I am trying to fit in another treadmill session (65% of MRH for 40 minutes) into my week and am thinking about doing it on one of my weight training days (I currently do a 2 day split routine).

I've heard it often said on these forums that weight training and cardio should be separated by at least 8 hours. Due to the fact that I work slap bang in the middle of the day, this is not possible.

My question is ... if cardio is done immediately after weight training, does the catabolism occur just to the muscles that you've just worked out? If so, why? If not, and all muscles are equally catabolised, what's the point in the 8 hour separation?

Hope this post isn't too confusing :o

I've heard it often said on these forums that weight training and cardio should be separated by at least 8 hours. Due to the fact that I work slap bang in the middle of the day, this is not possible.
Hmm, that seems to tell me that it IS possible. Do a cardio workout in the morning, go to work in the middle of the day, work out with weights at night.

I'm not saying this is a fun thing to do. I've been there and it quickly gets frustrating and easy to skip workouts.

I am trying to fit in another treadmill session (65% of MRH for 40 minutes) into my week and am thinking about doing it on one of my weight training days (I currently do a 2 day split routine).

I've heard it often said on these forums that weight training and cardio should be separated by at least 8 hours. Due to the fact that I work slap bang in the middle of the day, this is not possible.


You can get cardio if you must by walking or jogging in place in front of a TV for 30 minutes. You don't have to be in a gym. You can take a 30 minute walk after dinner. You get the idea.

Or better yet, don't do cardio on weight days. Instead do a full body weight workout each time, where you get minimum rest between sets. Make it aerobic.

There are lots of ways to do impossible.

I don't know about catabolism on certain muscles, but I'll forward the few things I have heard about post workout cardio. Do it right after weights and keep it to 30 minutes or less. I've also heard arguments against HIIT type cardio after weights. Honestly, try it for a few weeks, keep track of your body comp. and then decide whether it's worth keeping up.

-Shafe

Catabolism occurs in everything, most prominently when u do weight training or cardio. The difference is that weight training opens up more muscle-building pathways in the muscles worked which leads to muscular repair and growth. Cardio does not replace the muscle lost, however the amount is small usually compared to the fat lost. Anyway, the key is what *amount* of muscle is lost in each activity and the #1 cause is poor and not enough nutrition. If you keep that in check then you shouldn't worry about doing cardio after weight lifting.

You can get cardio if you must by walking or jogging in place in front of a TV for 30 minutes. You don't have to be in a gym. You can take a 30 minute walk after dinner. You get the idea.

Or better yet, don't do cardio on weight days. Instead do a full body weight workout each time, where you get minimum rest between sets. Make it aerobic.

There are lots of ways to do impossible.
Not to make excuses, but ... it's coming in to summer in Australia. Here in Sydney, we're experiencing 95 degree days, with high humidity, making cardio outside of air conditioning unpleasant. Also, at my age, I'm a bit paranoid about working out at home by myself. :d_frown:

I leave for work at 3.00 pm and don't get home until 10.00 pm. Between 1.00 pm and 3.00 pm I'm showering, having lunch, packing my work bag, blah, blah, blah. So, unless I got out of bed to do cardio or weights at 3.00 am (aka not happening), an 8 hour spread is not really feasible.

Maybe I shouldn't have said "impossible", rather impractical/inconvenient.

Thanks for your reply StudlyShafe - I'll check my email for the material.

Can anyone else chime in on the question in the third paragraph of my original post?

Edit: Thanks Ethan - your post beat mine :)

Can anyone else chime in on the question in the third paragraph of my original post?

Edit: Thanks Ethan - your post beat mine :)

Personally I wouldn't do fat loss cardio after a workout. I put as close to 100% effort as I can in my workouts, so I really don't want to be doing 45-60 mins of cardio afterwards. It just seems like a waste. Why would I bust my hump for 45 minutes of lifting and not try to recover as quickly as possible?

On the other hand - I agree somewhat with Ethan in that you're not going to start wasting away and some people will say that (from scientific studies) you're max muscle building occurs 24 hours after the lifting anyway. But really to get the most out of the lifting, you want to jack up insulin afterwards (whether it is within 30 mins or 2 hours), which is really not what you want to do for fat loss.

