HI ladies,

Ok, I'm confused and would appreciate any help that anyone can give me.
From the information I've read over the past few months (I can't remember actual sources but I read it over and over), you have to work out at LEAST 45 minutes because you are only burning sugar before that. After the 45 minute mark you switch from burning sugar stores to burning fat. So that's what I've been going by, figuring longer work outs are better and I'm up to about an hour and a half....either all exercise bike or 1 hour bike and 1/2 an hour treadmill.
Now, I've been reading the Ladies who Lift board and a site they listed. From what I've seen, you should NEVER work out for more than 45 minutes-1 hour because your body is burning what it thinks is "useless muscle". From what I read, long work outs are counter productive to muscle building because you are tearing them back down. But I thought I was burning fat???

So my question, I'm starting weight training to add some muscle (just not be so flabby). But my big thing is losing all this extra weight. This whole time have I been losing muscle and not fat?? How to I balance? Which way is right??

Thanks in advance,

Amber

Okay, the way I see it in the first few minutes of cardio exercise you burn glycogen from the stores in your muscles. This is anaerobic activity because your body has enough fuel to only fuel you for a full out "sprint" for a few minutes because of the "fight or flight" mechanism that we have for dealing with situations where we need to get away from danger.

After this initial period we burn food stores ( I guess it comes from the food in your stomach) then after the food stores are depleted, we burn fat and muscle.

I do believe that exercising for over an hour is fairly extreme and that after an hour your food reserves are depleted. Some people recommend having a high sugar snack after an hour of working out (obviously non-dieters!).

Personally I hadn't heard that you burn muscle after an hour of cardio but I guess it's right cos Mel & Meg and Ilene over there in LWL really know their stuff!

I wouldn't do cardio for over an hour because of the tiredness factor! You also get a better workout by doing high intensity interval training (HIIT), try jogging slowly for 1min, then sprinting for 30secs, then jogging for 1min etc... I know this burns more calories than plain old steady cardio because your metabolism is raised from the sprints and from what I read in an article, your metabolism stays elevated for longer after an HIIT workout than an equivalent non-HIIT workout.

I hope this helps It is pretty confusing about burning fat, sugar, muscle! But basically, you lose *weight* by having a calorie defecit. The more calories you burn, the greater that defecit would be. However if you don't want to lose muscle, it's essential to weight train along side cardio!

2frustrated is right (as usual ). The first thing you burn is the glucose (sugar) in your bloodstream. Then you burn the glycogen in your muscles (and the tiny bit in your liver). After THAT your body starts using fat as fuel.

[Kate just learned all that stuff in Animal Nutrition class and wants to show off....LOL.]

I've heard all different time ranges, etc. but the one I seem to hear most is that 20 minutes is the minimum, 30 - 45 minutes is optimum, and an hour starts to get counter-productive. Of course "doing cardio for too long" is NOT a problem I've ever had . Mostly cuz I usually hate it . But even if I loved it, I think I'd stick to somewhere around 45 minutes *in case* all the talk about losing muscle after 1 hour is true....I love my muscles too much to take a chance sacrificing them!!

Just my opinion, I guess. Hopefully one of the trainer-mods will add something more knowledgable .

Okay, I'm going to have to look into all this. I work out sometime for 90 minutes. I'll go on long jog/walks, but if this is all true then I really need to cut back. Off to research...


I just found this, thought it was interesting:
If your goal is to burn as much bodyfat as you can, 2-5 hours of cardio PER WEEK will be sufficient. Your sessions should be 40-60 minutes in length.

The best time to do your cardio sessions for maximum fat loss is right away in the morning before you eat anything. After you've been asleep for 6-8 hours, the level of sugar (glucose) in your blood is very low and your body will use stored fat as an alternative energy source.

I've been eating before my am workout per everything I've read telling me to do so. I wish there was a guide book with the "correct" opinion for losing weight.

Kate's explanation is absolutely correct. From my own experience, my bodyfat rose when I was training for a half marathon although my weight stayed the same. I was burning up muscle although I continued to do heavy weight training.

Whether you eat or not really depends on what your workout is. If you are doing cardio only and your primary goal is weightloss, do it first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. If you are doing weights, I'd suggest eating something first. It may not be optimum for weightloess, but it's safer and better for muscle growth. If you are doing cardio and weights in the same session, eat first, do you weights, then cardio. By the time you get to cardio, you've already used up some or most of the free glycogen in your body and are close to "fat burning" mode.


If you can't workout first thing in the morning, obviously you have to eat! Plenty of people successfully lose weight exercising in the afternoon and evening, so the most important thing is do it

Mel

Wow, Mel! I'm glad you mentioned the best order for cardio and weights! I've always done it backwards. But it makes so much sense that cardio should be done after glucose/glycogen burn-off due to weights.

Wow.

And ick.

LOL. Weight training has always been my "reward" for cardio completion. My cardio mantra is: If I can get through this 40 minute aerobic nightmare, I get to LIFT!!

Bummer. But great info.! Thanks .

I've jsut started doing weights first and cardio second, because of Mel!! I did wonder how I would manage coz I always feel exhausted (in a good way) after weights, but I find it works really well and I end up enjoying my cardio more. I think after all the effort and rigidity of the weights routine, my body is ready to move, not very scientific but there it is.

I do my cardio for 40 minutes normally, working for me so far!!!

I generally don't do real cardio on leg day because I really trash 'em , but I find a 15 minute walk on the treadmill post workout helps keep the soreness down a bit. Just a bit

Mel

Actually there's a good amount of disagreement in regards to "cardio or weights first?" Optimally, a recent issue of Fitness magazine said you would have 2 different workouts during separate portions of the day so one doesn't tire the other out. But that aside, I think either order works fine (though it seems to advisable to do a bit of light-cardio if you wanna tone first, to get muscles warmed up)

Here are some links arguing both ways:

iVillage UK (recommends cardio first): http://www.ivillage.co.uk/dietandfit...172610,00.html

Muscle & Fitness Sept '05 (recommends weights first):
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articl...6/ai_n14921241

Columbia University's "Go Ask Alice" & Bluesuitmom.com (say either is fine/doesn't matter):
http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu/3619.html
http://www.bluesuitmom.com/health/pe...ovsweight.html

doesn't really resolve the issue much, but I'd say basically stick with what's more comfortable for you individually or even alternate to give it a little variety and make it not so boring. (another option, interval training--mixing hi-intensity cardio with bursts of weight training in between)

From what I have read about the weights/cardio issue it depends on what your goal is. If it is fat loss then they suggest cardio first and weights second. But if your focus is on toning and muscle building switch it around. Either way, both are important to any program. Usually I do my weights first except for abs which I do at the end. I just decided to switch one of my legs days because I was doing weights and then running sprints and I was exhausted.