Cardio and Lifting Same day?

[mahon83050]

Call me ignorant, but I do not know much about this whole exercise thing. My question is, Is it ok to do Cardio for 20-30 Minutes and Weight Lifting in the same workout or should I do them in seperate days. Is it better to do Cardio after you lift?

 

[Ofus]

Originally posted by mahon83050
Is it ok to do Cardio for 20-30 Minutes and Weight Lifting in the same workout

Yup

Is it better to do Cardio after you lift?

It is much better to do cardio after lifting than before. Your body only stores so much glycogen (which your body burns for fuel before it burns fat), and you want to use that for lifting. After an hour it's gonna be gone, which is when you should cardio. It is actually better to do cardio after a workout than just cardio alone because your body goes directly to burning fat for energy.

 

[mahon83050]

thank you OFus

 

[Soshyopathe]

seperate lifting and cardio by at least 6 hours. Anabolic + Catabolic = F'ing yourself.

 

[Ofus]

Originally posted by Soshyopathe
seperate lifting and cardio by at least 6 hours. Anabolic + Catabolic = F'ing yourself.

Why?

 

[payaya]

i tried this, it makes you so tired. If i do cardio first, then i cant lift weights like i normally do.

if i do weights first, i cant do as much cardio.

 

[Big N]

The point of cardio is to put yourself in caloric deficit. You are not supposed to burn fat during the actual cardio.

 

[Soshyopathe]

If you need a caloric defecit, you are trying to cut therefor retain as much muscle as possible. So why would you do a catabolic excersize? If you accidentally overeat by a few cals one day, it's not worth losing muscle over. Just do better for the rest of your cutting. You shouldn't be running.

 

[CONAN]

Can somebody tell me when your body uses lean muscle tissue for energy as opposed to using fat stores, never quite understood that?
C

 

[Alpha male Female Catcher]

Originally posted by CONAN
Can somebody tell me when your body uses lean muscle tissue for energy as opposed to using fat stores, never quite understood that?

I am only going from memory here (and a fuzzy one at that) so someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong but I think it goes something like this. Your brain can only burn glucose or glycogen or something, it can't burn fat. Your brain is also your most energy hungry organ (which is why it can only go for 5 min with out oxygen were as the muscles can I think go for an hour or more).

Anyway when your body runs out of glucose (which I think is stored in liver and muscles) then in order to keep the brain supplied with glucose the body has to burn muscle. Apparently the body can convert muscle to glucose but not fat. So I guess when you exhaust your glucose (or is it glycogen -whatever) stores it will start to burn muscle.

 

[Soshyopathe]

Fat is nothing but complex carbohydrates, very easily broken down into glycogen. Fat is the body's choice for energy over muscle. However, when the body realizes it is going too long without food, it goes into starvation mode, or catabolism. The body needs fat to survive and protect the organs. However, the body doesn't need all that excess muscle. So it will break down as much muscle as it needs untill you eat again or cool down or whatnot.

 

[Alpha male Female Catcher]

Fat is stored as triacylglycerols that is 3 hydrocarbon chains attached via ester bonds to a glycerol backbone. So strictly speaking fat and carbohydrates are a different thing. At any rate it is not normal terminology to refer to triglycerol as a carbohydrate (not even a complex one). Though carbohydrate (as well as muscle protein) can be converted to triglycerol the process is irreversible (fat can’t be turned back into carbohydrate).

When your glycogen stores are low fat is broken down into ketones which are then turned into glucose which is used as fuel. Muscle proteins are also broken down into their constituent amino acids and then into glucose. So ultimately as you say fat is a source of glucose (there wouldn’t be much use to it otherwise) I’m just being pedantic about the terminology here.

Unlike muscle the brain cannot use circulating fatty acids as fuel directly because they do not cross the blood brain barrier (ketones however do). When you run out of glycogen stores both muscle and fat are broken down and converted to glucose to keep the brain (and other organs) supplied. The fat conversion to glucose requires oxygen the amino acid one doesn’t. So when oxygen is in short supply muscle is more likely to be used. The body does initially prefer to breakdown fat over muscle as you say, though once into serious dieting the body apparently also goes through a stage where it prefers muscle then it turns back to relying mainly on fat again but both pathways are always present when you run out of glycogen stores albeit in different proportions depending on the circumstances.

I think the article that I was referring to in the previous post (which I can no longer find) was claiming that the brain has a propensity to use muscle as its source (when glycogen stores are depleted) due to it being able to deliver the glucose quicker (as it requires less chemical reactions in the conversion pathway, including less oxygen consumption) than the fatty acid break down pathway which is a slower and less efficient process.

 

[Alpha male Female Catcher]

Actually considering that muscle doesn't use glucose straight from the bloodstream but leaves it there for other organs, in particular the brain (see the article "Why doesn't muscle use glucose straight from the bloodstream as required?" at http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0359.htm)
I am inclined to think the original article (that I can no longer find) about muscle break down supplying the brain (after liver/blood glycogen depletion) is probably correct. (The point being that as muscle and brain source their glucose differently it is possible for muscle not to be using muscle break down but to be rather relying on fat break down for its energy at the same time that the brain is in fact using muscle breakdown for its glucose needs - which I think was the point of the article).

 

[CONAN]

Wow,
Its a complex issue seemingly, I have been running approx 30 mile a week for a year and my arms are much leaner than they used to be, and although i have lost aoorox 40 lbs of fat, i also think that i have lost a lot of lean muscle also.
Oh well so be it!
Thanks guys,
C

 

[CONAN]

What about this, in laymans terms,
15-20mins into your cardio Your body starts to burn fat stores for energy, but it can only burn, at max 50% of the required energy needed as fat, the rest is usually made up of carbs, now when you have no carbs in your stores it needs to make the rest up so it uses lean tissue.
C