Are there benefits in doing cardio more than once a day?

[Leander]

A while back I read an article (Men's Health magazine) that suggested doing cardiovascular more than once a day can provide quicker results in terms of fat loss. They quoted some results from a university study but I don't recall the details at this time.

I have'nt actually seen much on this particular line of thought since I read that article and I was wondering what some of the people here might now about that practice.


Has anyone here ever tried it?

 

[The Shadow]

A while back I read an article (Men's Health magazine) that suggested doing cardiovascular more than once a day can provide quicker results in terms of fat loss. They quoted some results from a university study but I don't recall the details at this time.

I have'nt actually seen much on this particular line of thought since I read that article and I was wondering what some of the people here might now about that practice.


Has anyone here ever tried it?

Terrible idea.

YOu get much better results from an hour versus two 30 minute sessions

 

[FitnessFrk]

better results, not true. faster yes, because longer cardio sessions increase cortisol levels more, so you get a higher percentage of loss from fat and LBM.

If you are using cardio as a tool to create more of a caloric deficit 2 cardio sessions is the best. If you have a LOT of bf to lose, 1 long cardio session is better.

 

[Leander]

FitnessFrk, can you tell me what cortisol is and how it relates to fat loss? Also what does LBM mean? I'm new to a lot of the terminology.


Cornholio, is 45 minutes of steady cardio more or less effective that 20 minutes of hiit cardio?

 

[Leander]

FitnessFrk, can you tell me what cortisol is and how it relates to fat loss? Also what does LBM mean? I'm new to a lot of the terminology.


Cornholio, is 45 minutes of steady cardio more or less effective than 20 minutes of hiit cardio?

 

[The Shadow]

better results, not true. faster yes, because longer cardio sessions increase cortisol levels more, so you get a higher percentage of loss from fat and LBM.

If you are using cardio as a tool to create more of a caloric deficit 2 cardio sessions is the best. If you have a LOT of bf to lose, 1 long cardio session is better.

I totally disagree.

1 hour of cardio will net you 45 minutes in the zone.

2 30 minute sessions will net you 30 minutes in the zone.

Cortisol increase is a wash. You might have a higher level at the end of the longer session, but you get two spikes on the multi-sessions.

btw - higher cortisol levels have nothing to do with a higher rate of fat loss as you just stated....

So are you saying that you will NOT get better results by doing a longer session????

 

[needsize]

I'm going to have to disagree on this one. I've done a lot of experimenting with dieting, and for my body I found that spllitting my cardio up into at least 2 seesions facilitated much better fat loss. I believe it was because every time you exercise, your metabolism, metabolic rate, whatever, becomes elevated and stays elevated for a while after you train. If you train 2x then you've doubled the amount of time that it stays elevated post workout.
Also, I do my cardio interval style, so I get into the zone pretty quick

 

[The Shadow]

I'm going to have to disagree on this one. I've done a lot of experimenting with dieting, and for my body I found that spllitting my cardio up into at least 2 seesions facilitated much better fat loss. I believe it was because every time you exercise, your metabolism, metabolic rate, whatever, becomes elevated and stays elevated for a while after you train. If you train 2x then you've doubled the amount of time that it stays elevated post workout.
Also, I do my cardio interval style, so I get into the zone pretty quick

30+30 does not =60 when it comes to fat loss.

I'll throw up the study when I find it.

 

[The Shadow]

http://boards.elitefitness.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=3443&perpage=10&pagenumber=1

 

[FitnessFrk]

I did not mean that increased cortisol leads to higher fat losses.

It's been proven that for maximum fat loss cardio should be performed at 50% of your Vo2Max for 60 minutes. Most people train at too high of an intensity level when doing long cardio sessions which increase cortisol levels. High cortisol levels equates to more muscle catabolism.

For anyone looking to preserve the most LBM and lose body fat diet should take care of 75%, and cardio the remaining 25% to act as a catalyst for fat loss and to create more of a caloric deficit.

 

[Leander]

From what I've read on various post is the key of doing the long sessions to deplete the glycose and then the fat burning is acheived?

If that statement is true then pre-breakfast workouts should be much more effective than ones later in the day and that would also mean less time is needed to burn off fat reserves. Am I on the right path with this assumption?

 

[FitnessFrk]

some studies show that 300% more fat is burned when cardio is performed in the early am then pm. this is mostly due to the "afterburn" effect of the sustained metabolic rate after the long (60 min) cardio session.

 

[Leander]

A few more questions I'm a diabetic and I'm still learning what foods cause my glucose levels to increase. Yesterday I found out bannanas cause me to spike pretty high.

Anyway my question: is it harder for diabetics to lose weight and burn off fat? If the body does'nt begin burning fat until glycogen levels are depleted what hope is there for diabetics who at times deal with high levels of blood glucose? Should I stick with low carb dieting while trying to lose weight? (atkins, etc.)

