Some of the most common questions that I get asked are: when should I do my cardio, what intensity should I do my cardio, and how often should I do it. In order to accurately answer these questions we have to first determine what your goals are. There are really only two major goals in this sport when it comes to cardio and training: build muscle or burn fat. No matter if you are trying to lose body fat or build muscle, cardio is essential for maximal progress with either of these goals.
Most of the time we think of cardio as a tool for fat loss and so much of the focus is put on the cardio that is done during contest prep or done to burn off extra body fat so you can continue to look nice and trim. However, if performed correctly cardio can also aid in encouraging you to build muscle. First, let’s focus on fat loss. This is the most pressing reason cardio is done and it is usually why I get questions on cardio. Most people want to know how to make their cardio the most effective and get the most results.
CARDIO FOR FAT LOSS
First let’s look at cardio for fat loss and what is the most effective. Assuming that your diet is on par with losing fat, your cardio will be the second most important element in your fat loss program that will aid in burning off your unwanted body fat. In general, doing cardio in the morning before any meals and before your blood sugar level has risen is the best time to do fat burning cardio. Bar none, most athletes feel that they get more fat burning done with this kind of fasted state cardio. I also recommend that prior to your fasted cardio you should take the following: some BCAA’s so that you decrease any risk of accelerated muscle wasting, L-Carnitine which is required by your body to burn fat as fuel, and a fat burner to increase the thermogenic action during your cardio training. Here is exactly what I recommend 20 mins prior to your cardio training:
- 5-15 gm of BCAA’s (depending on lean body mass)
- 500 mg of L-Carnitine
- Scorch (fat burner)
This combination of nutrients will help you increase your thermogenic mechanism, give you the raw components to burn your fat as fuel and ensure that you preserve as much lean tissue as possible. Actually, Figure Fuel combined with Scorch will give you all these components and is a great way to ensure that you get all these together in the correct amounts.
Once you have loaded up on nutrients and you are ready to do your cardio, how should you perform it? There are many schools of thought on this and every competitor and athlete has his or her own particular way they may like to do it. I recommend that if you are focused on fat loss then doing steady state is the tried and true way to go. You should choose the intensity level that is consistent with your fitness level and one that will get you hot and sweaty after about 12 to 15 minutes. Some people don’t sweat as much, especially if you are a small woman or if you just don’t have a lot of body mass. In this case, gauge your intensity by how hot you get. In other words, how much heat you can produce while doing your cardio. The most important aspect of fat burning cardio is heat generation. The simple truth is…the more heat you generate the more calories your body is burning and our goal is to generate as much of a energy deficit as we can by burning, burning, burning those calories.
CARDIO FOR MUSCLE GAIN
Cardio for muscle building seems like an oxymoron, but if done carefully and correctly this kind of activity can enhance some of your body’s processes, and thus aid you in building the muscle that you want. First, you have to understand that the primary type of muscle fiber that is prone for growth are your fast twitch fibers. These fast twitch fibers are generally shorter and are the fibers that contract rapidly with more force but tend to run out of steam quickly. Fast twitch fibers predominantly derive their energy anaerobically, which means they generally prefer energy pathways that don’t require oxygen such as the phosphate system and glycolysis. During activity this type of muscle fiber creates ATP (which is the energy your muscles use to contract) by first exhausting what is in the muscle (0-3 seconds worth of energy), then it turns to creatine phosphate (CP) to resynthesize ATP until the CP runs out (another 6-8 seconds of energy later). All this is magically happening as you workout continuously and the speed of which this happens is based on how you are doing your cardio or workout.
To put a fine point on this, if you do high-intensity intervals in your cardio training, this can be a great way to recall more of these fast twitch fibers that are prone for growth. By stressing them with enough intensity in your cardio session to damage them you can encourage a certain degree of growth in the end. High intensity interval training has been done for years by many athletes to help them burn more calories during a cardio sessions by increasing effort and energy output. But if done in moderation you can get muscle building benefits. Again, if your diet is right and it is supporting your nutritional needs for muscle growth, then this kind of cardio in moderation will enhance recovery and stimulate growth by creating the kind of fiber damage that causes growth.
I recommend that you do your high intensity intervals in a certain manner to have the best results. Do your cardio in a steady-state form for about 3 minutes, then increase the intensity for 90 seconds and repeat this over and over until your cardio is finished. However, I do not recommend that you do any more than 3 sessions of cardio a week if you are trying to put on muscle. I also recommend that you do no more than 30 minutes of cardio in this fashion at a time. Extended periods of cardio and cardio done too often in your week can create some recovery issues and put an extra burden on your energy systems and can work against you building muscle.
Additionally, you can encourage the best muscle building environment in your body by taking some BCAA’s and having a good abundant creatine source before your sessions. I recommend doing this by taking a serving of Figure Fuel and a serving of Clout before a cardio session or workout. One serving of each of these products should support and give you what you need to survive a rigorous 30 minute session of high intensity interval cardio.
No matter what your goals are for doing cardio, you will need to support these activities nutritionally for optimal results, and you will need to perform your cardio in the manner that is most appropriate to your goals. Good luck and happy cardio!
