When to do cardio?

RoseNopales · 10-28-2009, 01:51 PM

I'm confused about cardio. I do weight training 5 days a week; my legs during one of those days. I read that cardio makes you lose muscle, so I want to know when to do cardio so that I don't lose muscle?

My goal is to gain muscle and lose fat.

Emoore · 10-28-2009, 02:13 PM

What is your goal?

If you want to run a 5k you'll get different answers than if you want to compete in bodybuilding.

RoseNopales · 10-28-2009, 02:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emoore

What is your goal?

If you want to run a 5k you'll get different answers than if you want to compete in bodybuilding.

I want to lose fat and gain more muscle.

SherriLG · 10-28-2009, 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RoseNopales

I want to lose fat and gain more muscle.

Do low intensity cardio for about 20-30 minutes post workout or later.
You won't burn up muscle but you will burn calories.

Emoore · 10-28-2009, 02:21 PM

How long have you been training? If you're still in the newbie stage, you're going to lose fat and gain muscle just by following a sound diet and training program; it won't make a big difference when you do your cardio. If you're fairly new you'll gain muscle just from exposing your muscles to new stimuli (training) and lose fat just from improving calories and macros and increasing caloric burn from exercise.

If you've been at this for a year or more you should pick a goal (lose fat or gain muscle) to focus on.

mc- · 10-28-2009, 02:29 PM

Hi your confusion is understandable, but no, aerobic work doesn't cause you to lose muscle; may cause a change in muscle type though, but that's only with effort and you don't have that kind of time considering how much time you spend on lifting.

Indeed, some pretty recent work shows that if you do cardio between your sets lifting - keep your heart rate up - you actually will increase your strength. Cardio after is good too, but between seems to be better.

Great way to get cardio in.

here's a discussion (link) of how this works.

again, cardio doesn't eat muscle - that only happens if you don't have enough fuel in your system for your energy needs (like going into starvation), or enough protein/carbs available to sustain muscle repair or growth.

best
mc

RebeccaG · 10-28-2009, 02:37 PM

There's a pre-weights cardio camp and a post-weights cardio camp.

Personally, my best fat loss results come from 15 - 20 minutes of HIIT pre-weights. But that's partially because I bust my ass so hard with the weights I'll skip cardio if I leave it for after. lol

Unless you are logging HOURS AND HOURS AND HOURS of cardio, you won't burn muscle - Providing you are fueling your body adequately.

RoseNopales · 10-28-2009, 02:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emoore

How long have you been training? If you're still in the newbie stage, you're going to lose fat and gain muscle just by following a sound diet and training program; it won't make a big difference when you do your cardio. If you're fairly new you'll gain muscle just from exposing your muscles to new stimuli (training) and lose fat just from improving calories and macros and increasing caloric burn from exercise.

If you've been at this for a year or more you should pick a goal (lose fat or gain muscle) to focus on.

I've been training for about 4 months.