Question about cardio for burning fat.

5111

Member
Awards
0
What is better for burning fat without muscle loss: Intense cardio for 20 minutes or more relaxed cardio for 30 minutes?

I typically do 30 minutes of cardio with a heartrate of 145-150. If I step it up the intensity will it cause me to lose more muscle?
 

meathead1987

Board Supporter
Awards
1
  • Established
HIIT, or sprints are superior.

A good session would be:

3min warmup
10x 10all out sprints followed by 80secs recovery
2min cooldown
5min stretch cooldown.

The ATP depletion that this causes will activate AMPK, which in turn will decrease ACC, increase Maonyl-CoA. And cause fat to be the preferred source of energy in the mitochondria, as opposed to glucose/protein.

It will also ramp up your metabolism moreso than low intensity cardio.

Another option would be to do the sprint session I outlined above(without the cooldown) and continue to do 20minutes of low intensity cardio. Thus increasing FFA oxidation and enabling enev more TAG into the mitochondria for use as fuel.
 

5111

Member
Awards
0
Okay, that is different from anything that I have done before. Maybe I will give it a try. I used to do 30 minutes of cardio and every 5th minute I would sprint as fast as I could for an entire minute. I didn't notice any progress with it so I ditched it after about 3 weeks.
 
Dwight Schrute

Dwight Schrute

I am faster than 80% of all snakes
Awards
2
  • Legend!
  • Established
The ATP depletion that this causes will activate AMPK, which in turn will decrease ACC, increase Maonyl-CoA. And cause fat to be the preferred source of energy in the mitochondria, as opposed to glucose/protein.
This is bascially what resistant training does. THe hormonal response is quite similar but the problem is that if you are dieting and incporpate this plus weight training then you will overtrain and will lose muscle. IT bascially goes like this. HIIT release fat from storage better than any other form of cardio, but low intensity oxidizes those FFA's better than anything. People need to understand that you can release all the triglycerides in the world but if they don't get oxidized they will get redposited back into adipose cells.

Now if you are not weight training like a BB'er, HIIT is great but you still need to have the diet and lack of calories for the body to oxidize those FFA's.

SO for me the best combination that I have found to keep all muscle and maintain all my strenght is to use the weight training for releasing stored triglycerides, then low cardio helps immentsly with oxidizing them along with diet.
 

meathead1987

Board Supporter
Awards
1
  • Established
This is bascially what resistant training does. THe hormonal response is quite similar but the problem is that if you are dieting and incporpate this plus weight training then you will overtrain and will lose muscle. IT bascially goes like this. HIIT release fat from storage better than any other form of cardio, but low intensity oxidizes those FFA's better than anything. People need to understand that you can release all the triglycerides in the world but if they don't get oxidized they will get redposited back into adipose cells.

Now if you are not weight training like a BB'er, HIIT is great but you still need to have the diet and lack of calories for the body to oxidize those FFA's.

SO for me the best combination that I have found to keep all muscle and maintain all my strenght is to use the weight training for releasing stored triglycerides, then low cardio helps immentsly with oxidizing them along with diet.
So would you advise doing cardio immediately after training?
 

ajntorinj

Member
Awards
0
SO for me the best combination that I have found to keep all muscle and maintain all my strenght is to use the weight training for releasing stored triglycerides, then low cardio helps immentsly with oxidizing them along with diet.
That is an interesting approach. Two questions:

1. Isn't following up all of the work sets with cardio more catabolic than is desireable, or is the overall catabolic effect insignificant, assuming adequate nutritients are consumed afterwards?

2. How long would you recommend to perform low-intensity cardio after a workout? Since the glycogen stores have already been depleted and the triglycerides have been released, I wouldn't imagine it would take a significant amount of time. Or should I assume the opposite, because it is the FFAs that are utilized for fuel, so one would be wise to continue with the LIC for an extended amount of time [but then this would interfere with post-workout nutrition]. Please explain. Thanks!
 
Dwight Schrute

Dwight Schrute

I am faster than 80% of all snakes
Awards
2
  • Legend!
  • Established
1. Glycogen stores aren't depleted after resistance training. Its highly overrated. TO put it simply, it takes most 24-48 hours of carb depletion to becomes fully depleted to the point of catabolism. One weight training session isn't even going to come close to this so doing low cardio will not be a problem. I usually do about 30 minutes of low (125-130 HR for me) and it wokrs like a charm.

2. Only need 30 minutes after weight trianing or 45 minutes during other times (morning on empty stomach). This the way numerous competitors do it (mostly pro's in my area) and it just flat out works. Now I don't rely on pro's too much but in this case these guys are not the top 1% so they have nothing to pitch or sell. This is one area where science does support the advice they give and the results do to.
 
Dwight Schrute

Dwight Schrute

I am faster than 80% of all snakes
Awards
2
  • Legend!
  • Established
So would you advise doing cardio immediately after training?
Sure, sometimes. It depends too. I would never do it after legs or very large muscle groups.
 