If, however you are not lifting really hard, only doing 1 muscle group/week and only trying to maintain muscle mass, it may be that fat loss cadrio after lifting, followed by a low carb meal(s) might get you closer to your personal goals.

I'd go with rtestes on this one, and do full body, lower weight, high volume lifting. You could try volume days (instead of cardio) and heavy days when you would normally not do cardio.

It seems like this desire to do fat-loss cardio after lifting is really strong for a lot of people. I guess everyone wants the best of everything - which is fine as long as you realize you are actually getting the best of nothing and are prepared to live with the compromise. Perhaps the compromise is sufficient or even optimal for your goals?

I just did 20 mins of high-ish intensity cardio this morning BEFORE my lifting. Did it effect my workout - probably, but I really felt like I need to keep my fitness up, so once in a while I'll make that compromise and do my best to minimize the impact - like eating a bit before and after the cardio. Actually the lifting went really well, but I wouldn't do the cardio before every workout - it's just a bit to much more than a warmup.

I have to say one more thing...the most important meal, for me anyways, is what I eat post-weight-lifting. I eat an apple+protien shake+creatine. I don't do any cardio right now, but if I did right after my workout, I would take that after I did my weight liftng, rest for 10 minutes, eat another apple before I start cardio and 2 after I finish. You can subsititute anything that contains simple carbs, as your body is gonna need a lot from this routine. You are risking overtraining and catabolism of muscle, as well as a lengthened plateau if you don't get enough nutrition. I must add that it's different for other people, you in particular might need more or less carbs than me...the trick is to figure out what works best for YOU and build on that. Good luck

I still don't understand the timing thing. You work a seven-hour day, which includes door to door commute. This makes it much easier for your to work out than for most adults (excepting college students).

Wake up at a comfortable and liesurely 9 AM. Go for a jog, eat breakfast, do your errands, and whatnot in the four hours of free time you have between waking up and your hour long lunch and hour long shower. Go to work at 3:00 and come back at 10:00. Lift for 45 minutes. Even if it takes you an hour total to get to and from the gym and you take another hour-long shower (that's two hours of showering every day), you're in bed by 1, which gives you a proper (and some would say decadent) eight hours of sleep a night. If you want to shave a little time off your showering, you can throw in a liesurely dinner and some TV, or a good book (although your liesure time is really in the morning).

What am I missing?

Not to make excuses, but ... it's coming in to summer in Australia. Here in Sydney, we're experiencing 95 degree days, with high humidity, making cardio outside of air conditioning unpleasant. Also, at my age, I'm a bit paranoid about working out at home by myself. :d_frown:

I leave for work at 3.00 pm and don't get home until 10.00 pm. Between 1.00 pm and 3.00 pm I'm showering, having lunch, packing my work bag, blah, blah, blah. So, unless I got out of bed to do cardio or weights at 3.00 am (aka not happening), an 8 hour spread is not really feasible.

Maybe I shouldn't have said "impossible", rather impractical/inconvenient.

Thanks for your reply StudlyShafe - I'll check my email for the material.

Can anyone else chime in on the question in the third paragraph of my original post?

Edit: Thanks Ethan - your post beat mine :)

I still don't understand the timing thing. You work a seven-hour day, which includes door to door commute. This makes it much easier for your to work out than for most adults (excepting college students).

Wake up at a comfortable and liesurely 9 AM. Go for a jog, eat breakfast, do your errands, and whatnot in the four hours of free time you have between waking up and your hour long lunch and hour long shower. Go to work at 3:00 and come back at 10:00. Lift for 45 minutes. Even if it takes you an hour total to get to and from the gym and you take another hour-long shower (that's two hours of showering every day), you're in bed by 1, which gives you a proper (and some would say decadent) eight hours of sleep a night. If you want to shave a little time off your showering, you can throw in a liesurely dinner and some TV, or a good book (although your liesure time is really in the morning).

What am I missing?
You're missing good manners :mad:

I sense a thinly veiled sarcastic tone in your post, which I think is really unnecessary ... hour-long showers indeed :rolleyes:

My original post did not ask for a rearrangement of my daily timetable, nor did I expect it. I'm not a "lady of leisure" - there are many aspects to my day which I do not feel the necessity to share with a forum.

Thanks to all the posters who were on point.