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Understanding The Fat
Burning Effects of Cardio
I think, in training, the word "cardio" is as mis-used
as the word "diet."
Let's go over a few things:
-For fat to be the primary source of fuel, you need to be in
the 55% (Maximum Allowable Heart Rate) MAH range.
-The 55% range does NOTHING to stimulate the heart and
lungs. It will NOT increase your VO2 capacity (how
efficiently your lungs/heart use oxygen)
-Training in the 55% range must be done for relatively long
periods of time (>30-35 mins) to maximize fat burning
benefits.
-75-80% MAH DOES train the heart/lungs, and THIS is what is
actually meant by "cardio".
-75-80% MAH, unfortunately, primarily burns glycogen for
fuel. Longer durations of the 75-80% range, however, will
force your body to catabolize muscle in search of fuel (via
BCAAs)
-Your heart is arguably the most important muscle. If you
want ALL of your systems (hormone, digestion, ATP
production, recovery, etc) to work optimally, you need to
strengthen your heart. Thus, training within this range is
important. Also remember that a stronger heart MORE
EFFICIENTLY burns fat while at rest. 99% of the bodybuilders
I know are TERRIFIED at training at this range, but it is a
MISTAKE to be that way. You MUST, but of course, you have to
ensure that you are giving you are "fueled" for it.
-Obviously, IF done for a shorter amount of time, you will
burn more total calories (and, contrary to popular belief,
more of those calories will actually be from fat than the
slower version) with the 75-80% range.
This information should be pretty basic, but I repeatedly
see asanine questions like "Should I be doing cardio while
bulking?" "How much cardio do I need?" Etc, etc.
Look at the information above and don't be afraid to use
common sense. It seems like when it comes to building muscle
and burning fat, people leave common sense at the door. I
realize that the body works in mysterious ways and many
times, it goes against logic (eating MORE to lose weight?
drink MORE water to fight water retention?) But so many
things DO work the way they are expected.
To be perfectly honest, cardio isn't even the most efficient
means to create a caloric deficit (diet IS). It's a heck of
a lot easier to remove 500 calories from the diet than it is
to burn 500 calories on a treadmill, plus it's less
impactive on the recovery systems of the body. Also, it's a
little easier to manipulate what nutrients are consumed as
fuel (via macronutrient manipulation).
Think about it in terms of math. Lets say after a full day
of activity, including lifting, your body burns 2500
calories a day and to lose weight, you need to create a 500
calorie a day deficit.
There are a few ways to do that. Here are some EXAMPLES:
2000 calorie a day consumption
-Negative: the heart will get NO training.
-Positive: you don't have to do cardio
2500 calorie a day consumption minus 500 extra calories from
cardio
-Positive: You CAN work your heart (if you get in the range)
-Negative: Unless your nutrition is perfect and you plan for
it, you're going to tap into muscle. Also, you have to bust
your @ss doing cardio.
2200 calories consumed minus 200 extra calories from cardio
-Positive: best of both worlds. Less time in the gym and you
can eat a little more
When burning fat, I typically like to combine the two, like
in the last example. IN my case, I don't WANT to be in a
caloric deficit. I am focusing on building muscle WHILE
training my heart. This is basically what I'm doing (an
EXAMPLE, not exact):
On a typical day, I burn 3200 calories.
When I add cardio, I burn 300 additional calories, bringing
it to a total of 3500 calories burned.
I want a caloric surplus to ensure a positive nitrogen
balance and optimization of recovery, so I will consume 300
additional calories, bringing it to 3800 calories.
Got it?
Now, HIIT...
High Intensity Interval Training (Cardio)
By Boyd Myers
Same thing, wrote it many years ago. Now, I don't care HOW
you do HIIT. I like sprints on a track, don't get wrapped up
in that...
Right now, I'm training my cardiovascular system for
maximum-response to my weight training. I want to recover
faster between sets (I admit, it has become a weakness due
to the fact that I haven't trained at the MAX % I should).
I think everyone knows the premise, but for me, it's an easy
way to get the lungs and heart fired up and avoid getting
bored. Remember that doing slow-go cardio (55% range) is
good for burning fat as fuel, but it really does nothing for
the cardiovascular system. So many people fail to train
their hearts as hard as they train the rest of their body,
and I don't think anyone would debate that it is the most
important muscle. This is a way to integrate both: your
heart really pumps and you burn a relatively high number of
calories in a short amount of time. It's fast, it's
explosive, and it works.
I recommend doing this on a track, but it can be done on a
treadmill, bike, stairs, street, elliptical machine or
whatever:
Warm-up with a brisk 3-5 minute walk. Stretch, and walk
again for 2 minutes before starting.
I recommend it 2-3x per week. It may be strenuous on the
CNS, so anymore may not be beneficial.
Week 1
3 intervals
Each interval-30 seconds sprinting (as hard as you can go
for 30 seconds for whatever you're doing) /30 seconds
walking
Week 2
4 intervals
Week 3
5 intervals
Week 4
6 Intervals
Keep this up for 6-8 weeks, and I guarantee you'll see some
fat loss with minimal, if any muscle loss. I believe that it
is an excellent type of cardio to complement heavy lifting,
because of how brief it is. If you're looking mainly for fat
loss, I recommend this for individuals that are already
somewhat lean and in decent cardiovascular shape, and are
just trying to get rid of stubborn fat or tune up their
cardio systems.
Note-I personally start at 5-6 intervals, because my cardio
conditioning is pretty decent. I would generally recommend
starting at 3-4 intervals, especially if you haven't
sprinted in a while.
If you do this on a treadmill, remember that a treadmill
takes a few seconds to adjust, so take this into
consideration. Also, maybe you'll want to use the incline
feature to make it more intense. When I use the treadmill, I
look for one with a higher top speed (12mph) and I raise the
incline to 4-6%. It's a lot harder than it sounds,
ESPECIALLY after 5-6 minutes.
As far as different types of calories burned, although the
duration is short, your total calories will be higher. A lot
of the calories you burn will be from glycogen, but your fat
calories burned will be quite impressive as well... Since
the duration isn't too long, muscle should be spared.
However, don't do this on an empty stomach (just like you
shouldn't be for any cardio). By now, I hope you are aware
that you need to have a source of BCAAs to ensure your body
isn't tapping into muscle stores for aminos to burn as
fuel...
It's really important to remember this - high intensity
work (like HIIT and sprints) rely on glucose for fuel, but
forces your body to burn fat for fuel for the rest of the
day to compensate. Likewise, lower intensity cardio may use
more fat for fuel (after stored glycogen is exhausted) but
forces the body to burn glucose for the rest of the day for
fuel, which is obviously an undesirable event for someone
looking to maintain muscle. Think of the difference between
Olympic sprinters and tail backs (always muscular and lean)
and marathon runners (look like cancer patients).
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