5111

Member
Awards
0
1. Glycogen stores aren't depleted after resistance training. Its highly overrated. TO put it simply, it takes most 24-48 hours of carb depletion to becomes fully depleted to the point of catabolism. One weight training session isn't even going to come close to this so doing low cardio will not be a problem. I usually do about 30 minutes of low (125-130 HR for me) and it wokrs like a charm.

2. Only need 30 minutes after weight trianing or 45 minutes during other times (morning on empty stomach). This the way numerous competitors do it (mostly pro's in my area) and it just flat out works. Now I don't rely on pro's too much but in this case these guys are not the top 1% so they have nothing to pitch or sell. This is one area where science does support the advice they give and the results do to.
Thanks Bobo, that is exactly what I needed to know. I will stick to 30 minutes of easy cardio AFTER a workout, but on cardio days go more intense or go for 45 minutes. Is almost daily too much?

My typicaly workout plan is
Sun - Back/Bi's
Mon - Cardio and abs
Tue - Chest
Wed - Cardio and arms
Thur - Legs
Fri - Cardio
Sat - Shoulders and Tri's

I also do crunches EVERYDAY, but Monday is my AB day. My "Cardio" days are mostly dedicated to cardio only, but on the lift days I'm trying to make myself do 30 minutes of cardio as well. Is that overkill?
 

meathead1987

Board Supporter
Awards
1
  • Established
Stop doing crunches every day. its a waste of effort.
 
Dwight Schrute

Dwight Schrute

I am faster than 80% of all snakes
Awards
2
  • Legend!
  • Established
Thanks Bobo, that is exactly what I needed to know. I will stick to 30 minutes of easy cardio AFTER a workout, but on cardio days go more intense or go for 45 minutes. Is almost daily too much?

My typicaly workout plan is
Sun - Back/Bi's
Mon - Cardio and abs
Tue - Chest
Wed - Cardio and arms
Thur - Legs
Fri - Cardio
Sat - Shoulders and Tri's

I also do crunches EVERYDAY, but Monday is my AB day. My "Cardio" days are mostly dedicated to cardio only, but on the lift days I'm trying to make myself do 30 minutes of cardio as well. Is that overkill?

Cardio everyday is poinltess. I don't even recommending going over 4x per week since your are training as a BB'er.
 

5111

Member
Awards
0
Cardio everyday is poinltess. I don't even recommending going over 4x per week since your are training as a BB'er.
Really? That's cool. I figured that I would need it more often with my higher body fat, but I guess I will just have to leave that up to the diet.

Thanks again.
 

meathead1987

Board Supporter
Awards
1
  • Established
Why? And what should I do instead?

Sorry for so many questions, but I am still trying to learn :D
Crunches will not mke you lose ab fat. There is no such thing as natural spot reduction. Instead, do nothing :D
 

5111

Member
Awards
0
Crunches will not mke you lose ab fat. There is no such thing as natural spot reduction. Instead, do nothing :D
Oh yeah, I knew that they would not help with fat loss. I am doing them to try and keep the core muscles strong and to get my heartrate up. I don't use any weights with them. I do 4 sets of 30.
 

meathead1987

Board Supporter
Awards
1
  • Established
you get plenty of core work from squats and deads, crunches will not help @ all.

4 sets of 30crunches will do zip
 
Dwight Schrute

Dwight Schrute

I am faster than 80% of all snakes
Awards
2
  • Legend!
  • Established
I like cable crunches because the volume of my deads and squats reduced a bit during cutting. I also seem to target the bottom area much more and thats the only reason I really do them.

But its always good to work directly just maintain and build strenght in that area. It goes along way to avoiding back injuries. MattD and I can attest to that.....

But some just don't need to as Meathead said. If you are doing a lot of core work the mutiple sets duiring the week isn't necessary.
 

5111

Member
Awards
0
In that case I will stick to them since I also use them to warmup my body and get my heartrate up. Besides, one day I won't have a thick layer of fat covering them :D
 

Sticks

Get big or die trying
Awards
1
  • Established
What about elevated cortisol levels. Wouldn't these continue to rise during a cardio session that immediately follows weight training.
 

alexcp91

New member
Awards
0
The cortisol question was what kept me away from cardio after lifting since I didn't exactly know how cortisol worked and if you should end all intense activies within 45 minutes. Also, do you take a protein shake after the work out and then start cardio or wait 15 minutes or so?
 
Dwight Schrute

Dwight Schrute

I am faster than 80% of all snakes
Awards
2
  • Legend!
  • Established
What about elevated cortisol levels. Wouldn't these continue to rise during a cardio session that immediately follows weight training.
That why you keep the intensity low. Cortisol will always be elevated. You're dieting.
 

Sticks

Get big or die trying
Awards
1
  • Established
That why you keep the intensity low. Cortisol will always be elevated. You're dieting.
Ok, but what if your not dieting, b/c i'm am not currently. would you still recommend the same cardio plan.
 

Similar threads


Top