Let's clear up some FAQ about cardio!
1. DO NOT perform cardio first thing in the morning on an empty stomach! This is a great way to encourage muscle wasting. As soon as you wake up you should have whey protein isolate and a carbohydrate source (my favorite combo is VP2 Whey Isolate by AST Sports Science with breakfast cereal as you can see in my "Lost Logs" e-book. After you have supplied the critical nutrition upon waking you can then attack Max-OT cardio and achieve great results!
2. Keep cardio short and intense. 16 to 20 minutes of high intensity cardio will have a greater effect on elevating your metabolism and will keep your metabolism elevated longer after exercise than long duration moderate intensity cardio.
3. Work out of your comfort zone the entire session. You should be "huffing and puffing" throughout.
4. Set distance goals and try to beat them every session. Working to beat your distance goals will give you a tangible marker of intensity to strive for rather than simply putting in your time.
5. Frequency. If fat loss is a high priority I recommend cardio 5-7 days a week. Remember every cardio session you do will give your metabolism a jolt and fire up the fat burning process!
Believe. Achieve.
http://www.jeffwillet.com/
Chocolate Milk post workout is the same basic concept that I preach. The chocolate satisfies the simple sugars and the milk protein is a pretty good source.
ReplyDeleteI still believe whey (with high GI carbs) is superior post workout based on a mountain of research on whey's bio availablity, however, chocolate milk would be a decent alternative and certainly better than nothing at all.
Thanks Jeff. Another thing I have noticed at the gym is that some guys seem to have some kind of neck straps, and attach weights to it, and move their heads up and down (apparently in an effort to exercise their neck muscles). I have never seen this before, is this even safe? If not what is an effective exercise to work the neck muscles? Many thanks, Shanx.
ReplyDeleteHey Jeff what would you recommend for substitutes for pullups ? I'm kind of the chubbier side and I can do barely 2 ( I can't lift myself still, I swing everywhere, etc )
ReplyDeleteThanks !
Hey Jeff, I have a horrible time waking up much less doing my cardio in the morning as you suggest. How much less effective would Max-OT cardio be after I workout in the evenings vs doing cardio in the morning? What benefits would I loose by doing that?
ReplyDeleteI don't necessarily recommend cardio in the morning. I think cardio any time of the day works just as well. I am saying that if you do cardio in the morning DO NOT do it on an empty stomach.
ReplyDeleteIf you can't spread cardio apart from weight training by 8-12 hours it is better to do it after training than before.
Until you can do pull-ups effectively, stick with lat pull-downs.
ReplyDeleteShanx,
ReplyDeleteA neck harness is safe and fine to use if you are careful with execution. If you are performing deadlifts, shrugs and other basic core lifts it is probably not necessary.
I notice in your contest prep you said you eventually are doing 8 sessions (2 sessions a day, 4 days a week). Do you try and keep the weekends free for recovery at all times?
ReplyDeleteThat is not exactly accurate. I end up doing 2 sessions daily for about the last 6 weeks. I start by adding 1 session a day until I am up to 6 days a week.
ReplyDeleteI keep 1 weekend day free of any scheduled exercise.
You can see my exact cardio log for 2003 in my "Lost Logs" e-book.