it be ok to do cardio in the evening as well. What I mean is by doing 2 cardio sessions is it going to eat more muscle while I can't lift and would you all stick to just in the morning instead of at night to. Also to keep muscle from losing doing cardio and the catobolic break down is it better to doi it at lower intensities for longer periods of time better thanks.

[BigWill]

I wouldnt overdue cardio because it will eat muscle and I certainly wouldnt do cardio on an empty stomach first thing in the morning. That is very catabolic. Since you are trying to spare what muscle you have before you can lift again, at least have a protein shake first.

[calidude]

Don't forget during this time you want to take in a lot of protein. Try the supplement HMB with creating to help out.

[Feli Fly]

Originally posted by BigWill
I wouldnt overdue cardio because it will eat muscle and I certainly wouldnt do cardio on an empty stomach first thing in the morning. That is very catabolic. Since you are trying to spare what muscle you have before you can lift again, at least have a prot shake first.

Definetly agree... cortisol levels are high at the time you wake up, and eating something helps curb them so your morning excercise won't burn as much muscle.

I just got on this board and didn't know BWill is on here... even though he has a crazy ass avatar, definetly listen to this guy.. taught me all I know

[PumP~N~Swole]

Thx guys, But if I have a protein shake b4 will it only burn the calories I consumed? If I do cardio on empty stomach it will burn forced fat if I have that protein shake wouldn't it just burn off what I consumed? Also what about an energy bar/protein bar would that be ok to? But still looks like to me it will burn what you consume. I was doing cardio at night every night and didn't burn an ounce of fat because it was just burning some of the calories I consumed through out the day. U guys let me know and thx again

[Feli Fly]

A strong understanding of cortisol (and insulin, glucagon, etc) is needed for you to really understand, but I'll try...

The body will pretty much use carbs, fats, and proteins in that order (but all of them at any time, esp if you are working hard or in a starvation state), so

-if you take in a proten shake and then exercise shortly after, you will burn mostly carb stores in the body and your body will break down fat stores for energy too... muscle breakdown will be minimal.

-if you do morning exercise on an empty stomach, cortisol remains high... cortisol is catabolic for both fats and muscles, so you burn more muscle than you would if you got something in you first.

What you are saying isn't real accurate; yeah, your body can use the amino acids it breaks your shake down into, but they're kinda like a last resort... it'd rather hit up free blood glucose (which there is not much of in the morning), liver glycogen, or fat stores first because they are easier to convert to glucose. And besides, if you take in a shake and go biking an half hour later, very few of the cals you just consumed are actually available... digestion takes longer than you probably think, it's fast for high GI carbs, but fairly slow for most proteins and fats.

[sigrabbit]

I hate to add confusion to the matter, but there are other opinions on cardio. Here is a quote from hardasarock at swolecat.com:



Let's examine this from a practical standpoint. Your goal is to burn fat. We all know fat burning is best achieved by doing moderate intensity cardio for a longer duration. I knew this long before I ever knew who Swole was...If you want to burn fat, you'd want your blood sugar to be as low as possible, otherwise your body would have an alternate source of fuel to tap into. Even protein can be used for fuel (via glucogenesis) if it is more readily available. If you were to consume a shake before cardio, your body would use that for fuel first as it would be most readily available.

So, if you had the shake, you'd have to wait at least an hour and pref two for it to be processed. Why do this? Why consume protein, then have to wait when you could just wake up, do your cardio and be sure your blood sugar is pretty much the lowest it will be all day as you haven't eaten since the night before? You shouldn't. Do your cardio on an empty stomach.

[PumP~N~Swole]

Confusion yes, Both can make since but who here is lean, mean,green and ti-total fighting machine that does cardio for one of the examples of above, if swole Does it on an empty stomach Just look at him he's a beast. And I'm only assuming swole does it on an empty stomach because of hardasarock stated he knew this long before he met swole, so obviously swole preaches the same methods. If this is as far as this goes I think I'll have to go with what I've seen which is swole. If you guys are super huge and lean and do it with a shake or something else in the gut before and have a photo so we can see how it works for you that would be cool to. I'm kinda glossy on this subject and I do thank all examples. We will see if this goes any futher with other replies thx again.

[Feli Fly]

No offense, but listening to the people who are "super huge" is the dumbest thing I've ever heard... how big is Duchaine? Atkins? Most any highly regarded endocrine/nutrition expert?

Any dumbass can stick a needle in himself or gobble down dbol and get "super huge", but that is a personal choice... with regard to training and nutrition, sticking to scientific logic makes a lot more sense to me...

http://www.asas.org/jas/symposia/esupp2/jas2080.pdf
http://qualitycounts.com/fp/grinch.html
http://www.muscle101.com/cardio.html
http://www.physiol.arizona.edu/PSIO4...des/slide5.pdf (go to pg 19)
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/layne21.htm
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/randy7.htm
http://www.bodybuilding.com/teen/derek40s.htm

Look at the dates on the material that says you should do empty stomach cardio... IMO, with regard to empty stomach cardio vs eating first, it basically comes down to this:

Will empty stomach cardio burn slightly more calories? Maybe.
Will empty stomach cardio burn much more muscle (which you cannot afford to lose)? Definetly.
Will empty stomach cardio make me feel like I'm gonna pass out? Yes.

*and my pics are up in the member pics forum if you care, but how "super huge" someone you ask for fat loss advice is still pretty unimportant IMO...

[PumP~N~Swole]

Well Immho, I'm not taking sides rather of my own proof. I was doing it at night only and never seemed to drop bf. Since ive started in the morning i can tell alittle difference in my abs and upper/lower back. I'm not saying you are wrong or the facts are wrong, all I'm saying is I hear this and hear that it's hard to judge but if someone tells me something that i've seen a photo of and their super huge steroids or not they know something I don't and I'm going to listen-granted it could be the biggest mistake I or someone could do. But People listen to Physical Trainers every day and some things they do some don't agree with. As with that said I think I'll keep going with whats working at the moment plus I'm sure I'll lose muscle but I have muscle memory thx god so once I hit the weights again hopefully couple weeks to a month I'll be back where I was I just hope I heal up.

Oh, btw the army/military gets up at 5am and runs miles b4 they even seen food. If u look at most army dudes some of them are lean very cardiovascular.