Cardio Timing

JamesU2005 · 10 Jul 2012 at 11:47

Howdy OcUK.

Need some advice. Been lifting weights consistently for the past year and have been making progress.

However, I've been doing very little cardio and want to reduce my bodyfat.

Currently I lift weights at lunchtime (1pm).

Was thinking of adding some HIIT (outdoors rather than in the gym) in the evenings (say 7pm) before my main meal.

Should I avoid doing cardio on my lifting days or does it not really matter?

Thanks!

LiE · 10 Jul 2012 at 11:51

No reason to avoid cardio on your lifting days. If you're doing HIIT then why not do it in the gym after your weights - it should only take about 20 minutes.

JamesU2005 · 10 Jul 2012 at 11:54

LiE said:
No reason to avoid cardio on your lifting days. If you're doing HIIT then why not do it in the gym after your weights - it should only take about 20 minutes.

Thanks LiE.

I would but it's during my 1 hour lunch break and after getting changed/shower etc, I only really have 40 minutes total for my weights routine.

LiE · 10 Jul 2012 at 11:59

Makes sense. Some HIIT hill sprints would be good.

ethos · 10 Jul 2012 at 12:00

Personally I prefer fasted steady state cardio in the morning to reduce bodyfat.

With some diet tweaking and 30 minutes 3-4x a week I can comfortably drop 2-3lbs a week consistently. I normally sit at around 120-130bpm, or in other words "I could probably hold a conversation at this intensity".

I quite like the caffeine snooze too, set your alarm a 10 minutes before you normally would, drop 100/200mg caffeine, then snooze for another 10 and then get up. Ready to go!

HIIT cardio done properly should be done on a different day from weights and done in the afternoon or evening after you have a few meals in you. HIIT when done properly is highly intense (clues in the name), so trying to achieve this level of intensity after a session of weights is hopeful.

JamesU2005 · 10 Jul 2012 at 12:23

Thanks for the advice guys.

Will probably do it in the evening and see how that goes.

Some HIIT cardio is better than no cardio right?

Adam123 · 10 Jul 2012 at 22:37

try playing squash... lasts 40 mins which is the same as your weight training time and its fuuuun :-)

or get a bike and cycle to / from work :-)

I used to do 30mins on x-trainer every weight sesh, and squash once a week with xtrainer before squash....