Top Tips on Cardio Exercises That You Do Not Know

In the year 2006, I've seen so many articles on cardio that it even made me confused! Everything from don't with it "good night to cardio" to cardio is worthless to HIIT training and all kinds of crazy ideas. There's anti-cardio gurus and cardio masters. Cardio seems to be that way lately. There's 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, don't use machines at all but go outside and run hills... etc.

Let's 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.


1Use 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, you'll get leaner quicker than if you plug away at a treadmill all day long. 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) you'll get the best of both worlds.

2Do your cardio at the right times

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. There's plenty of studies that debate the optimal time to do cardio but they all point to the single fact that it doesn't make a massive difference in your overall gains. When it comes to eliminating body fat. Whether it's 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. That's short term fuel. If you burn off and use up your short term fuel first, you'll 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.

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