A secret technique that allows you to properly use aerobic activity depending on your goals: endurance or fat burning. Few strength athletes enjoy doing cardio workouts. For most athletes, they are a must, because during drying with the help of cardio, you can achieve your goals much faster. Moreover, the need for cardio training in strength sports is now increasingly discussed. Now we will try to figure out when to continue cardio after or before training.
You probably know that cardio training means work to increase endurance and improve the performance of the heart muscle. You can conduct cardio sessions in the gym or on the street. The most prominent examples of cardio are running, walking at a fast pace, cycling, etc.
Today we are going to talk about cardio workouts, which last from 20 minutes to one hour. If you jog for ten minutes after strength training, then this has nothing to do with cardio. This can be considered a warm-up or a cool-down, depending on when the run is being made. Note that a 10 minute run before the start and after the end of the strength training session is very useful. However, for now we will only talk about full-fledged cardio after or before a workout.
When to do a cardio session?
This is a difficult question to answer, and it’s hard to say what time for a cardio session will be most effective. By and large, you can use cardio when you have strength and time is of no fundamental importance. Today, many are convinced that cardio in the morning can dramatically speed up metabolic processes.
As a result, fats will be actively burned throughout the day, even if you are working in an office at a computer. The most popular types of cardio are running or cycling at a constant speed. At the same time, the body actively uses not glycogen for energy, but fats. Cardio can be effective in the morning on an empty stomach or after strength training when energy reserves are depleted in the body.
How to combine cardio with strength training?
If you have set the task of combining strength training with cardio for fast fat burning, then there are several options for effectively combining these types of physical activity:
- Conducting a cardio session before or after completing strength training.
- Doing cardio on the day of strength training, but at different times.
- Conduct cardio sessions on a day separate from strength training.
When it comes to when to do cardio after or before your workout, it largely depends on your goals. If the task is to maintain or gain muscle mass, then starting a workout with cardio is definitely not worth it. Recall that now we are talking about a full-fledged cardio lasting at least 20 minutes up to an hour. We have already talked about the fact that 10-minute exercises on a non-god path (stationary bike) will be useful during this period of time.
Strength training requires a lot of energy, and if you first conduct a cardio session, then there may simply not be enough strength for a full-fledged exercise with weights. This fact has been proven in the course of scientific research, although it is already quite obvious. After completing a strength training session, cardio is also not the best choice, as it can lead to a loss of muscle mass.
For the growth of muscle tissue, energy is needed, which will be spent on cardio. You need to give the body time to recover, but in this case, this will not be possible. First of all, this recommendation applies to thin athletes. It is quite difficult for them to gain muscle mass without aerobic training.
It's another matter if you want to get rid of fat and make your body harmonious. In this case, post-workout cardio is fine, but you should pay attention to pace. It is best to work for half an hour to 45 minutes at a heart rate of 65 to 75 percent of maximum. With this intensity of exercise, the body begins to burn fat. If you want to do "hunger training", then it is better to do it on a separate day, working for 20 minutes at a heart rate of 75 to 90 percent of the maximum. If you cannot conduct a cardio session separately from strength training, then in principle they can be combined. However, the time difference between them must be at least six hours.
Cardio training and muscle growth
To gain weight, it is imperative that you do strength training, provide a surplus of calories, and also give your body enough time to recover. Thus, during the mass-gaining period, you can easily do without aerobic exercise.
If you tend to be overweight, then there is a fairly large chance to gain fat at this stage of training. If you want to gain gain and at the same time maintain a certain balance between fat and muscle mass, then cardio will be extremely difficult to do without.
The ideal option for you would be to have three or four sessions over the course of a week. The following training scheme can be used. Conduct strength and aerobic training every other day, diluting them. Two cardio sessions can be done at low intensity (session duration from 30 to 40 minutes, and heart rate is from 65 to 75 percent), and another two days of training in the morning on an empty stomach (session duration is 20 minutes, and heart rate is from 75 to 90 percent maximum).
As you can see, in this case, you have to conduct classes all seven days throughout the week and not everyone has so much free time. If your day is scheduled by the minute, then be sure to do three strength classes, and cardio, if possible. If you have finances and free space at home, you can purchase a cardio simulator, which will greatly simplify your task. You should remember that while gaining weight, doing cardio and solo training on the same day is prohibited.
How to do cardio on an empty stomach?
To achieve your desired goal, you first need to pay attention to your diet. If its energy value is high, then neither cardio nor anything else will help you get rid of fat. Burning, say, a hundred calories is much more difficult than eating them. For example, working on a treadmill for half an hour with an average intensity of the activity can burn the calorie content of three or four pieces of bread. If you have visited a fast food restaurant, then you will have to run for at least two hours.
However, if you eat little, then again, muscle growth will be impossible. To get out of this vicious circle, you need to consume only healthy fats (unsaturated), complex carbohydrates and protein compounds that have a full amine profile.
It is one of the cornerstones of bodybuilding that will build your progress. However, let's figure out how to organize hungry cardio. We figured out when to do cardio after or before a workout. Today, aerobic training on an empty stomach is very popular, but at the same time, there are many opponents of this method of fighting fat.
Fans of "hungry cardio" are sure that the body is actively burning fat in the morning and that you should not consume carbohydrates before the start of the session. Opponents of the technique claim that the lipolysis process requires energy, which can be obtained from carbohydrates. Again we get a vicious circle and we need to break out of it.
Scientists can not yet precisely refute or confirm any of these statements. So you should experiment and find the best option for a cardio session on an empty stomach. However, we can say for sure that before the start of "hungry cardio" protein compounds in combination with slow carbohydrates will not be superfluous. It can be 50 grams of oatmeal and a protein mixture.
When carrying out a cardio session on an empty stomach, the body uses carbohydrates as a source of energy, since the breakdown of fats is a very long process. The main task of this method is not burning calories, but accelerating metabolic processes. Thus, you still need carbohydrates.
Alexey Schroeder says more useful things about cardio:
