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Return To Bodybuilding Article Archive   3 Little Known Tips for Cardio By Marc David In the year 2006, Ive seen so many articles on cardio that it even made me confused! Everything from dont with it 'good night to cardio' to cardio is worthless to HIIT training and all kinds of crazy ideas. Theres anti-cardio gurus and cardio masters. At times, cardio seems like a diet plan. Let me explain that... With a diet, you have so many foods to choose from that you can literally make any combination up and call it a 'diet.' Cardio seems to be that way lately. Theres a lot you can do with your cardio workouts. Keep them short, make them intense, do all kinds of machines, do it every day, do it once a week, dont use machines at all but go outside and run hills... etc. List goes on and on. Lets try and answer the question of the best time to do cardio and how much recovery after your weight sessions you need in order to get workout but without burning up any precious muscle. 3 Simple Steps to Effective Cardio Workouts 1- Use cardio as a tool. Cardiovascular exercise is good for the heart. However, so is weight training. And lifting weights and building muscle will do more to get you leaner than 6 spin classes 6 times a week. If your goal is to build muscle and gain weight or burn off the fat, then use cardio sparingly as a way to your goal. Did you know that 1 lb of muscle burns more calories than 1 lb of fat? By focusing on building more muscle, youll get leaner quicker than if you plug away at a treadmill all day long. Lets put it this way... If you cut bread with a saw (weight training) it gets the job done nicely. But if you cut the bread with a saw and then use a finely sharpened knife to make the slides perfect (cardio) youll get the best of both worlds. Youll get slides of bread quickly (saw) and youll get them neatly carved out (knife). If you can think of cardio as a tool to stripping off unwanted fat AFTER your weight training and nutrition is in order, youll use the tool as its meant to be used. 2- Do your cardio at the right times. Theres a loaded question if I ever saw one! a) the right time is anytime it works for you. If you read several articles about morning cardio and you simply cannot do it, then do it when you can. Theres plenty of studies that debate the optimal time to do cardio but they all point to the single fact that it doesnt make a massive difference in your overall gains. When it comes to eliminating body fat. Whether its early morning, late evening, the most important thing is that you just do it. b) do your cardio AFTER your weight workouts. Why after? Because your weight training workouts require something called glycogen. Thats short term fuel. If you burn off and use up your short term fuel first, youll have little to give when it comes to your muscles. The fuel your muscles need for a weight training workout is different from the potential fuel sources you can use when doing cardiovascular activities. When you do your cardio AFTER your weight training sessions, you are warmed up and have a better chance at using fat as a fuel source over glycogen. 3- Separate your cardio from your weight training sessions If at all possible, try and give yourself plenty of time between a cardio workout and a weight session. Some programs recommend 8 hours. This means youll do cardio in the AM and weights in the PM. Youll have plenty of time for post-workout nutrition and a few meals in there as well to help with recovery. But what if you cant? 2 Tips to Cardio Workouts Tip #1 - Do your cardio AFTER your weight session as in the step above. While this wont be ideal, it allows your body to use glycogen for short term fuel for the weights and potentially fat as a fuel source. Tip #2 - Engage in post-workout nutrition (protein and carbs) after your weight training session. While you probably wont burn as much fat, you wont risk burning off as much muscle either. The reason your body burns muscle is that it costs a lot to maintain it (metabolically speaking). In that case, make sure you can support the muscle by not overtraining and engaging in proper nutrition. Those two simple concepts will go a long way in helping you to preserve muscle when you have a short rest period between a weight training session and a cardiovascular workout. The bottom line is that cardiovascular exercise is part of a health and fitness routine. It should be used as a tool. Sometimes more (getting ready for a competition) and sometimes less (lean bulking). Lately its been over-rated but it certainly isnt worthless. About the Author: Marc David is a bodybuilder and author of the, Beginners Guide to Fitness and Bodybuilding. You can get info on Marcs e-book at: http://www.Beginning-Bodybuilding.com . To get Marcs free e-zine, visit http://www.JustAskMarc.com American Body Building

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