- Does semi-fasted cardio help with fat loss?
In the bodybuilding world, “morning cardio” or “semi-fasted cardio” is often cited as a key for getting uber-ripped. But is it true?
Recently I wrote about fasting for fat loss and muscle growth.
But the concepts around semi-fasted cardio training have been around longer. Seems like there would be conclusive science on this right? Unfortunately not.
Nonetheless, today I’ll take you through enough science for you to draw some lessons and I’ll finish with 10 tips for you. (more…)
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Continue reading about 10 Steps Towards Semi-Fasted Morning Cardio For Fat Loss
I love running. I love bodybuilding. I keep hearing that you “can’t ride two horses”. But I do. True, my gains in each are probably more moderate than if I gave one up. But being fully human means making choices to move up Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
If you get past the conditioning phase of cardio (whatever kind of cardio you choose, not just running), you too may learn to love it as much as you love pumping iron. You’ll find ways to do progressive cardio. You can have your cake and eat it too.
People who are cardio haters have recently glommed on to the HIIT craze (high-intensity interval training). I’m working on a more elaborate article comparing HIIT to steady state cardio for fat loss, but here’s a preview: HIIT is not necessarily better for fat loss. Like any modality of exercise, HIIT has pros and cons. One con is that it is really hard to do properly and so most people only think they are doing HIIT – actually, they are just doing intervals.
While I think HIIT could make some sense, for some people, some of the time, I’m one of those freaks who likes long, steady-state cardio.
Regardless of HIIT vs. steady state, there’s a movement afoot that says “If you are lifting weights, you don’t need to do any cardio at all.”
Huh?
Fitness Gurus On Crack
Lots of fitness experts are saying that you should stop cardio altogether! Why?
I think part of it is a combination of fad, lemming behavior, and marketing.
You see, people want to believe they can skip cardio. Most people hate cardio and will believe any argument that tells them what they already want to hear.
Wouldn’t it be great to hear that you can be healthy and lean without having to do any work?
So these fitness gurus play “you can skip cardio” on their flutes, and many people start following them.
And these guys are in great shape to be sure. So if they look that good without doing cardio, it must be the ticket, right? (more…)
I’ve officially had it with fitness pros who tell people cardio is bad.
I wish I were kidding. But I’m not exaggerating here. There are fitness guys saying all cardio is bad for all people.
In fact, as a result of one of my (former) affiliate partner’s recent blog posts on his site, I am now totally dropping him. Even though he has some great products, I can’t recommend him any more because his approach is so far away from my philosophy. I don’t want to make this personal, so I won’t name him, but you can count on me not promoting his products anymore.
What am I so angry about? (My first draft of this article was so filled with venom that I had to edit it down heavily…!)
Progressive overload.
If you’ve been lifting for some time, you’ve no doubt heard that phrase.
The brief explanation: Over time, you need to consistently add work to your muscles, beyond what they are used to doing.
This can take the form of going up in weight. Or adding more reps. Or adding more sets. Or lifting more explosively. Etc. For more ideas, click here.
These, and other, techniques keep you progressing – your muscles have to get bigger in order to accomplish the added work. And bigger muscles can be progressively overloaded more. And they in turn get bigger. It’s a virtuous circle!
[Another technique for consistently making progress involves switching your routine itself periodically, but that’s a different post…]
My point being that you
a) Hear about progressive improvement in weight training a lot.
b) Have several techniques at your disposal to accomplish it.
Even if you are saying to yourself, “I’ve got the right amount of muscle now, I don’t need to gain any more,” then you need progressive overload (and periodization) just to prevent muscle loss. Otherwise, in a few years you are going to see less and less muscle mass due to sarcopenia.
But What About Cardio?
How do you keep progressing in your cardio?
I mean, if your body will reach a sort of homeostasis with weight training unless you continually force it out of its comfort zone, won’t that happen with cardio too?
The short answer is yes, but it’s more subtle.
See, it all starts with goals.
Why are you lifting weights?
