cardio or sleep??

[primetime21]

I am looking to lean up for the summer months while not losing the muscle i have added over the winter. so here is the question. I usually sleep close to 8 hours a night. If i were to do cardio in the morning, then i would have to wake up a half hour earlier every morning and lose some sleep. Or i can just do my cardio in the evening when i am at the gym. So should i cut my sleep time in order to get the benefits of the morning cardio or should i keep the sleep and do cardio in the evenings? thanks for the input

 

[diamonddiceclay]

when attempting to burn fat, cardio should be done 1st thing in am

 

[jnyce7]

when attempting to burn fat, cardio should be done 1st thing in am

I agree. That half hour sleep lost won't do much harm. Be careful though. I was so sleepy/groggy one morning that I sprained my ankle on a speed bump taking me out the game for 2 weeks.

 

[beastboy]

when attempting to burn fat, cardio should be done 1st thing in am

DDD, I'm not disagreeing with you but doing it first thing in the morning isn't your body already in a catabolic state so therefore you run the risk of using muscle as fuel.....unless you are popping BCAA's prior to the cardio session......?

 

[diamonddiceclay]

DDD, I'm not disagreeing with you but doing it first thing in the morning isn't your body already in a catabolic state so therefore you run the risk of using muscle as fuel.....unless you are popping BCAA's prior to the cardio session......?

wrong-you are burning fat

 

[beastboy]

wrong-you are burning fat

Let me guess.....that must be one of your hardcore answers ...do you care to elaborate??

 

[jnyce7]

I've done a lot of research on the exact issue of morning cardio being catabolic. What I've turned up is that as long as you aren't doing a crazy cardio session that's more than 30 minutes than you won't run a high risk of losing hard earned muscle. It shouldn't be a very intense session either. Precautions to take is supplementing with Glutamine and a good amount of water before your morning cardio. This will fight against muscle breakdown. It's also important to take in some carbs post to bring glycogen levels up.

I did this routine for the first time last summer and it worked really well.

 

[maxellyz]

DDD, I'm not disagreeing with you but doing it first thing in the morning isn't your body already in a catabolic state so therefore you run the risk of using muscle as fuel.....unless you are popping BCAA's prior to the cardio session......?

yeah youre right there is a great risk of burning musle so always take a protein shake before cardio in the morning, get about 30g of protein

 

[diamonddiceclay]

yeah youre right there is a great risk of burning musle so always take a protein shake before cardio in the morning, get about 30g of protein

if you have the shake before cardio-it defeats the whole purpose of am cardio

 

[maxellyz]

no it doesnt the protein shake is to keep you from burning muscle, you will still get great results from the cardio.... if you do it on totaly empty stomach you will be "eating" muscle in the long run....