Cardio in the morning or at night?

[SweetP]

So when is the best time to do cardio? I've heard that you burn more fat first thing in the morning before you eat anything. Is this true?

I have more energy at night, but I've heard that running at night is basically useless. What are all your opinions?

[Goin_Big]

Originally posted by SweetP
So when is the best time to do cardio?

****Never

I've heard that you burn more fat first thing in the morning before you eat anything. Is this true?

****Cardio Is The Devil

I have more energy at night, but I've heard that running at night is basically useless. What are all your opinions?

****I agree, cardio is useless....at all times

[Celestial]

Morning, get your body going for the rest of the day

[xraygirl]

Not for me. Cardio is best for me at night. But we are all different.

[SweetP]

Well, Going_Big thank you for all that motivation. What's wrong with cardio? It helps me strenghten my legs and lose weight when I'm motivated enough to do it. I'm going to start doing it everyday starting 2 days ago. Cuz I was when I was playing soccer, then I stopped for like 3 weeks. Now I need to start again.

[Goin_Big]

Cardio uses carbohydrates and then protein, if it has not excess protein it will take it from muscles, then maybe, just maybe it will decide to burn a little fat.

[SweetP]

So what do you suggest I do to burn fat then?

Cardio has always seemed to work for me, it takes forever but eventually it helps, at least a little. And I'd rather have it help a little than not at all.

[Monster Muscle]

Cardio is good in the morning.

[Goin_Big]

A clean diet and weights.

[TurboStu]

I personally do cardio whenever I have the time, day or night doesn't really matter to me. Do cardio to burn fat. Here is how it works. Your body stores energy that it thinks it will need in the muscle. Fat is reserve energy. So you first need to use the energy that is in the muscle (part of the reason why I like to do cardio after I lift, bc then I don't need as long of a time to get to burning fat, bc most of the muscle energy has already been burned), and then your body will call on its reserve energy (fat) to give you the energy needed to complete the task. Cardio is good to burn fat, you just need to get to the point of burning fat and not using your muscles energy alone.

[PowerManDL]

Interval training when you have full glycogen stores.

[Goin_Big]

I'm not gonna lie to you, I do cardio, just not alot. I jog a mile 3 days a week as fast as I can. I only do this because I want a faster mile and I've started to enjoy running.

Powerman, do you really think interval training is more effective than weight training?

[PowerManDL]

For fat burning? Most definitely, unless you want to do your weight training interval-style.

FYI, endurance cardio does burn fat directly. Aerobic metabolism is fueled by triglycerides. However, the duration of that fat burning effect isn't really enough to do much in the long term. Intervals are largely glycogen-fueled, but they create a metabolic effect that burns the hell out of fat.

[Goin_Big]

To tell you the truth powerman, I'm willing to give it a try. How much and how often do you do it?

I was thinking I'd just do my normal 3 days a week and do 30-30 second interval training.

How many minutes do you do it?

[Celestial]

Yeah sometimes I cheat anddo it at night!

[Goin_Big]

Ok, either interval running is harder than I though, I did it wrong, or else that sun just really sucks.

I just did intervals of jogging/running 30/30 for as long as I could, and my question to your powerman is was I supposed to do jogging/running or walking/running and how long do you think is optimal for fat burning?

[Tru]

What do you guys think of AM sprints before you eat?

Monday-Friday

[PowerManDL]

Originally posted by Goin_Big
Ok, either interval running is harder than I though, I did it wrong, or else that sun just really sucks.

Its not easy by any means. Just shorter, and ultimately more effective.

I just did intervals of jogging/running 30/30 for as long as I could, and my question to your powerman is was I supposed to do jogging/running or walking/running and how long do you think is optimal for fat burning?

Well, if you're not in good condition, 30/30 is hard to keep up. I recommend to most people to start with a 15/45. Once you work up to it, I've read that 3-4 blocks of 30/30, followed by a 3 minute low-intensity restoration block, is pretty effective.

[SweetP]

From what I understand, the first 10 minutes of cardio is just to warm up, 11-30 is fat burning, and anything after 30 builds endurance.

So I've decided to do 35 minutes in the morning and 35 minutes at night, 6-7 days a week.

[PowerManDL]

That's an awful damn lot of cardio.

[Celestial]

Thats to much cardio....hope u like to loose muscle....

[Goin_Big]

Originally posted by PowerManDL
Originally posted by Goin_Big
Ok, either interval running is harder than I though, I did it wrong, or else that sun just really sucks.

Its not easy by any means. Just shorter, and ultimately more effective.

I just did intervals of jogging/running 30/30 for as long as I could, and my question to your powerman is was I supposed to do jogging/running or walking/running and how long do you think is optimal for fat burning?

Well, if you're not in good condition, 30/30 is hard to keep up. I recommend to most people to start with a 15/45. Once you work up to it, I've read that 3-4 blocks of 30/30, followed by a 3 minute low-intensity restoration block, is pretty effective.

I was able to do 4 minutes of 30/30 in other words 2 minutes jogging, 2 minutes sprinting, spread out like that. Then I had to walk for 2 minutes and then I did another minute of 30/30 then I was pert near dead so I walked back home.

So, you think I should just do 4 minutes of it and then jog for 3 minutes?

For 7 total minutes or did you mean something else by 4 blocks?

[PowerManDL]

The program I read about was 30/30 for 3-4 blocks ( a total of 3-4 minutes), then the 3 minute recovery period, with both repeated as needed.

[Goin_Big]

Well I was kinda wondering, cuz I'm in decent cardio shape. I run between a 7 and 8 minute mile depending upon the day, so I felt pretty bad when I only got 4 minutes of it.

Alright, I'll try that out, although I might have to take a minute rest before I can do the 3 minutes of jogging.

Thanks pm.

[SweetP]

Originally posted by Celestial
Thats to much cardio....hope u like to loose muscle....

*Lose* I like to lose fat, and sure I'll lose some muscle, that doesn't mean I wont be able to gain it back. I'm much more concerned with losing the fat before I worry about muscle mass.