Q: In The Ultimate Fat-to-Muscle Workout routines, you have short cardio sessions as optional after the workouts. Can I do the quick cardio before my weight-training workout to warm up instead of after?
A: You must’ve jumped right to the workouts without reading the text. No problem. We realize lots of trainees do that because they’re anxious to get started; however, there are important points in the text that can help you understand and get the best results from the workouts. The optional postworkout cardio session is a good example…
The main reason you do the cardio after you train with weights is because your bloodstream will be cleared of energy substrates from the weight work. The lifting burns it up, which means you will tap into bodyfat almost as soon as you step on the treadmill or exercise bike after you lift…
On the other hand, if you do cardio before weights, the cardio will burn mostly circulating blood sugar first—not much, if any, fat at all. More bad news: Cardio-first workouts have also been shown to blunt growth-hormone release that you get from the weight workout after. Remember, GH is a potent fat burner, so you want to increase it, not decrease it.
Obviously doing extensive cardio before weights is not a good idea. If you want the fastest fat-to-muscle results, do it after. There’s a health reason too…
A Japanese study, reported in the Journal of Applied Physiology, found that subjects who lifted before their cardio, as we recommend, had more flexible arteries and improved blood flow after eight weeks. Intense weight training can increase blood pressure somewhat, and doing some cardio afterward releases chemicals that dilate blood vessels. The subjects who did cardio before they lifted didn’t get that beneficial blood-pressure-reducing effect.
If it makes you feel more like lifting, you can do a little slow cardio before—five minutes or so to warm up; just don’t make it longer than that or very intense or you’ll blunt growth hormone release. Then, if you’re looking for extra fat burn and blood pressure benefits, do the quick postworkout cardio session as well that’s listed at the end of the workouts; however, the cardio sessions are not mandatory (especially for hardgainer types)…
Remember, the muscle microtrauma you trigger with the negative-accentuated sets in the Fat-to-Muscle Workout does a good job of burning fat 24/7 during the repair and recovery process. And that’s amplified by the GH-stimulating sets included in the workout. Here’s what Olympic coach Charles Poliquin discovered…
Pioneering research by a Romanian exercise scientist who defected to West Germany [showed] that the lactic acid pathway is better for fat loss than the commonly accepted aerobic pathway. He found that high blood lactic levels decrease blood pH levels, which in turn sends a message to the brain to accelerate its production of growth hormone. Higher growth hormone levels increase fat loss.
Muscle microtrauma and increased GH release from the Fat-to-Muscle Workout synergize to give your metabolism a significant uptick to help you get leaner faster—even if you chose not to do much cardio.
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com