Stuff for Sports Fans

Should you do cardio before or after your weight workout? Many prefer to do their cardio before lifting to get it out of the way and as a ordinary warm-up. I do endorse a 5 minute pre-workout usual warm-up for safety’ sake, but for greatest or most complete or best possible fat loss, post weight training aerobics will have to be the mainstay of your program.

The amusive thing when it comes to being on the cutting edge of weight loss science is that people are reluctant to believe you until an individual with a M.D. says it is so. Well, wonder of all wonders, it just so happens that a recent study proposes that the best time to do cardio is after a weight workout and that how long you rest amidst the two may make a divergence in both hormone release and fat burning.

This is not new info to bodybuilders who specialize in rapid fat loss year in and year out. My experience as a competitory bodybuilder is what prompted me to use this style of training for fat loss in my clients.

The study was staged at the 2006 ACSM meeting and featured 10 healthful men who did three types of exercise routines on dissimilar days:

1) Endurance exercises only

2) Endurance exercise after weight training and a 20 minute rest

3) Endurance exercises after weight training and 120 minutes rest

The weight training workout consisted of six exercises each done for three to four sets of 10 reps. Pretty frequent reasonable and similar to the second phase of the Fat to Fit Program. The cardio exercises consisted of stationary cycling for an hour at low intensity (50 percent of greatest or most complete or best possible heart rate.

For greatest or most complete or best possible fat loss I would suggest a higher intensity level and a more High Intensity Interval Training style as opposed to the low intensity approach employed in the study.

Doing the weight workout before aerobics led to marked increments in lactate, norepinephrine and growth hormone levels. These are all great things when it comes to greatest or most complete or best possible fat loss. Before the endurance exercise started those in the 120 minute rest group showed the most eminent levels of free fatty acids in the blood, while those in the 20 minute rest group showed higher levels of norepinephrine and growth hormone.

During the endurance and weight training exercises, blood levels of free fatty acids and glycerol were higher in both weight training groups than in the endurance only group. The bottom line is that those in both weight training groups were burning more fat for the duration of the aerobic exercise than the aerobics only group.

You may compound the case for post workout aerobics further by adding in the fact that not only did the group that did weight training introductory burn more fat for the duration of their cardio but also burned more calories in total by virtue of an increased overall every day metamorphosis increase and calories expended through the actual resistance training itself.

The study distinctly shows that doing a weight workout before aerobics leads to hormonal changes that increased fat oxidation (read weight loss or fat burning) for the duration of the following aerobic workout.

Here is another angle to the story. Imagine yourself doing 30 minutes to an hour of aerobics and then going on to do your weight training. How much energy do you actually have left to do justice to your weight training? After all that cardio, you have burnt through your glycogen stores (which are the muscle preferent source of fuel) and will not have the energy to stimulate the most outrageous fat burning method available to you. An all day long, increased metabolism, because you stimulated your muscles.

It kind of makes you smile when you find out selective information like this doesn’t it?

Workout Before Cardio

There’s a great deal of conventional wisdom on health and fitness—but how much of it is scientifically sound? The truth is: less than you’d think.

In Which Comes First, Cardio or Weights?, physicist and award-winning journalist Alex Hutchinson tackles dozens of commonly held beliefs and looks at just what exploration science has—and has not—proven to be true:

Should I exercise when I’m sick? • Do I get the same workout from the elliptical machine that I get from running? • What role does my brain play in fatigue? • Will running demolish my knees? • To lose weight, is it better to eat less or exercise more? • How will have to I adjust my workout routine as I get older? • Does it matter what I’m thinking in regards to when I train? • Will drinking coffee support or hinder my performance? • Should I have sex the night before a competition?

This myth-busting book covers the full spectrum of exercise science and offers the latest in exploration from around the globe, as well as helpful diagrams and a great deal of practical tips on using proven science to improve fitness, reach weight loss goals, and achieve better contest results.

Review“Once in a while in the crowded fitness & health genre a book comes out that stands out from rest…[I]f there’s only one fitness book you ever buy this ought to be the one.” (BC Living )

“Authoritative and easy to use. . . . This book answers all the big questions.” (Amby Burfoot, Runner’s World )

“Factual, informative and empowering….a freshening perspective on fitness and well-being.” (Kirkus Reviews )

About the Author

Alex Hutchinson is a contributing editor at Popular Mechanics magazine, senior editor at Canadian Running magazine, and columnist for the Toronto Globe and Mail. He holds a master’s in journalism from Columbia and a Ph.D. in physics from Cambridge, and he did his post-doctoral exploration with the U.S. National Security Agency.