Probably to gain more muscle mass. And that’s really hard to do. As I’ve written before, gaining muscle is much harder than losing fat.
Which brings me to “why are you doing cardio?”
Chances are, it’s to lose fat (or worse, to lose “weight” – ughh – please don’t ever use that phrase, “lose weight”).
Sure, for some of you it’s to build endurance. Or compete. Or you simply love running.
But most you have it tied to the calories it burns and the impact on your metabolism.
And make no mistake, you will reach a point where doing the same cardio week after week will stop producing fat loss. Your body will adapt.
How To “Progressively Overload” Your Cardio Training
Here’s another exceptional article from Tom Venuto. You see, Tom understands that cardio plays a major role in having a fit, muscular physique as well as for your overall health. I sometimes sound like a broken record in saying that the guys who dismiss (more…)
Continue reading about 2 Cardio Mistakes You’re Still Making
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By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS BurnTheFat High Intensity Interval Training, or HIIT for short, has been promoted as one of the most effective training methods ever to come down the pike, both for fat loss and for cardiovascular fitness. (more…)
Continue reading about Steady State Cardio 5 X More Effective Than HIIT????
Editor’s note – There is so much monthly science news when it comes to muscle fitness, that it’s probably hard for you to keep up. In these occasional posts, I’ll summarize various items of research in the past 90 days or so. I’ll cite the official reports so that the hard-core of you can read the science for yourself. But for the rest of you, these summaries should save you some time…
I Love This One – Cardio Plus Weight Training = Healthy Blood Vessels
To start us off, I’m actually pulling two studies from 2006 and 2007 that I just found. Many studies have shown that weight training/resistance training increases the stiffness of blood vessels (the theory is that they stiffen in response to the high pressure involved in weight training). But in Journal of Hypertension, Volume 24 – Issue 9 – p 1753-1759 researchers found that resistance training, compared to sedentary or combination resistance and cardio training, had about 20% more stiffening of arteries over a 4 month period. Conclusion: cardio training will offset the stiffness induced by weight training. And we’re talking about steady state cardio (the kind that a lot of modern day fitness gurus are pooh-poohing).
So I dug deeper and found that in J Appl Physiol 103: 1655-1661 Japanese researchers took 33 young healthy people (men and women) and broke them into groups. Some ran BEFORE weight training and some ran AFTER. And the only ones who saw the benefit of offsetting the resistance-training-induced-blood-vessel-stiffening were the ones who ran AFTER. I’ve said many times that
- Cardio is good! especially when combined with weight training; and
- Do your weight training first!
Now I have some science to back that up! You know I recommend both The Truth About Six Pack Abs and Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle. Well, in this regard, Tom’s Burn the Fat (more…)
Continue reading about Science News For Building Lean Muscle – April 18 2009
I love running. I love weight training and bodybuilding. By trying to do both, am I destined to be ineffective at both?
Many of you are runners too. And if you subscribe to this blog, you are no doubt into weight training. I keep hearing and reading on other blogs that you can’t do both. That’s bull. Here’s their theory: pumping iron builds muscle mass that will add weight to your body; that added weight will slow you down and add stress to your knees and other soft tissue ultimately leading to injuries if you run. And on the other hand, steady-state cardio (medium or long distance running) will burn more muscle than it burns fat. [Some experts even go so far as to say "give up cardio totally". I've got an upcoming post to dismiss that, but back to today's post...]
Bottom Line: They’re partially right – yes, it presents big challenges to try to do both, and their theory is correct. But their conclusion is wrong – of course you CAN do both! I say – forget the science. Do what you love!
Did He Just Say To Ignore Science?
Well, sort of. I’m not saying ignore it – I’m just saying that life is too short to live in fear. So a more pragmatic (but less pithy) way of saying is: learn the science so that you can compensate for the hard realities and still do what you love.
What is “Running”?
For simplicity, let’s break running into two categories (yes, I know there are a million ways to slice it, but stay with me here for my point):
a) steady-state, medium- to long-distance (like jogging or at the high end, marathons); in this running you are keeping your pace and heart rate pretty constant
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