Cardio Recommendation

[DanG]

I'm lifting fairly heavily right now for about 1.25 hours per day, 4 days a week. I also do cardio for about 30 minutes a day. I'm trying to lose a bit more body fat than I have, but I want to lose it quicker. I figure I've got another 15-20 lbs of fat to lose till I'm happy.
What would be my best course of action to accomplish this? Should I add more time to my cardio workouts, or another cardio workout? If I should add another workout, would it be better to do 25 or 30 minutes before weights and then 30 minutes after? Or just 1 hour after/before?

Thanks for any advice!

 

[bignate73]

i noticed i didnt hear anything about how you were eating.

cut your calories. simple. less work= same benefits.

2 ways people go about with fat loss. tons of cardio (to put themselves into a calorie deficit) AND/OR reduced food intake (to put themselves into a calorie deficit)

either way its calories in vs. calories out. so if you like to do more cardio and dont want to change your eating habits, go for it. or...drop your cals a bit and keep your program the same.

best bet is to calculate what your eating first to get a good idea of why the bodyfat isnt coming off as fast as you would like. its a real eye opener sometimes.

 

[DanG]

Oops, kinda forgot about my diet. I'm eating pretty healthy, 6 or 7 small meals a day. 2 multivitimins in the morning, therma pro(eca stack), ZMA and regular protien shakes after workouts and right before bed. Lots of fruits and veggies, light on the carbs and sweets. Almost no fast food(maybe once every other week). I haven't actually calculated how much food I'm consuming because I haven't found a good list. Anyone got one?

Thanks again!

 

[Stryc-9]

If your goal is to cut pesky adipose tissue then you might want to try an hour of cardio on an empty stomach, first thing in the morning....or at least 3 or 4 hours after your last meal...

....or, do a half-hour of cardio after weight training...the main idea is to perform your cardio when muscle glycogen is depleted...with the theory being that your body will resort to burning the ol' spare tire.

...but as bignate73 said - the bottom line is calories in/calories out...

...as for your diet - don't go overboard with the fruit....save it for post-workout...

 

[diamonddiceclay]

do 1 hr a day of cardio after weights

 

[cure]

your overtraining you will find yourself rundown very soon. 1.5 hours training heavy than 1 hour cardio is wayyyy too much. You will lose alot of muscle because you will be cutting carbs and calories.

 

[Belial]

Listen to bignate. And don't do cardio on an empty stomach. And don't do an hour of cardio after a heavy weight workout.

 

[tzan]

Hey Belial, how come you advise against doing cardio on an empty stomach???

 

[rgosit]

its all about diet

 

[proxy]

I dind't know ECA is healthy....you are on wrong way ........

 

[fhg43]

I'm lifting fairly heavily right now for about 1.25 hours per day, 4 days a week. I also do cardio for about 30 minutes a day. I'm trying to lose a bit more body fat than I have, but I want to lose it quicker. I figure I've got another 15-20 lbs of fat to lose till I'm happy.
What would be my best course of action to accomplish this? Should I add more time to my cardio workouts, or another cardio workout? If I should add another workout, would it be better to do 25 or 30 minutes before weights and then 30 minutes after? Or just 1 hour after/before?

Thanks for any advice!

I, champion of cardio, think you could cut back. It's great you're doing cardio, but what's your priority-bulking up or losing weight? If you want to continue to gain muscle mass you should probably limit cardio to 4 days a week maximum. Are you really doing cardio everyday? Priority one is to have a super clean and well timed diet. And then maybe add a little more cardio. It sounds like you're in the gym plenty. Actually try mixing up the intensity in your cardio workouts. Do a few workouts were you maintain a high level of intensity for the full workout. Try doing interval workouts too-do 3-5 hard intervals of 3minutes during your cardio workouts. You can cut calories and workout more, but you have to be really good about refueling with the proper food at the right time to prevent catabolism.

FHG

 

[Belial]

Hey Belial, how come you advise against doing cardio on an empty stomach???

Run a search.

 

[DanG]

Where should my heart rate be? I've seen conflicting stories of it has to be between 50-80% for optimum fat burning. I'm 23 years old right now, so that would put my mhr at 197bpm. My cardio sessions usually include the eliptical trainer, stair climber and stationary bike. In the summer I add in rollerblading and road/mountain biking.

 

[tzan]

Belial-I've read for the most part, if your goal is to burn fat, doing cardio on an empty stomach is the most beneficial. Bill Philips (EAS) says that if you run on an empty stomach for 20 min. it's more productive than doing an hour of running after you have eaten. What makes you believe in the opposite??

 

[sysopt]

Bill Philips is god

 

[Belial]

Run a search. I've discussed this topic many times in the past, as have others here.

That is a truly asinine statement by old Billy, I must say.

 

[fhg43]

Where should my heart rate be? I've seen conflicting stories of it has to be between 50-80% for optimum fat burning. I'm 23 years old right now, so that would put my mhr at 197bpm. My cardio sessions usually include the eliptical trainer, stair climber and stationary bike. In the summer I add in rollerblading and road/mountain biking.

The zone you're quoting is too low-try keeping HR between 150-175 for the entire time of cardio. This will seem hard to maintain the first time you do it, but this workload is appropriate for good caloric expenditure and fat burning. If you do a :20-:30min workout try to stay in that zone most of the time and try to hit the high side a few times too. If exercising outside do longer workouts. If you are doing a longer workout, for example 1hr, try to stay in that zone:30-:45 min. Make sure to warm up good too. If you've never done cardio this hard make sure to do a few sessions before attempting to hit the high side of this zone. You will find this zone will be difficult to maintain while exercising especially while doing rd/mtn biking or rollerblading. It will be easier to hit that zone indoors on the treadmill or stationery bike or elliptical machine. Most people don't go long enough or hard enough when doing cardio.

FHG