Quote:
Originally Posted by
shortbuspoker
I usually do around 8:30 before I leave for work and then another around 1 in the afternoon. Everything that I've read says not to do more than 3 a day but I don't do any after 2pm because I have trouble sleeping.
Mike's ECA stack and subsequent cardio workout posts were two of his best. His cardio post (below) is the only post I've ever saved.
Originally posted on venopoker.com
1. Understanding cardio- cardio for fat loss, cardio for heart health, variations etc
Cardio is the name of the game when it comes to shedding body fat. But there are so many types you can do, and so many schools of thought that figuring out what's best for YOU can be quite challenging. How do you differentiate?
Well firstly it's important to understand the differing types, their advantages and flaws and make a decision based on your goals and current level of fitness.
Firstly is steady state cardio both fasted (meaning before you eat, empty stomach) and not fasted. Fasted is vastly superior here, taking advantage of both low insulin levels and very low circulating glycogen levels. What this means it two-fold. Because you have no glucose to run off of, your body must almost immediately dip into body fat stores for energy. Where else is it going to get energy from if you haven't eaten for 6-7 hours? Hence the term fasted. Secondly, anytime your blood glucose levels get down to nothing, your body kicks out HGH. Growth Hormone is never secreted in the presence of insulin. Hidden secret to why low carb diets work.
So you get two-fold kick here, both a spike in HGH which burns fat all on its own plus you push your body to burn fat for energy. Keep heart rate between 100-125 range. Walking is king here though you can also bike if you keep an eye on HR and find the magic zone of 100-125 and no higher. Keep sessions to an hour or so, going longer will not help, shorter is not that effective. To make this better consume 200mgs or so caffeine prior to walking. You may also add either yohimbine hcl or ephedrine depending on your goals.
Second and very common is moderate intensity cardio. anything with a heart rate of 126-160 is moderate cardio. This is typically what you see people doing in the gym, and these are the same people who look the same day in and day out. It's not that great for fat burning because you are both working your cardiovascular system and your muscles are working too hard to be working 100% aerobically. This type of cardio is best if you are starting out and trying to "get in shape" meaning fat loss is not totally your goal, you want to increase cardio capacity as well. Get your muscles toned a bit. Best for women as they tend to not want to mess around with weights, this type of cardio will both tone you and lead to some moderate fat loss as well. Best done on treadmill via walking on an incline, the Stairmaster or elliptical.
This cardio is also best suited for heart health. It stresses your cardiovascular system a good deal but it not as intense as HIIT. HIIT will ultimately build the healthiest heart you can but for most it's not feasible thus stick with medium intensity if building a healthy heart is your goal. The low intensity walking is solely for body fat loss. Sessions should be between 30-45 minutes. An hour is pushing it; less than 30 is not long enough. At least 3 times a week, 6-7 is preferable if you are in ok shape.
Last is HIIT, or High Intensity Interval Training. King of all things fitness related, you could literally just do wind sprints and build a great body. Look at most Olympic sprinters and tell me you would not kill to have their bodies. HIIT works through a wide variety of mechanisms and I think it best to avoid a technical discussion and just say this- your body uses certain hormones and enzymes to trigger fat loss and HIIT kicks these into HIGH gear. Doing HIIT is tricky and best explained briefly as intervals of maximum intensity followed by an interval twice as long of recovery intensity. I will give some examples below.
Treadmill HIIT- walk for 5 to get blood in your knees and ankles and then spend a minute or two stretching till you are loose. Get back on, walk at 2.8 for 2 minutes, then run at 8.0 for 1 minute then back to 2.8 for 2 minutes, run at 8.0 for one minute etc. Repeat until you have done 8 intervals at 8.0 then walk for a cool down of 5 minutes and you are done.
The key here is you need to figure out what is the fastest you can run for the 1 minute. You might only do 7.0 to start; you might be able to do 9.0. Depends on how fast you can run honestly. I can do 9.0 for 8 one minute intervals with an incline of 2% and I am fairly advanced. On the upper end of the spectrum I know a guy personally who could do unlimited with a speed of 12 and incline of 12%. He was maybe 165 6ft1 and just sick to your stomach low body fat. They freaking work trust me.
Stairmaster HIIT- not recommended for beginners but you can try it. Use the interval setting and try level 6 and go higher. I can do 6 sometimes 7 if I have taken ephedrine. If you can do level 9 you are GOD of all things HIIT related.
Bike- same as treadmill, float between level 2 and however high you can go. Intervals of 1 min all out, 2 min recover etc. Try to get 10 intervals as biking is not as stressful as running.
Elliptical- same as bike and treadmill, toggle around the intensity levels to suit you.
So now that we have the main types of cardio listed, what is right for you? That depends on goals and level of fitness. Let's start with the average male in ok shape who's trying to lose some belly fat. I recommend medium to start and HIIT after a few weeks. The added muscle from HIIT will take care of body fat loss so the low intensity is not needed. You may try starting with HIIT but if it's too much shelve it for a couple weeks and do medium intensity to build up.
Let's say you are overweight and out of shape, start with the low intensity fasted in the morning and again at night after dinner. Duration of 1 hour each session. Stick with this until you have lost enough weight to be light on your feet and then add in a session of medium intensity for 2-3 weeks then ditch the medium and replace with HIIT. Start slow and work your way up with the intervals.
Women- same for men really, though if your goal is toning your body I recommend sessions of 45 minutes 3-4 times a week on the elliptical or Stairmaster, medium intensity. This will tone as well as burn fat.
Say you are athletic and trying to lose that last bit of flab, HIIT is the way to go. 4 days a week, the other 3 do low intensity walking fasted in the morning. Basically the HIIT will make your fasted cardio 3x better for body fat loss. If you have the endurance feel free to bump it to 5 days of HIIT and a 1 hour walk every single morning fasted.
Questions/comments fire away.
