Cardio after workout + PWO

[Bahir]

Lately, I have been doing low intensity cardio (walking fast/walking on an incline) on a treadmill directly after a weight workout. During the first half of this cardio session (usually 30 minutes), I have also taken my PWO shake (whey+dextrose).

My questions to the knowledged:

What are the pros/cons of doing cardio directly after a workout while drinking a PWO shake?

Am I burning fat when I'm doing this, or does the energy come from the PWO shake? (how long does it really take before the sugar hits the bloodstream?)

Does doing it like this properly raise insulin levels, and prevent excess sugar from being stored as fat?

[Wei]

i dont know the answer to your questions but i do the same thing, but not by choice, i bike to my gym (10-15 mins) and back so i automatically get cardio warmup and cooldown.

arnold used to bike 7-8 miles to his gym in the early days, so i can't imagine it being that bad for you

[YetiUSA]

I dont know if this will help you or not but i do low intensity cardio after weights and i dont drink pwo shake till 30 minutes after cardio and iam geting great results.

As to your question drinking pwo shake before cardio is bad because your putting carbs in your body which are burned for energy instead of fat. In order to save you muscle make sure to take some bcaa before hitting cardio thou.

[Venom]

If your goal is increased fat metabolism during your cardio session, than I would just wait till your cardio is done to have your shake. Cardio will only increase the rate and amount of glycogen synthesis. One concern is that cardio depletes amino acids to a greater extent, and because of this, protein synthesis tends to decline during/after cardio. If you have your amino shooter, or some type of essential amino supplement pre-workout, and then again post workout, you should be good.

A second concern, is that the nutrients you have post workout, will be allocated both to the muscles you weight trained (i.e. pecs) and to the muscles you trained during cardio. So recovery of the muscles that you weight trained may not be as fast. This may call for a larger pw shake and pw meal, depending on your goals.

Overall, a lot of the issues with cardio and muscle growth, is that it metabolizes a lot of calories. And when you are in a caloric deficit, anabolic hormones such as leptin and testosterone decline (see, http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/testosterone.pdf ). With proper replenishment, carb / calorie cycles, and nutrient timing, you can avoid a lot of these side effects.

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Am I burning fat when I'm doing this, or does the energy come from the PWO shake? (how long does it really take before the sugar hits the bloodstream?)

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Very fast; especially because blood flow is greater during exercise. So yes, having a shake during cardio would blunt fat metabolism.

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Does doing it like this properly raise insulin levels, and prevent excess sugar from being stored as fat?

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Yes, but sugar is not going to be stored as fat whether you have it during cardio or post workout, as long as you distribute the shake over 30-60 minutes, and limit how many total calories you have at once. After a hard-core cardio and weight workout, you will use all the carbs you eat for replenishment.

[Bahir]

Thanks! So I guess I'll wait with the shake then. I'm really not to worried about muscle recovery, because I try to schedule my workouts so that the muscle I trained the day before won't cause problems for the next workout (unlike doing triceps before chest or something).

[rawbie]

i usually add some low intense cardio to the end of my workout once i feel all my glycogen stores are depleted, i dont think the muscle:fatloss ratio is that bad, i could be wrong i forgot the last time i read about that. but thats what i do.

also you might want to try to just keep your heart rate up during your workouts, or try like a circuit type program.

[dave12345]

[ QUOTE ]
If your goal is increased fat metabolism during your cardio session, than I would just wait till your cardio is done to have your shake. Cardio will only increase the rate and amount of glycogen synthesis. One concern is that cardio depletes amino acids to a greater extent, and because of this, protein synthesis tends to decline during/after cardio. If you have your amino shooter, or some type of essential amino supplement pre-workout, and then again post workout, you should be good.

A second concern, is that the nutrients you have post workout, will be allocated both to the muscles you weight trained (i.e. pecs) and to the muscles you trained during cardio. So recovery of the muscles that you weight trained may not be as fast. This may call for a larger pw shake and pw meal, depending on your goals.

Overall, a lot of the issues with cardio and muscle growth, is that it metabolizes a lot of calories. And when you are in a caloric deficit, anabolic hormones such as leptin and testosterone decline (see, http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/testosterone.pdf ). With proper replenishment, carb / calorie cycles, and nutrient timing, you can avoid a lot of these side effects.

[ QUOTE ]

Am I burning fat when I'm doing this, or does the energy come from the PWO shake? (how long does it really take before the sugar hits the bloodstream?)

[/ QUOTE ]


Very fast; especially because blood flow is greater during exercise. So yes, having a shake during cardio would blunt fat metabolism.

[ QUOTE ]

Does doing it like this properly raise insulin levels, and prevent excess sugar from being stored as fat?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, but sugar is not going to be stored as fat whether you have it during cardio or post workout, as long as you distribute the shake over 30-60 minutes, and limit how many total calories you have at once. After a hard-core cardio and weight workout, you will use all the carbs you eat for replenishment.

[/ QUOTE ]

Venom,

Optimally I thought it was separate cardio and weights by 6 hours? If I could do cardio right after my weight training (with some eaa between) it was dramatically make my life easier.

How much different is the optimum 6 hour separation, vs doing it right after with an eaa drink?

thx!

[Venom]

Dave,

I was not discussing "optimal" rather, trying to give advice on how to optimize the situation bahir depicted (i.e. what type of nutrition he should have with that training regiment).

If you are bulking, the only cardio I would do post workout is perhaps 15 minutes of low intensity cardio (30-50% vo2) as a form of active recovery; with the added benefit that you would also metabolize fat. Beyond that, I would separate your cardio from lifting on a bulk.

On a cut, that is more of a controversial topic. Presumably, you would be able to metabolize more fat by doing cardio post workout (higher levels of catecholamines, greater depletion of fuels, etc.). But, you’d also be at a greater risk of losing muscle. With proper supplementation (post workout and pre-workout shake) I tend to think that a 30 minute cardio session post workout is not going to do that much more damage over doing 30 minutes of cardio later in the day. However, because I can’t point out exact studies which have examined this question, I can’t give conclusive advice either way; I can just theorize based on research. But again, consider the issues with doing cardio I discussed above, and adjust your diet accordingly. If you try that method out, let us know how it goes!

[Trench]

I do 30 minutes of mid-intensity cardio right after I hit the weights. (walking at about 3.5 at an incline starting from 3 to 10) and take my shake after that. I really have no choice since its the only time I can get to train. So far I dont look like I lost much muscle and I've actually cut BF considerably.