Cardio after weightlifting workout?

[imageWIS]

I was talking to a guy who works at my gym and he said that the best way to burn unwanted fat is to do cardio after weightlifting.

Is he correct? Anyone have any pointers, I'm trying to slowly gain a bit of weight (maybe 10 lbs, 15lbs max) while at the same time still being as cut as possible.

Jon.

 

[drizzt3117]

Fasted cardio is probably the best way to go. You want to eat before and after weightlifting for maximum hypertrophy, so I wouldn't think a lot of cardio around that time would be ideal for the purposes of fat burning. It would also likely be bad for the purposes of gaining.

I would recommend doing cardio right after waking up before you eat anything.

 

[James Bond]

Throw in sprint intervals after your lifting...start with 10 minutes of 30 seconds sprint, 90 seconds jog, and work up to 15 minutes. The short duration shouldn't interfere with periworkout nutrition, and the use of sprints over steady-state will have longer-lasting metabolic effects.

 

[ibleedwhite]

okay here is the low down.

1) Cardio after lifting will surely help in the post-soreness because the cardio will help in the cleansing of lactic acid from the body
2) sure cardio will help after post workout for burning fat, as long as you maintain your diet and work hard
3) fasting cardio is somewhat iffy

 

[JaCet]

it's the next best thing.... to sprinting

fasted cardio is ridicolous....... the study has already been done.. it's the same

though you might burn some more muscle.... get that skinny fat look workin for u

 

[MilanoStyle]

Have glass of water and do cardio right after you wake up in the morning. Your body burns a lot more fat that way. This is too hard for me, so I do cardio before I go to sleep.

 

[skunkworks]

Fasted vs non-fasted cardio - I think it's still pretty unclear whether fasted cardio has enough benefits to outweigh the negatives. To be honest, I think the benefits of it can't possibly outweigh the misery of running in the morning with no breakfast.

The bottom line is that aerobic fitness interferes with anaerobic training, and vice versa. If you want to burn some extra fat, you should be doing HIIT sprints on off days where you aren't lifting. On days where you are lifting, you shouldn't do any aerobic work within an hour before or after you lift.

If you have the desire to do cardio after a lifting routine, then your lifting routine isn't hard enough.

 

[lefty]

Originally Posted by skunkworks

If you have the desire to do cardio after a lifting routine, then your lifting routine isn't hard enough.

I was going to say.

I don't know what kind of leg WO you guys are doing, but after I'm done with squats/deads/lunges that last thing I want to do is intervals.

lefty

 

[imageWIS]

Originally Posted by lefty

I was going to say.

I don't know what kind of leg WO you guys are doing, but after I'm done with squats/deads/lunges that last thing I want to do is intervals.

lefty

That's the thing my leg workouts are 30+ miles of biking a week. And my average speed is between 22-25 mph.

Jon.

 

[javyn]

I've always heard it's best to avoid cardio while you are trying to gain. If you want to look cut, eat clean while you are bulking.

 

[drizzt3117]

I don't think you're going to want to bike after a workout... btw are you talking about 30 miles a day of biking, or 30 miles per week?

 

[skunkworks]

If you're trying to bulk while staying as lean as possible, a lot of that will be a function of eating clean and eating just enough that your body has enough to build up muscle but not so much that it converts to caloric excess to fat stores.

Edit: also, hopefully your workouts consist of big compound movements, the best way to add easy muscle.

 

[drizzt3117]

The other thing is that it's much harder to bulk completely cleanly than it is to bulk moderately cleanly. If you're capable of doing a bunch of high intensity cardio, you're probably better off bulking 20-25 lb (15 of which is muscle) then cutting the extra fat down through cardio.

 

[KBW]

fasted cardio is bullshit...your metabolism is twice as strong (if not more than that) as it is breaking down some food. eat your normal food you would eat 45mins to an hour before workout and then run/cardio of some sort afterwards. you'll lose weight and not hurt your gains all that much if not help them as you increase blood flow to your muscles. People are full of **** saying you need to do cardio first thing...that only works for people wanting to have zero muscle...no point in working out if you are going to run after fasting...you'll gain ZERO muscle and lose what you have.

 

[Philosoph]

I suggest doing relatively lightweight barbell complexes a la Alwyn Cosgrove. They sound easy, but will either greatly improve your conditioning and bodyfat levels or kill you.

If you're concentrating on fat loss/metabolic training, use slightly more weight and do them first thing in your workout. To add some metabolic training into your existing program, use less weight and do them last.