Running before workout..

[Leathalx]

At the moment I am not doing any cardio at all. The only thing that might be counted as cardio is riding my bike for around 50mins(20 mins one way, 20 another) a day.

I want to start Doing some treadmill running. I Don't need it to reduce bodyfat, but for the benefits to heart, lungs and stamina. I am not a very good runner so I am thinking of doing 10 mins before each of my workouts(Mon,Wed,Fri) on quite fast speed, so that by the time I'm finished my shirt is totally soaked through, my lungs are about to blow up and I can't feel my legs.

However I've read that this can dramatically reduce the perfomance of the workout itself, because I already burned most of the energy on running. Is this true, what would you guys reccomend?

[ryuten]

yes, it reduces ur workout preformance. most of ur energy is gonna be spent on running. and whatever fuel u have left in ur body, which is probably a fraction of ur max is goign to be used on lifting.

if u must run, run after ur workout. so u won't be so tired.

[mightymouse37]

I'd definitely choose to run after lifting if I were you. If you run first, especially at that intensity, your body will already have burned off most of your glycogen stores, which in turn will make your muscles much weaker, since glycogen is their main source of fuel.

Try running after lifting and if you're not worried about the extra calories maybe have some protein along w/some sort of simple carbs between the two (not enough to make you sick while running though) in order to keep you going. You should also try intervals for your cardio - 10-20 seconds of full-out effort followed by 10-20 seconds of jogging, repeat for 5-10 minutes. Just make sure you warm up for a few and give yourself a nice cool-down. If nothing else it'll help you break in to the high-intensity cardio w/out killing yourself the first week.

[Big Drunk]

I dunno I wouldn't consider almost 50 minutes a day as no cardio

[Leathalx]

I dunno I wouldn't consider almost 50 minutes a day as no cardio

Its really just light bike riding, and as I said before, I want to improve my stamina and lungs, all that does is help me burn off some callories.

[Coked up pansy]

Its really just light bike riding, and as I said before, I want to improve my stamina and lungs, all that does is help me burn off some callories.

Go for a run n the evening on your off days, and gradually increase the distance you do, or the speed you do it.

[JCVP]

You could try agility drills before doing your strength training workout. Do them only for 10 minutes, and try to find a nice peaceful road or field you can run on. Basically, start jogging then start high stepping your knees, and doing high step knee jumps. Also try side stepping while moving forward, and stepping backwards. Repeat these drills in patterns of roughly 10 paces or 10 yards. Do each drill two to three times, but DO NOT go over 10 minutes. Feel free to take a rest after doing a drill by walking (walk for 30 secs, then do another drill).

It's a great heart rate booster, will get you sweating quite a bit, then you can swish down some water, and start your lifting routine. Doesn't hamper your actual routine as most people would believe. Traditional cardio will, but doing a REAL short amount of quick drill pre-WO should NOT have any detrimental effect.

DO NOT confuse this with HIIT or sprinting. You're not doing that. Doing that pre-workout can hamper your lifting gains.