When you are trying to build lean muscle in the gym, should you do cardio before or after weights for maximum results? This is a question often asked and rarely answered with anything more than personal opinion. If you are trying to figure out how to lose weight or build muscle, you're about to discover the facts on this topic.
For many years, this was a subject which was usually answered with personal opinion. There was no real proof whether it was more effective to perform cardiovascular activity before or after a workout, so most people would simply do what worked for their own body and pass on their findings to others.
That's no longer the case. Today we'll be looking at a few recent studies and talking about why science has now shown cardiovascular activity to be more effective when performed before resistance exercises, as opposed to afterwards. []
While both approaches ultimately yield positive results, a study at the James Maddison University discovered that an aerobic-weights routine yielded far more lean muscle growth than a weights-aerobic routine.
When it came to fat loss, the results were very similar. The Journal Of Strength And Conditioning recently commissioned a study which discovered that fat loss results were substantially higher by performing aerobic activity prior to resistance training.
Those facts may be controversial to many fitness enthusiasts, who opt to perform their resistance training first. The theory behind that method is that they don't want their muscles to be tired by aerobic exercise when they begin pushing out repetitions. This makes sense and it's an approach which does yield results. However, science suggests that switching them around is far superior for both fat loss and lean muscle development.
Two enzymes released during exercise will play an important factor here:
* AMPK (aka adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase)
* Mammalian Target Of Rapamycin (also called mTOR for short!)
You may have heard these two enzymes discussed in fitness magazines and bodybuilding gyms in the past. If you are performing aerobic activity the body increases the release of the AMPK enzyme to help your muscles adjust to endurance activity, while signals the beginning of the muscle recovery process at the end of a workout. For about an hour after you hit the weights, you'll have a surge of mTOR in your body and this is perfect for consuming post-workout nutrition. After six hours, the spike in mTOR wears off and your body returns to normal. []
The two enzymes aren't exactly the best of friends, in fact AMPK switches off mTOR substantially. So by staying in the gym after the end of your resistance workout to jog on the treadmill for half an hour you are missing most of your golden post-workout window for nutrition and also turning down the body's spike in mTOR.
Although you can certainly achieve a fitter physique regardless of whether you do cardio before or after weights, recent studies seem to weight heavily in favor of performing your aerobic activity before you begin using dumbbells and barbells. In order to learn how to lose weight, getting past common myths like this is part of the battle. You've just done that today and can now apply this new knowledge to your own training.
For many years, this was a subject which was usually answered with personal opinion. There was no real proof whether it was more effective to perform cardiovascular activity before or after a workout, so most people would simply do what worked for their own body and pass on their findings to others.
That's no longer the case. Today we'll be looking at a few recent studies and talking about why science has now shown cardiovascular activity to be more effective when performed before resistance exercises, as opposed to afterwards. []
While both approaches ultimately yield positive results, a study at the James Maddison University discovered that an aerobic-weights routine yielded far more lean muscle growth than a weights-aerobic routine.
When it came to fat loss, the results were very similar. The Journal Of Strength And Conditioning recently commissioned a study which discovered that fat loss results were substantially higher by performing aerobic activity prior to resistance training.
Those facts may be controversial to many fitness enthusiasts, who opt to perform their resistance training first. The theory behind that method is that they don't want their muscles to be tired by aerobic exercise when they begin pushing out repetitions. This makes sense and it's an approach which does yield results. However, science suggests that switching them around is far superior for both fat loss and lean muscle development.
Two enzymes released during exercise will play an important factor here:
* AMPK (aka adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase)
* Mammalian Target Of Rapamycin (also called mTOR for short!)
You may have heard these two enzymes discussed in fitness magazines and bodybuilding gyms in the past. If you are performing aerobic activity the body increases the release of the AMPK enzyme to help your muscles adjust to endurance activity, while signals the beginning of the muscle recovery process at the end of a workout. For about an hour after you hit the weights, you'll have a surge of mTOR in your body and this is perfect for consuming post-workout nutrition. After six hours, the spike in mTOR wears off and your body returns to normal. []
The two enzymes aren't exactly the best of friends, in fact AMPK switches off mTOR substantially. So by staying in the gym after the end of your resistance workout to jog on the treadmill for half an hour you are missing most of your golden post-workout window for nutrition and also turning down the body's spike in mTOR.
Although you can certainly achieve a fitter physique regardless of whether you do cardio before or after weights, recent studies seem to weight heavily in favor of performing your aerobic activity before you begin using dumbbells and barbells. In order to learn how to lose weight, getting past common myths like this is part of the battle. You've just done that today and can now apply this new knowledge to your own training.
About the Author:
Get more advice: Learn the simple, no-nonsense truth behind how to lose weight with Russ Howe PTI, the UK's most popular Personal Trainer on Youtube. His free video on whether you should do cardio before or after weights will help you to get started now.
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