 

[scruples]

i've been having a lot of success doing 20 min of HIIT following weight lifting on an empty stomach first thing in the morning... i certainly don't feel like i've lost any LBM (though i've probably lost a little, but strength is still up) and i know that i've been losing fat at a decent rate (well, diet helps too -- i'm on crum's diet but with a refeed day)... i've lost ~20 lbs in about a month...

 

[Leander]

wow Scruples, thats very encouraging thanks for sharing.


I'm curious about how much the metabolism is boosted by doing HIIT training. And does doing 2 sessions of HIIT mean that your metabolism is increased by twice as much?

 

[Mjollnir]

30+30 does not =60 when it comes to fat loss.

I'll throw up the study when I find it.

Actually, the very idea that there is a fat burning 'zone' has come to be viewed by many as a myth.

Check out what Clarence Bass, no slouch on the subject of losing body fat, has at his site, geared towards HIIT anaerobic training:

http://www.cbass.com/searchof.htm
http://www.cbass.com/interval.htm

Gives rather a different perspective, to put it mildly.

 

[The Shadow]

Actually, the very idea that there is a fat burning 'zone' has come to be viewed by many as a myth.

Check out what Clarence Bass, no slouch on the subject of losing body fat, has at his site, geared towards HIIT anaerobic training:

http://www.cbass.com/searchof.htm
http://www.cbass.com/interval.htm

Gives rather a different perspective, to put it mildly.

Again I totally disgree - to burn fat your hr HAS to be above a certain thershold. Period.

 

[Leander]

Interesting article Mjollner, in particular the 2nd link.


They suggest 6-8 sessions of 20 second intense cardio activity with a period of 10 seconds of rest in between. Each session gradually increases the oxygen intake. The overall result over a period of weeks is a signficant decrease in fat tissue while lean and muscle tissue is retained.



I may try this out and see what type of results I get.

 

[Mjollnir]

Again I totally disgree - to burn fat your hr HAS to be above a certain thershold. Period.

We are not in disagreement. Did you read the articles? The methods specified in the articles definitely get the heart rate up above a 'certain threshold'.

I've tried the same protocols described in the links, and they have produced better results for me than long 'in-the-zone' cardio sessions.

 

[Leander]

Mjollnir have you tried that method out yourself? The one thing I found odd about the article was that they suggest only doing that type of training once or twice in a week. I'm wondering if its possible to cut down the amount of weeks needed for maximum results by training more frequently.

 

[Vortexx]

Lately everybody seems to cater towards HIIT, would it still be usefull to HIIT pre-breakfast for claimed added fatburning?

As clarence bass stated the HIIT training besides increase in VO2 max / long capacity is more specific muscle training in the sence that a swimmer training HIIT cannot maximaly transfer his superb condition on a stairmaster as the swimmer maximized upper body condition while the stairmaster depends on quads primarely.

Following this line of taught, If one was to have 2 HIIT session in one day, let's say pre-breakfast and one before bedtime (only some whey protein shake after that), would it be beneficial to have one uppebody HIIT traiing and one lowerbody HIIT training???

I.e:

pre-breakfast : short track swimming sprints (my favorite on holidays, i use a scuba mask so that i can breath continuasly without lifting my head out of the water, you build swimming condition really fast)
before bedtime: stairmaster insterval attack?

I fact during holidays this was what i did and also had ridiculous weighttraining session at noon. I was eating all that i could get my hands on, but BMR was so much elevated that within 2 weeks i got really hard.

 

[Vortexx]

It's postulated that the 20 on 10 seconds rest interval is the best to maximise both aerobic anaerobic condition....

My question if one starts out doing HIIT should one start with immediately with 20 seconds interval or gradually work towards it, like i see in some HIIT variants like :

session 1
40 on 20 rest
session 2
30 on 15 rest
session 3
20 on 10 rest

etc
????

 

[Vortexx]

What you think will happen if we combine HIIT with t-mag meltdown 2 training?

like
MO
pre-breakfast short track swimming
evening : stairmaster interval
TH
t-mag meltdown interval weighttraining, icluding olympic lifts
WE
pre-breakfast short track swimming
evening : stairmaster interval
etc...

I think you wouyld end up with an all trades fitness monster that could give serious competition in all kinds of speed/strength sport..


I will give it a try next holiday, i can't hardly wait to get that awesome feeling of being able to take on the world again..

 

[Mjollnir]

Mjollnir have you tried that method out yourself? The one thing I found odd about the article was that they suggest only doing that type of training once or twice in a week. I'm wondering if its possible to cut down the amount of weeks needed for maximum results by training more frequently.

Indeed I have, and it has worked out quite well. I use it, however, in conjunction with some longer (bicycle) training, both during longer rides and apart from them, to help with sprinting. The fat loss effects are noticable.

The idea has been around for quite some time. I recall my coaches from years ago talking about running 'telephone poles', or sprinting between them for 2, then walking between the next two, etc....