Quick workout question.

[amnesiac]

I usually couple 15-40 minutes of cardio with lifting 4 days a week (alternating muscle groups each day).

I didn't feel good this morning and slept in. Is it okay if I work out tonight (cardio + legs) and tomorrow morning (cardio + upper body)?

I don't know what the recommended downtime between cardio workouts is.

 

[Aharami]

do you do cardio before or after lifting weights. i read somewhere that you should do a little bit before lifting (like hit the bicycle machine for 5 mins...to get u warmed up) then do your full cardio after you are done lifting weights.

and if u feel upto it, then go tonight. but if you are too sick, then u might wanna take it easy

 

[Amused]

The downtime between cardio isn't as essential as the downtime between lifting. If you don't make a regular habit of spacing your cardio workouts 12 hours apart instead of 24, it should be OK. But just once in a while.

BTW, don't you try to space your workouts out as much as possible with days off?

 

[vi edit]

At 25-40 minutes of cardio, assuming your aren't completely blasting yourself either time, 8-12 hours of time in between aren't going to kill you. Many high school sports teams have two-a-day workouts with less rest in between them without *much* problem. One or two days a week isn't a problem. Start doing it 4-7 days a week, for weeks on end and you'll end up with a broken down and busted up crew.

One day though, no big deal.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: Aharami
do you do cardio before or after lifting weights. i read somewhere that you should do a little bit before lifting (like hit the bicycle machine for 5 mins...to get u warmed up) then do your full cardio after you are done lifting weights.

That would be correct. A bit of warm-up cardio before lifting is good, but save the real cardio for after lifting. This ensures maximum intesity can be given while lifting, and it also lets you reach your fat burning level much faster during your cardio because your glycogen stores are already depleated by lifting weights. This means your cardio session is much more effective in a given time period.

 

[Chunkee]

little cardio before weights....if you are doing heavy cardio, do it after weights....if you do heavy cardio before, you will not maximize your resitance training due to the depletion of glycogen in your muscle stores, plus the build up of lactic acid..etc...is detrimental to your peformance.

do you weights in the morning and cardio at night

and get LOTS OF R E S T!!!!

 

[amnesiac]

I didn't know that about the glycogen depletion affecting the fat burning. I'll definitely keep that in mind. Thanks!

 

[alkemyst]

that should be fine....mostly lifting you have to worry about.

It depends on your recovery.

Even training the same muscle group two days in a row to completely fatigue it (not the best for gains for most people) isn't bad occasionally if you have too do it that way.