I've seen this alluded to in passing by some of the nutrition gurus here and there, but details were never gotten into. So I was curious, is post cardio nutrition different from post weight lifting nutrition? If so, how? I've got post weight lifting down pretty good, but I'm wondering how the approach after a cardio bout is different, if at all.

For example, I have protein+carbs for breakfast and for the one meal before and the one meal after my workout. The rest are protein+fat+veggies. For post workout, I do the 2:1 carbs-to-protein deal (currently using bananas for the carbs there). On non workout days, it's protein+carbs for breakfast and the second meal, then the rest protein+fat+veggies.

Is this daily meal structure different for cardio days, and is there any sort of post cardio, like there's PWO for lifting?

Depends on the cardio intensity and your goals. . .

Depends on the cardio intensity and your goals. . .

:nod:

High intensity cardio, such as HIIT, should be treated like a weights session in terms of pre- and PWO nutrition. After LISS people usually recommend either waiting an hour before eating carbs again or, if you don't want to wait, to have a protein/fat meal. Whether you eat before LISS depends on your own personal preferences.

The reasoning behind this has to do with how your body uses carbs and fat for fuel depending on the intensity of the cardio. Higher intensity cardio uses primarily glycogen for fuel during the workout while lower intensity uses primarily fat. When you do high intensity cardio your glycogen stores will be depleted and you need to replace them. In the hours after high intensity cardio, you will continue to burn more calories, most of which will come from fat (EPOC effect) and this happens regardless of what you eat right after your workout. After low intensity cardio you won't burn any additional calories. That's also why in my opinion high intensity cardio is more effective for fat loss than LISS. The drawback is that high intensity cardio is also more taxing for your CNS (just like a weights session) so you have to be careful not to overdo it.

Although HIIT is much more appealing, mainly because of its 50% shorter duration :p, I'm going to start off with something lighter first, aka LISS. I need to see if my knee problem is going to be an issue and whether or not my systems are up to the task of LISS, let alone HIIT. If all goes well, I'll probably do some of both - alternate them or something.

I did ride my bike about 8-10 miles per day almost every single day for two years in high school, and some of it was on a very slight grade and a lot of it was against the wind. But that was 9-10 years ago, so any adaptations could no doubt have worn off. I also did a LOT of walking and stair climbing for 6 years in college, which was recent, but who knows what effects, if any, that may have had.

I was thinking of hitting the gym for this tomorrow, so we'll see. I'm really hoping my knees don't give me any shit. I will be very upset if they do.

is post cardio nutrition different from post weight lifting nutrition?

If you do hard cardio? No, it's not different.

I don't know what they hell I just did. Whatever it was, it was definitely a leg workout. Since it was my first time actually doing cardio in a gym, I guess I was just getting a feel for the different types.

It was 35 minutes total, with 15 minutes of high intensity interval stuff in the middle and low instensity stuff before and after. Going by the HRM on the bike, the first low intensity stuff was about 120, the interval stuff went between 140 and 170 (although bike revolutions were from 60 for the low intervals to ~95 for the high ones) and the last low intensity stuff was around 145-150. I left the gym about 20 minutes ago and my heart rate is about 93 right now.

Some of the numbers I can remember are 541 calories per hour, 8 miles, 13.7mph average, average heart rate of ~145 and 7.13 mets, whatever the hell mets are (aside from the baseball team). Oh, and the settings on the bike went from 1 to 20. I messed around with it and it appears to be pedaling difficulty. I set it to 10.

The LISS stuff was boring - I found myself staring at the walls in boredom. The HIIT stuff was kinda fun, so I think I'm going to do that.

...Some of the numbers I can remember are... 7.13 mets, whatever the hell mets are...
I always wondered the same thing, then curiosity got the best of me:


http://www.mbsfitness.com/community/Mantra/47.aspx

At rest, everyone uses the same amount of oxygen for each kilogram (or pound) of body weight. We all use 3.5 ml/kg/min. That’s 3.5 milliliters (metric measurement of volume of oxygen used) per kilogram (metric measurement of standardized body weight) per minute. This rate of oxygen consumption at rest is equivalent to the rate of energy expenditure of one MET (3.5 ml/kg/min = 1 MET).

