Cardio twice a day?

[FlexManlet55]

So I lift heavy for an hour and a half in the morning 3x a week, and don't really want to do my cardio before or after. I like to go home, and eat. I guess I'm too scared to not make strength gains, even though I know I should be cutting. My question is.. if I do cardio for 30 min a day, 2x a day... is this any different then 1 straight hour of cardio..? Is 12 hrs enough time for glycogen to get back to my muscles so that I can do more cardio later without really hurting my muscle gains..?

I'm on a low fat diet, not low carb. I also take pre/post workout carbs protein.

[jakeratt]

So I lift heavy for an hour and a half in the morning 3x a week, and don't really want to do my cardio before or after. I like to go home, and eat. I guess I'm too scared to not make strength gains, even though I know I should be cutting. My question is.. if I do cardio for 30 min a day, 2x a day... is this any different then 1 straight hour of cardio..? Is 12 hrs enough time for glycogen to get back to my muscles so that I can do more cardio later without really hurting my muscle gains..?

I'm on a low fat diet, not low carb. I also take pre/post workout carbs protein.

To be honest with you I'm not to sure that it really matters. It depends on your body type. And what works best for you.
Me-- I get up at 6am every day and go to the gym and do a peacor (which is like a small elptical) for 30 mins then I lift MWF then when my workout is done i get right back on the peacor for another 30mins. It has worked well for me I have cut 12 pounds in 3 weeks. Its not like I am a big guy either I went from 192 to around 184. So if that works for you then thats great.

[FlexManlet55]

Well when I was in the navy, i worked out alot, and did TOO much cardio, and was cut and small and couldn't get Lean mass, so now im scared of cardio... lol.

[jakeratt]

Well when I was in the navy, i worked out alot, and did TOO much cardio, and was cut and small and couldn't get Lean mass, so now im scared of cardio... lol.

that makes since. So are you trying to do just enough cardio to keep in shape but build muscle at the same time
If so try to do cardio at long distances but easy pace. It builds slow twitch muscle fibers which will also give you a good study heart rate of around 103-115ish for around id say 2miles or so. If you do that then it would be okay id like to think????

How many meals a day are you eating

[FlexManlet55]

After bulking for a month, too dirty, and already being fat... I learned two things.. Fat is super easy to put on, but so is strength (for me atleast * yay genetics*)

What I'm trying to do, is alot of cardio, with minimal impact on the muscle I already have. I know I can't really expect super gains while on a calorie deficit, but I don't want to use drugs to stay anabolic etc... Part of cardio being bad for gains is when you do too much...

I eat alot, thats not the issue.. I'm not trying to be on a deficit and do more cardio... need to get to 170 asap :-/

[ChampX]

So I lift heavy for an hour and a half in the morning 3x a week, and don't really want to do my cardio before or after. I like to go home, and eat. I guess I'm too scared to not make strength gains, even though I know I should be cutting. My question is.. if I do cardio for 30 min a day, 2x a day... is this any different then 1 straight hour of cardio..? Is 12 hrs enough time for glycogen to get back to my muscles so that I can do more cardio later without really hurting my muscle gains..?

I'm on a low fat diet, not low carb. I also take pre/post workout carbs protein.

I find multiple cardio sessions to be slightly more effective as you get two spikes in your metabolism. Some will say the total calories burned is the same so it shouldn't matter but there may be a positive effect with the afterburn twice a day. Anyways, as far as recovering glycogen between cardio sessions, if you stick to LISS, then in theory you shouldn't be burning muscle glycogen so it shouldn't really matter.

[FlexManlet55]

I find multiple cardio sessions to be slightly more effective as you get two spikes in your metabolism. Some will say the total calories burned is the same so it shouldn't matter but there may be a positive effect with the afterburn twice a day. Anyways, as far as recovering glycogen between cardio sessions, if you stick to LISS, then in theory you shouldn't be burning muscle glycogen so it shouldn't really matter.

I like to keep my HR above 130+ while i'm doing cardio, and from what I recall, I'm going to stick with doing HIIT most of the time, I feel stupid if I'm just slowly walking on a machine when I could be doing... other useless stuff.

[jakeratt]

I like to keep my HR above 130+ while i'm doing cardio, and from what I recall, I'm going to stick with doing HIIT most of the time, I feel stupid if I'm just slowly walking on a machine when I could be doing... other useless stuff.

What type of cardio are you doing?

[KhayBrown]

there may be a positive effect with the afterburn twice a day.

I agree