Cardio and You

[HardGainer Member Find all posts View Profile Close HardGainer]

I used to be a long distance runner before I got injured and found weightlifting, as you can guess I was pretty skinny. But anyway I just wanted to throw it out there that I was a cardio junkie first and don't need to be educated on the benefits of cardio. Thats not what this is about.

What I do wanna know is what do you do? We all know cardio is recommended and I would assume most do it. But at the same time I know many people who dread and avoid cardio at all cost, lately I have become one of these people. So if you do cardio what do you do, run, jog, walk at an incline, hop on the elliptical or stairmaster or what? How long do you do it and why? Before or after a workout, or both? And what are the noticeable benefits aside from helping when its time to cut down?

I feel like most of us could talk all day about gear, lifting, or even nutrition but even though cardio is such a key piece you almost never hear anything about it. Why do you do it, is it the favor you do begrudgingly for your heart, do you think it helps with your cholesterol, are you the endomorph who blows up like a balloon without it, or is it just part of your religious routine and you don't even think about why?

Get at me

[xamo Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close xamo]

I was a water polo ncaa athlete .. my cardio was HIIT swimming for 2 to 3 hours.. imo HIIT swimming IS the best cardio. It's a total body work out while doing an interval training. Not to mention it's the best cardio to train your breathing.

[HardGainer Member Find all posts View Profile Close HardGainer]

I was a water polo ncaa athlete .. my cardio was HIIT swimming for 2 to 3 hours.. imo HIIT swimming IS the best cardio. It's a total body work out while doing an interval training. Not to mention it's the best cardio to train your breathing.

Dude no way, thats not one I expected but I'll bet thats intense. I remember jumpin in the pool about a year ago to swim a ton of laps to get "cut up". I was like yeah this is gonna be no problem I was on the swim team when I was like 8 years old. Most embarrassing day of my life.

[xamo Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close xamo]

haha well it did take me a long time to get used to it... :/ it's not like any cardio.. it's the only cardio I know that can get me to puke in less than 10 mins if I'm not warmed up enough

[Shrek Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Shrek]

I'm doing about 20 min interval, fast 2 minutes slow 2 minutes,on an elliptical after the weights. I'm doing it mostly to help me get leaner but, let's face it, my heart and overall condition can sure need some cardio from time to time

[HardGainer Member Find all posts View Profile Close HardGainer]

I'm doing about 20 min interval, fast 2 minutes slow 2 minutes,on an elliptical after the weights. I'm doing it mostly to help me get leaner but, let's face it, my heart and overall condition can sure need some cardio from time to time

Nice, good low impact cardio with high intensity, great for the joints great for the heart. I heard the best way to lose fat after lifting was to first drink protein to stop the catabolic effect and then do cardio. Your body will then burn mostly fat instead of just increasing the catabolic effect. Interesting but Idk how much truth is in it.

[Shrek Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Shrek]

Yeah, the Low impact is why I choose the elliptical over regular jogging and such, I'm a big boy and running is not great for the knees. I've also heard that taking protein between weights and cardio have that effect, as well as the body being more or less empty of carbs. True or false I don't know. When I hit the gym, 04 in the morning, all I've hade is a shake with fast carbs and bcaa's and a pwo. This gives me fast carbs filling and fueling my body and bcaa's protecting the muscles. Then when finished I drink another shake with the carbs and aminos, should help me keep muscles and strength while loosing fat

[Time Bandit Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Time Bandit]

I do 20 minuets be for as a warm up. I work out with the weights and the go back and do another 20 minuets. This is at a fast pace walk. Running is only for
3 minuets after work out. In total it ads up to 2 miles a day. Why?.. It helps burn belly fat for me. Like what Im reading tho. I need to change my shake time.

[HardGainer Member Find all posts View Profile Close HardGainer]

I do 20 minuets be for as a warm up. I work out with the weights and the go back and do another 20 minuets. This is at a fast pace walk. Running is only for
3 minuets after work out. In total it ads up to 2 miles a day. Why?.. It helps burn belly fat for me. Like what Im reading tho. I need to change my shake time.

I also heard that lifting before cardio (and in your case which is even better, cardio & lifting before cardio) burns glycogen so when you go back to do cardio after lifting if you stop the catabolic effect with protein, then with your glycogen being depleted your body will mainly use fat as fuel.

However, this is still trial and error for me. No matter what weight I've been at or what exercise combination I've been doing I cannot eliminate all my belly fat. Most frustrating shit ever. My latest experiment has been kind of backwards in terms of how people typically go at fat loss. I'm basically trying to get as big as possible and as strong as possible hoping that with the extra calorie needs of a lot of extra dense muscle eventually my body will stop storing fat and what fat I have will get used up over time. Maybe since I can never hit that perfect amount of calories consistently I'm either eating too much or too little and maybe the fluctuation causes my body to be stressed and then fights to keep its remaining fat stores? I'm just trying to not worry about it until I get big enough where its not longer a factor. But if anyones experienced this or has found a way to fight it please let me know. I'm thinking maybe I really should get into swimming for cardio like xamo I can't see fat standing a chance against dedicated swimming.

[Zole Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Zole]

I like to Run/Jog 2-3 times a week and I also do Barbell Complexes

[MrsBig Member Find all posts View Profile Close MrsBig]

Nice, good low impact cardio with high intensity, great for the joints great for the heart. I heard the best way to lose fat after lifting was to first drink protein to stop the catabolic effect and then do cardio. Your body will then burn mostly fat instead of just increasing the catabolic effect. Interesting but Idk how much truth is in it.

I've never heard of this, I'll have to do research; I am the body type that if I don't do cardio I would fatten up like a thanksgiving turkey.... If I knew what I know today I would have tried to be a HUGE muscle chic, then again I probably would not appreciate the stereo typing.

[Shrek Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Shrek]

If you look at it scientifycly(?) it should work. The body's first choose of energy is glyko(carbs) second is fat. This is why cardio in the morning on an empty stomach is great for fat loose. So, the weight training should empty the body from carbs, the protein shake should help save the muscles and the body should use fat for main fuel. Does it work? I really don't know sorry if it was hard too follow my text, it's early here and I'm tired so having a little problems with how to write correct in english

[stallion Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close stallion]

I don't do cardio on weight training days. I weight train 4 days per week...intense dc training at the moment, cardio 2 or 3. Lately I've been doing circuit training for my cardio and am liking it much better than hopping on the elliptical or treadmill for 45 minutes.

I'm 39 years old. The recommended "fat burn" zone on all the machines and spouted by all the trainers for me is in the 120-127 bpm range. After 40 minutes, I've hardly broken a sweat. Perhaps its a mental thing, but I need to feel like I've accomplished something.

Planet Fatness has their 30 minute workout area which most people use to eat pizza. I am using it for my cardio. I do every exercise on the circuit with weight that I can handle for about 20 reps, then I hit the aerobic step station between each machine. Five minutes in and I feel like I've accomplished more than I do in 45 minutes of elliptical or treadmill.

By the time I'm done, I'm wringing wet and breathing heavily. I mentally feel better about this type of workout, and I believe I'm stoking my metabolism better with this type of training as well.

[Brockynz Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Brockynz]

Currently on my bulk I was doing 15mins after my session walking on a step incline, have now bumped it down to 10, if I start adding bait to much b/f ill bump up again. Same as cutting ill do 30-45mins after weight session, I find pyramiding works well for me, and the extra 10-15 mins adjusting helps alot