Weights Before Cardio: Stop Working Against Yourself

Just because you're working hard, doesn't mean that you're working smart. I see it every day. People come into the gym and hop on a treadmill for 30-60 minutes and then head over to the weights to do their resistance training. Even though my initial reaction is to walk up and smack them in the back of the head, the reality in the matter is? How would they know any better? Which is why I thought this article was so appropriate. After all, for years I've heard people say that if you do your cardio first, you'll burn more fat during your weight training. Making your weight training an extension of your cardio.

Let's look at why this isn't true and see if we can save some people a little wasted effort. We'll start out by looking at how your body uses the food you consume for fuel. You may have heard that you will burn more fat if you do your cardio on an empty stomach. The truth is that you will actually burn more fat during cardio if you have depleted your body of carbohydrates. You can eat proteins and dietary fats without affecting the way your body burns fat. In other words, you could eat some egg whites, chicken breast, or even a protein shake without any carbs in it, and still burn the same amount of fat during your cardio session as you would if you did it on an empty stomach. But if you ate an apple or a piece of bread before your cardio, you wouldn't.

When you eat carbohydrates, your body stores them as glycogen in your liver and waits for your body to use them as fuel. When performing an aerobic activity, like walking or running on a treadmill, your body has the option of using glycogen stores or fat stores. The problem is that your body won't use any fat stores until your glycogen stores are used up. On the other hand, during anaerobic exercise, like weight lifting, your body can only use glycogen as fuel.

So here's how it plays out. Studies have shown that it can take as much as 29 minutes of cardio to burn your glycogen stores. So if you start your workout off with 30 minutes of cardio, not only did you burn fat for a whopping one minute, but you also depleted your body of the fuel it needs (glycogen) to do your resistance training. Now, in order to manufacture glucose (glycogen) during your weight training session, your body may actually break down muscle tissue to use certain amino acids as your fuel. You could end up losing muscle instead of gaining.

To make things simple, if you do your weight training first, you can use your glycogen stores as fuel. Then, when you move over to your cardio, you're right where you want to be? with depleted glycogen stores, giving your body the opportunity to burn fat as a fuel source.

To learn more on how to use these facts for your "cardio only" days, read "Use Nutrition to Boost Your Cardio" here: http://www.shapeyou.com/weights_first.html

You may reprint or publish this article freely as long as you include a visible, active link to http://www.shapeyou.com

Tony Hale is a certified personal trainer with 12 years of experience servicing clients in the entertainment industry throughout the Hollywood area. He is also the editor in chief for ShapeYou.com

To train online with Tony visit http://www.shapeyou.com/trainers.html

---

Weight Loss and Water: The Unknown Secret

Weight Loss and Water: A Way to Make Your Body... Read More

Finding a Weight Loss Program

Getting involved in Weight Loss Program can be intimidating for... Read More

Lose Weight Permanently And Maximize Health With New Diet & Exercise Habits

I'm sick of all the fad diets I see people... Read More

Oxygen Therapy For Weight Loss?

The chemistry sounds very straightforward. Human body fat is a... Read More

Push a Button to Lose Weight

Trash Your TV! is pleased to announce the easiest weight... Read More

Staying Healthy on a Low Carbohydrate Diet

It is estimated that about 32 million Americans are following... Read More

Can Writing Actually Improve Your Health?

According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, writing... Read More

Dieting Strategy -- Stop Diet Drop Out

Diet drop out, a significant problem for all types of... Read More

Why Low Carb Dieters Can Eat Chicken Skin And Meat Fat

While low-fat dieters and non-dieters may want to avoid chicken... Read More

Tired Of Struggling To Lose Weight?

There are many factors that cause us to increase body... Read More

4 Surefire Ways NOT To Lose Weight At Your Health Club

Everyone has their own individual reason for joining a health... Read More

Binge Eating: Will This Cycle Ever Stop?

Here's a letter from my email:Dear Carol,I took your teleclass... Read More

Weight Loss Product Warnings -- How to Spot Bad Pills

There are numerous ways to make a bad weight loss... Read More

Will I get faster results with a Personal Trainer?

If you pick the right personal trainer?you'll most definitely see... Read More

Get Back Weight Loss Motivation with NLP: Setting an Anchor

NLP Setting an Anchor Process to Get Back Motivation for... Read More

Natural Weight Losss: The Minor Changes That Can Have Huge Affects On Your Future Health

People always ask me " how it is that your... Read More

What Obesity Debate?

This is a perfect example of how on-line weight loss... Read More

Have You Given Up on Weight Loss?

Have You Given Up on Weight Loss? by Greg Landry,... Read More

Conquer Those Carbohydrate Cravings

Are you a hopeless carbohydrate addict? Let's conquer these cravings... Read More

Why Do All Diets Fail?

There's a dirty little secret in the diet industry. The... Read More

The Low Carb Craze and Other Dieting Mistakes

Dear BMTers,Low carb this and low carb that?that's all you... Read More

To Be or Not To Be: Low Carb...

I get asked all the time, "what do you think... Read More

Dieters : Questions You Must Ask Yourself when You Want to Lose Weight

Now I know you're always asking yourself questions.You know the... Read More

Fat Burners: The Biggest Rip-Off of the Weight Loss Industry?

Fat burners have become very popular in today's society, especially... Read More

Barriers to Healthy Diets -- Removing them is not as hard as you think

Barriers to healthy diets are placed into four broad categories:... Read More

Magnetic Weight Loss -- Does It Work?

Magnetic weight loss is the newest fad diet supplement to... Read More

The Secret of Weight Loss

In the medical community, "obesity" is generally said to be... Read More

The Milk Diet -- Is it Your Solution for Losing Weight?

For sometime now, you've been hearing about the Milk Diet... Read More

Caution! Watch Out For The Net Carb Trap!

As a low carb dieter, you have probably been bombarded... Read More

Be Aware Of Your Reasons

You have decided that you want to lose weight and... Read More

No Fuss Weight-Loss

To lose weight and keep it off you need an... Read More

Ephedra Is Back - But Is It Safe?

It's been called the world's oldest medicine, the miracle fat... Read More

LapBand Surgery: The Rules of the Road, Part 2

The Constant Quest for Restriction; Not enough vs. too muchRestriction.... Read More