"Morning Cardio vs Evening Cardio"

[SilentBob]

There are so many differing viewpoints on when the best time to cardio is. I have always believed that its best to follow your weights session with a decent 20 min HITT cardio session. Your Glycogen stores are tapped if your carbs are restricted, so you hitting mostly fat.

Some people say that this is the case if you do it in the morning. But surely you lose precious muscle. Wont you go catabolic by doing cardio first thing in the morning? Would a bit of whey about 45 mins before cardio help you out and eliminate this problem?

Now I have spent a few days doing research, and there is so many different opinions on the subject. And everyone believes their method to be best. What do the rest of you think?

I would prefer to do it early in the morning. I feel exercise early in the morning does help with concentration during the day. But the word catabolic scares me more then armagedon.

[Dark Phoenix]

This may not be the answer you are looking for, but cardio is best done when you have time and energy to give it all you have.

[lifequest]

Let’s do some thinking…the reason there are so many different opinions is because so many different things work for so many different people. If you’re a big guy with a lot of lean body mass and fat to lose low intensity steady state seems to be a good plan. If your rather lean <15% BF HIIT cardio will be great for getting rid of the last bit. I do both. Am fasted morning HIIT(10 minutes after I wake up with nothing to eat, this is generally frowned upon since is supposedly burns muscle but it worked great for me). Also I do 4 mile jog at 130 BPM after my work out. The only reason I’m doing so much is because I’ve been cutting for 6 months and am right at the end. From my experience morning cardio is awesome and as long as I get a shake right after I didn’t lose muscle. Now this is just me. What works for me, what I found through trial and error. Do a bunch of different things take measurements and track progress, you will see what your body responds to and what it hates. Don’t over analyze it, just try it and see--LQ

[ericTHEninja]

I have always believed that its best to follow your weights session with a decent 20 min HITT cardio session. Your Glycogen stores are tapped if your carbs are restricted, so you hitting mostly fat.

I'm w/lifequest on this one. If you're doing 10-15 min of HIIT (which is the normal suggested time) you're fine on muscle loss. I've been doing it for the last 2 months and haven't noticed a thing. I eat w/in 20 min of completion and don't do morning cardio after a day of legs. If you're worried about it, take some whey before you do it.

Doing HIIT right after a workout, however, IMHO is wrong and that's when you'd be most likely to lose on your gains. The one thing I've noticed in a lot of articles is to never do cardio and weight training during the same amount of time and have 8-12 hours between lifting and cardio. The logic makes sense (like all the other supposed logic behind any so called workout plan). If you just got done lifting your body needs to be fed...why tear it down even more by beating the hell out of yourself right after beating yourself lifting?

It's really what you find works for you when it comes down to it though.

[panjt]

Let’s do some thinking…the reason there are so many different opinions is because so many different things work for so many different people. If you’re a big guy with a lot of lean body mass and fat to lose low intensity steady state seems to be a good plan. If your rather lean <15% BF HIIT cardio will be great for getting rid of the last bit. I do both. Am fasted morning HIIT(10 minutes after I wake up with nothing to eat, this is generally frowned upon since is supposedly burns muscle but it worked great for me). Also I do 4 mile jog at 130 BPM after my work out. The only reason I’m doing so much is because I’ve been cutting for 6 months and am right at the end. From my experience morning cardio is awesome and as long as I get a shake right after I didn’t lose muscle. Now this is just me. What works for me, what I found through trial and error. Do a bunch of different things take measurements and track progress, you will see what your body responds to and what it hates. Don’t over analyze it, just try it and see--LQ

I just want to comment on the cardio isssues. It is true that there are so many things that work for different people that it really does not matter. The key is to make sure to have the right nutrition. I have bee cutting for 10 months now and I always make sure to have a protein shake when I wake up in the morning before my cardio and right fater. With that I have really limited my mucles loss. The key is to listen to your body and Cardio is Cardio et the end of the day. The last 4 weeks, I have been trying to run in the afternoon, or after my workout as well, just a sliht run. But lately, caused of that , I have seensed a samll loss of muscles. My lifts went a little bit down last week, and I am not ready to sacrifice any muscles for the cardio, so i ma gonna cut the late afternoon seance. Whatever you do your cardi, just d it and the key is to be consistent. I used to run on the treadmill every day for more that 5 months, but I figured out that It was really putting too much ressures on my knees. Someday yo wake up and your body does not have the energy to run and to move. When I figured out how explosive the elleeptical can be , this is what I do now and I will recomend thatfor anybody who wants to do a cardio on aconsistent basis. No pressure on the knees and even when your body is tored up by the weights u lifted the day before, u can still have a cardio effect without moving too much.

CARDIO IS CARDIO WHENEVER IT IS DONE, BUT IF YOU CAN DO IT IN THE MORNING, DO IT.

[itlnchik]

i havent done morning cardio in a while but have been doing my HIIT in the evening bc thats when its not 90 degrees and its most comfortable...ive had the opportunity to have flexibility with when i do my cardio and this is what ive been doing the past 2 weeks or so. only problem ive found is centering my meals around my cardio on these days as my cardio has been temp dependant...lol i usually do it around 6 or 7 possibly even 8pm so i have to think how i can fit my meals in at the right times....aside from that i think as the above posters said it depends on what works for you. alot of the fasted cardio belief is based on physiology (which is why it makes sense) but many do not feel as though they are burning muscle..whatever works for you!! personally i like to have something in me before cardio cuz i can get a better workout...i used to do fasted cardio and run 3-4 miles...still felt good but find with HIIT i like to have a little something. again personal preference! good luck!

[KingOfChaos]

Believe it or not, when cutting, I do cardio in the morning AND in the evening and lift in the afternoon. Gotta keep that metabolism revved.