Some of the numbers I can remember are 541 calories per hour, 8 miles, 13.7mph average, average heart rate of ~145 and 7.13 mets, whatever the hell mets are (aside from the baseball team).

Yeah, but I don't see how your bike would know what your VO2max was unless you told it, so the METS feature seems kind of suspicious to me.

I agree that LISS is boring. If you're going to do HIIT, I suggest you do it right after your weights workout.

Yeah, but I don't see how your bike would know what your VO2max was unless you told it, so the METS feature seems kind of suspicious to me.

Dunno. I didn't input anything and I don't think any of that information is even possible to input on this particular bike. I just jumped on, started pedaling and pushing buttons. Then I watched the numbers.

If you're going to do HIIT, I suggest you do it right after your weights workout.

:eek:

That sounds pretty extreme, or brutal, or both. Howcome not seperate days? I have to admit though, that does sound nice. I would still only go to the gym three days per week, instead of the six that I would otherwise need to.

I'm going to start working within the next week or so and it looks like my workouts are moving back to late evenings (after 9pm) instead of the early afternoons like they are now (around 3pm). I'm only going to be awake for a few hours after my workout. I'm wondering how that will affect those important post workout/post cardio hours.

Also, I need to figure out what to base the intensity intervals on. Heart rate didn't seem as good of a measure as I thought when it came to deciding what a low intensity interval was and what a high one was. So I was basing them on the pedaling RPMs because that was definitely a measurable difference in intensity. (my legs! :eek:)

That sounds pretty extreme, or brutal, or both. Howcome not seperate days?

Because you'll need the rest days in between. HIIT is like a weights workout in how it taxes your body. You don't have to do HIIT with a bike, by the way. Consider doing a barbell complex at the end of your workout.

Also, I need to figure out what to base the intensity intervals on. Heart rate didn't seem as good of a measure as I thought when it came to deciding what a low intensity interval was and what a high one was. So I was basing them on the pedaling RPMs because that was definitely a measurable difference in intensity. (my legs! :eek:)

On HIIT you go as hard as you can, then you recover, then you repeat. I don't pay attention to heart rate, only to time or distance.

:nod:

High intensity cardio, such as HIIT, should be treated like a weights session in terms of pre- and PWO nutrition. After LISS people usually recommend either waiting an hour before eating carbs again or, if you don't want to wait, to have a protein/fat meal. Whether you eat before LISS depends on your own personal preferences.

The reasoning behind this has to do with how your body uses carbs and fat for fuel depending on the intensity of the cardio. Higher intensity cardio uses primarily glycogen for fuel during the workout while lower intensity uses primarily fat. When you do high intensity cardio your glycogen stores will be depleted and you need to replace them. In the hours after high intensity cardio, you will continue to burn more calories, most of which will come from fat (EPOC effect) and this happens regardless of what you eat right after your workout. After low intensity cardio you won't burn any additional calories. That's also why in my opinion high intensity cardio is more effective for fat loss than LISS. The drawback is that high intensity cardio is also more taxing for your CNS (just like a weights session) so you have to be careful not to overdo it.

If I do HIIT for 20 minutes and then 20 mins LISS, will I still burn mostly fat in the hours afterward? Also, does it really make a difference if you do HIIT before or after weights? (because I enjoy doing it before weights)

If I do HIIT for 20 minutes and then 20 mins LISS, will I still burn mostly fat in the hours afterward?

Yes. LISS is really nothing but calorie drain - you just expend more calories by doing it. It doesn't improve your CV fitness or cause significant EPOC. If you did 20 minutes of HIIT and then walked around for 20 minutes, you'd have a similar effect.

Also, does it really make a difference if you do HIIT before or after weights? (because I enjoy doing it before weights)

I don't see the point. Doing HIIT before weights would take away from weight training. I'd want to focus my energy on lifting, not on cardio.