Thanks, Chris!
Like I was telling you in the gym, I spent a lot of time the last couple of days working on my split and diet. I made numerous adjustments, and I'm really happy with it. I'm going to give it a try for 1-2 weeks, see how it goes, then if all goes well, I'll discuss it here!
Today I did:
20 minutes HIIT on the stationary bicycle
30 minutes on the stair master - 50-70% VO2 max.
I like doing HIIT followed by moderate intensity cardio. Prez and I hypothesis that this optimizes fat oxidation. Basically, high intensity exercise ramps up catecholamines, which potently stimulates lypolysis (the breakdown of triglycerides into its glycerol and fatty acid components). However, alpha receptors (receptors stimulated by catecholamines) inhibit these fatty acids from being transported by its protein carrier albumen to the musculature that it may be oxidized. So fat oxidation is not optimal during this period of training.
What Prez and I found in our research, was that when intensity is lowered sympathetic tone lowers proportionally, and a high rise in plasma fatty acids is seen (Romijn et al., 1993.)
For this reason, we suggest that a combination of high intensity and low intensity training protocols may be a highly effective technique for fat metabolism.
In addition to this, results show that fat oxidation is increased proportionally to concentrations of fatty acids. For instance, they have done studies where they have fed participants fat closely to an event, and this increased fat oxidation during exercise. Thus, this rapid rise in FFA's should enhance fat oxidation.
You can read more on this here,
http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/cardioindex.php