Best bang for buck cardio

[Challo]

I'm wanting to add some cardio onto the back end of my gym sessions. I try and go 3 times a week and do a push/pull/legs spilt. I'm looking to add some fat burning cv work at the end with a HIIT type feel.

I have the option of running, stepper, rower, cross trainer or stair climber.

I also play football twice a week but looking to do something to help burn fat. What would you recommend?

[MurderousCrow]

If you're building strength, the evidence seems to suggest exercise without a strong eccentric component will be best (eccentric actions seem to be more strongly associated with catabolic effects on muscle). Short answer? Indoor rower.

[MurderousCrow]

MurderousCrow said:

eccentric component... catabolic effects...

Sorry for jargon x

[Challo]

MurderousCrow said:

If you're building strength, the evidence seems to suggest exercise without a strong eccentric component will be best (eccentric actions seem to be more strongly associated with catabolic effects on muscle). Short answer? Indoor rower.

Thanks. Something like rowing 2000m as quick as possible? This ok after each session or mix it up with other types of cardio?

[Mike29]

Challo said:

Thanks. Something like rowing 2000m as quick as possible? This ok after each session or mix it up with other types of cardio?

Row as fast as you humanly can for a min, break for a min, repeat.

[MC Bodge]

Running outdoors, up and down hills and across rough terrain is fairly cheap and excellent exercise.

[MurderousCrow]

Challo said:

Thanks. Something like rowing 2000m as quick as possible? This ok after each session or mix it up with other types of cardio?

It's good to mix things up, especially using the bike and the stair climber (non-eccentric action). You can definitely run if you want, but to optimise 'gainz' you may want to keep that to every now and then. Intervals of fairly short duration are good considering your aims; Mike's suggestion isn't a bad start but you can go with much shorter intervals, and experiment with different rest period lengths. Generally, explosive workouts will yield the greatest bang for your buck, prompting an increase in post-exercise oxygen consumption (and thus burning fat) without inducing muscle breakdown as long intense steady-state sessions are (somewhat) wont to do. Use a variety of intervals from very short bursts of heavy resistance (think 10RM efforts with a KB; this kind of session is also possible on the rower) to somewhat longer intervals using lighter resistance such as Tabata sets or minute on / minute off sprints. Consider the HIIT as a natural extension of your strength work. For your aims it's worth keeping these sessions quite short, and really focusing on quality of movement. You should feel worked, but not thoroughly blitzed. Work capacity will increase quickly

[MurderousCrow]

And without wanting to give fairly obvious info, while cardio and HIIT can help to burn fat, the key is diet and not exercise. Ensure you get circa 20g of good quality protein in fairly soon after exercise (whey/egg/meat/fish if diet allows, pea protein or soy if you absolutely must). Research seems to show one can fend off catabolic damage and support tissue repair with sufficient intake of protein within about 30 minutes of session ending. I use protein powder, as it's cheaper (gram for gram) and more convenient than meat / eggs etc. and of appropriate physiological quality to be readily utilised. That said, I'm aware of a study which suggested that the timing of protein intake is far more important than the nature of the protein. For general and steady fat loss you might try cutting back on carbs - but be selective in your timing here as the muscles need some carbohydrate for recovery.

[Granfondo]

Challo said:

I'm wanting to add some cardio onto the back end of my gym sessions. I try and go 3 times a week and do a push/pull/legs spilt. I'm looking to add some fat burning cv work at the end with a HIIT type feel.

I have the option of running, stepper, rower, cross trainer or stair climber.

I also play football twice a week but looking to do something to help burn fat. What would you recommend?

Interval training on the gym spin bike!
Low carb diet on the days your not training and protein within 30mins of your cardio to help with muscle recovery.

"You get fit in the gym and thin in the kitchen"

[CrouchingWayne]

Very topical - I'm looking to do HIIT around my strength training. I set up a turbo trainer today so am thinking 30s on, 3:30 off for 5-7 rounds. Not sure if that's reasonable or not - I pieced it together from the SS forum.

[Crush]

If you can do cardio after a gym session you're not working hard enough

However I used to do hill sprints after upper-body weights. Measured out roughly 25m-50m (usual length for my rugby sprints) and would sprint uphill once, jog back down x10 for three sets with a 2 minute break between sets.

[mcelliott]

Crush said:

If you can do cardio after a gym session you're not working hard enough

However I used to do hill sprints after upper-body weights. Measured out roughly 25m-50m (usual length for my rugby sprints) and would sprint uphill once, jog back down x10 for three sets with a 2 minute break between sets.

That's exactly what I do in the autumn. I would manage about 4 reps (the effort would take between 12 - 15 seconds), rest for 1 minute, repeat, for 35 minutes. Genuinely some of the hardest physical exercise I've ever done.

[MurderousCrow]

Hill sprints are pretty cool - like other HIIT, make for great (short) workouts, and have good carryover beyond aerobic base development. Hill sprints differ from 'normal' running in that the eccentric portion of the movement is effectively decreased - thanks to the angle of the incline.

[Martyboy84]

cardiovascular endurance aka the ability to lose gains

[Phooey]

Skipping. When i was at school, all the girls that skipped in the playground at breaktimes were propper tidy

[Challo]

Cheers for all your comments. Actually hit the gym today and added in a HIIT session on the treadmill using a 20s on 10s off for a total of 4mins.

Will keep it going but mix it up between the bike, treadmill and rower.

[MC Bodge]

Martyboy84 said:

cardiovascular endurance aka the ability to lose gains

....Or the ability to do something useful rather than just continuing to add mass to muscle?

[MurderousCrow]

Martyboy84 said:

cardiovascular endurance aka the ability to lose gains

...you've experienced this then yes? Or you can cite some basis for this opinion?

That's good, because otherwise it'd sound like you were just regurgitating some misread interpretations of a few studies.

[Halb]

Challo said:

I'm wanting to add some cardio onto the back end of my gym sessions. I try and go 3 times a week and do a push/pull/legs spilt. I'm looking to add some fat burning cv work at the end with a HIIT type feel.

I have the option of running, stepper, rower, cross trainer or stair climber.

I also play football twice a week but looking to do something to help burn fat. What would you recommend?

Tabata™ or loaded carries.


The best machine I reckon is the versaclimber or jacob's ladder but since these are rare the treadmill is top for tabata™.
The rower does have a nice power routine though.

[Martyboy84]

MurderousCrow said:

...you've experienced this then yes? Or you can cite some basis for this opinion?

That's good, because otherwise it'd sound like you were just regurgitating some misread interpretations of a few studies.

Lighten up lads, I'm joking with you, I'll out lift, out run, out cycle the pair of ya :P


But joking aside find me a quickish marathon runner who can lift some big numbers, I guess you have to pick one or the other. I sit in the middle somewhere though and I'm happy with that - that's the most important part!