early am cardio (advise please)

[user34566548717114]

I just started doing my 7am cardio sessons at a light intensity (walking uphill, incline 8, at speeds between 3.5-4 MPH for at least an hour) I figured this was a great way to burn pure fat however, I was doing some reading on the forums about muscle degeneration with early cardio espically in HIIT early sessons before eating.....I am currently 154 at about 7% body fat


I am wondering with my light intensity cardio should I eat anything before it????? If so please advise what I should do to optomise fat burning and keep muscle degeneration at a min.....any advice would be greatly appricated


Also note that later in the day I am planning on lifting then doing cardio for about 20 more minutes, about 8 hours after my early cardio.......again any advice would be helpful

thanx in advance

[WonderRXR]

7%.....Thats pretty damned low...Unless your going into competition soon i'd advise bulking now...Not trying to burn off more fat! Just try to gain some muscle and don't worry about gaining a little bit of fat during the process

If your fat stores get too low for too long it can pose some serious health risks

[theHULK9281]

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...threadid=99420

[derekmac]

You should eat before your AM cardio; some oatmeal w/egg whites, or a whey shake with some dried kaashi is a good bet.

Upon rising, cortisol levels are at their highest. It is imperative that you have something in your belly to break yoo out of that catabolic state.

While exercising at low-intensity, your body uses more than one source of fuel. It uses glucose and bodyfat, and in the absence of glucose it will use protein and bodyfat. This means that you will burn fat for fuel and muscle for fuel, which is not a good thing.

What matters for cardio is the total amount of calories burned in any given session, plus the increase in your resting metabolism. The more muscle you lose, the lower your resting metabolism, which means you burn fewer calories.

Why are you doing 2 sessions of cardio (one in the am, one in the pm) in addition to lifting? One session of each should be enough.

[user34566548717114]

derek sounds good, about how many calories should I consume total before my cardio sesson, the shake and oatmeal combined will be about 300......

I was planning on getting down to about 5% body fat then doing an ultra clean bulk up to about 165-170ish, the reason I do two cardio sessons is that my mind is twisted and I love the pain.....I am addicated to the gym and lift everyday its sort of my way of blowing off steam in a productive manner.......

However, if you think a second sesson of cardio is counter-productive I would be willing to cut it out, I figued since my first sesson was at a low intensity I could preform a second sesson without threat to my body

looking foward to your response

[derekmac]

The shake and oatmeal together are fine; you could also add an apple to the mix, which would be about 360 calories total.

If you're doing cardio and lifting (which in itself uses calories and rises metabolism for hours afterword) there's no need for the extra cardio IMHO.

You're at a low percentage of BF already; so you really don't need the extra cardio. How much are you doing in the morning?

[user34566548717114]

an hour to 75 minutes walking 3.5-4 mph on a 9 incline on the treadmill.....low intesity, figured it was the best way to burn fat without chewing up muscle........

so I should eat at 360 calories total before the am cardio sesson sounds good to me......I guess I should count that as one of my 6 meals????

[derekmac]

An hour is plenty. Yes, you should count that as a meal.

[sawastea]

I believe the 'safe' number of mod intensity is 45 minutes. Anything thereafter can be catabolic if un-fed

DMAC is correct and his explanation is precise

[user34566548717114]

Originally posted by derekmac
An hour is plenty. Yes, you should count that as a meal.

aight cool thanx for the advise derekmac and you too sawastea...I'll follow that plan