Workout Before Cardio Image

Workout Before Cardio Pic

Workout Before Cardio Picture

Workout Before Cardio Photo

Most helpful client reviews

10 of 10 humans found the following review helpful.
Great Gift for the Know-It-All Jock in Your Life
By Steven Parker
Since starting Mark Verstegen’s The Core Performance: The Revolutionary Workout Program to Transform Your Body & Your Life four months ago, I’ve developed a severe interest in exercise. I stumbled throughout one of Alex Hutchinson’s helpful (and recommended) blogs: Sweat Science. That’s where I heard when it comes to this book.

Mr. Hutchinson uses a Q & A format to address over a hundred arguable issues facing humans who exercise regularly. See them by clicking above on “Search Inside the Book” then “Table of Contents.” The questions are independent altho grouped according to subject matter, such as “Nutrition and Hydration.” This is great for those who have time only for snips of reading (bathroom reading, for example).

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is a queer interest of mine lately. I see it as way to replace five hours a week of traditionalisti cardio (aerobic) training with just one hour. The author gives a nice description of HIIT and succinctly and accurately surmise the science in support of it, along with the risks.

Mr. Hutchinson quintessentially answers disputable questions with the best available proof from current scientific research. Rarely, he has to depend plainly on expert concensus, which is less reliable. I envision a new edition each five years or so.

The book is easy to read. The style is congenial and witty. Contrary to a recent publishing trend, the font size is somewhat large.

The audience for this is folks who have made a dedication to make regular physical action share of their lifestyle. It will save them time and cash and aid with injury prevention. Trust me, the guys at the gym and Internet origins are rather often defective on these issues.

If you refuse to do more than just stroll in the neighborhood for 30 minutes a day, you don’t need the book. But I urge you to consider challenging yourself to do more.

-Steve Parker, M.D., author of The Advanced Mediterranean Diet: Lose Weight, Feel Better, Live Longer and Conquer Diabetes and Prediabetes: The Low-Carb Mediterranean Diet

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful.
A must-have fitness book
By Justin T
Whether you exercise to stay healthful or are a severe athlete in training, this book is a must-have reference book. It’s the best book I’ve ever seen in answering the “practical” fitness questions you’ve ever wondered in regards to in settling how to exercise. If you’re going to be spending hundreds or even thousands of hours in training, this book will help make sure you’re not wasting it. It’s coordinated in a practical way, and you may without apparent effort jump from question to question without requiring to read each page that came before it. This makes it a good reference to come back to as you carry on to change your workout routines over time.

While the book consults with sports doctors, physiologists and other experts, what’s distinguishable with regards to it is that the author has looked for scientific studies which may support prove or disprove the traditionalisti wisdom you listen in the gym. Though the author was a former competitory athlete, he leans more to a great extent on his PhD background to support you grasp what scientific studies have shown with regards to the best way to exercise. This helps you to cut through the syndication hype and locker room folklore so you may determine how best to exercise for what you want to accomplish. And, where the science isn’t conclusive, he tells you that, which I like. I’ve already found two or three improvements in how I would exercise.

So what does the book cover? Well, just in regards to each exercise question I’ve ever wondered when it comes to and a few dozen more. And there are as a great deal of topics for the severe athlete as there are for the casual exerciser so this would make a good reference for both. Good ones that come up for humans often:

- Is running on a treadmill better or worse than running outside?
- Do I need strength training if I just want to be lean and fit? (or also: Why ought to I do cardio if I just want to build my muscles?)
- Does listening to music or watching TV help or hurt my workout?
- What are the gains of yoga for physical fitness?
- To lose weight, is it better to eat less or exercise more?
- Will running on hard surfaces increase my peril of injuries?
- Do I need extra protein to build muscle?

Good ones for more severe athletes:
- Should I carbo-load by eating pasta the night before a competition?
- What is lactate threshold and ought to I have mine tested?
- What will have to I do with wobble boards and exercise balls?
- Is there any gain in measuredly training with low energy stores?
- How must I adjust my training in the final days before a competition?
- Should I be taking probiotics?

With 270 pages of material, I can’t list everything I found interesting but my wife is already bugging me to take the book after I’m done so I’m rather happy with the purchase.

5 of 5 humans found the following review helpful.
Dispelling the Myths….
By Mark J. Domme
An magnificent book that sheds a good deal of light on what is true or not in the fitness world. Alex evidently expended a lot of time studying all of the known exploration available on a good deal of topics, and, employed that info to debunk a lot of what is taken as truth in in all forms of physical training. The best thing regarding this book is that it is not the writers opinion–it is the sentiment of actual research, studies, and real world experience. I am a competitory athlete, personal trainer, and have been involved in the fitness community for some years, and this book opened my eyes to a lot of new information. I highly commend this book for any person looking to optimize their training or who is involved in training others.

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