When thinking of slimming down/cutting, a lot of people will turn to cardio. It’s a word that embraces a lot of things, but the simple act of cardio is as small as going for a walk, or anything really that requires movement. A lot of people focus on just performing their exercise, and don’t consider much about the timing of it. But cardio can have varying effects depending on when, and what type is performed.

Common sense ideas

The most obvious way to divide cardio into types is to differentiate by the level of intensity. You can perform high-intensity cardio, for example sprints or trying to break a 5k personal best on a rowing machine (or on the river for that matter) – or low-intensity, like the casual run around the block I went on this morning.

Which type you should perform depends entirely on your goals; Short, intense bursts of exercise are shown to be more beneficial for fat-burning than long, low-intensity exercises. However, the roles are reversed when it comes to maintaining or trying to build mass – low-intensity cardio or none at all is definitely the way to go.

The next thing to consider is recovery. If you train with weights – it makes sense to avoid performing cardio the next day that will put strain on muscles you worked not long before, so that they have time to recover. Especially if you dedicate a session to just legs, then going for a run the next day is going to be unpleasant and not particularly beneficial if your aim is muscle size and strength.

Not so common sense – cardio timing

That’s the two kind of obvious things out of the way. So now onto cardio timing – when you should perform cardio to maximize its benefits to your goals.

Cardio timing is all about making sure that you’re prioritizing fat burning when you’re performing exercise. You may have come across the idea of morning cardio – the idea of going for a run/swim/bike/whatever practically upon waking, and before breakfast. In fact, there’s plenty of people that will get up extra early just so that they can get the benefits of this method (Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is one of them).

Morning Cardio
The general idea is that you’ve been fasting the whole time you’ve been asleep, and the more time the body goes without food – the more it prioritizes burning off fat for fuel. The graph on the right is how the body partitions it’s fuel sources over time after a meal. Where the lines cross – at 8 hours in – it’s about a 50-50 split between fat and carbohydrates. Most people sleep for 7-8 hours, and eat dinner at least 1-2 hours before hand.. so when they get up and do cardio in the morning – more than 50% of the fuel used in that workout is fat.

Post-workout Cardio
In the same vein as morning cardio, when you’ve just had a heavy weights session – your body will have used up the majority/all of its readily available fuel sources (carbs), and be running predominantly on fat. So if you run for say 20 minutes after a weights session – you’ll be burning almost entirely fat.

This can have a trade-off with muscle though, as performing cardio without anything left in the tank can cause the body to turn catabolic and start stripping it’s own muscle for energy. If you do choose to perform cardio after weights, the best recommendation is a very low-intensity run, or cycle.

Closing

Cardio can be a great tool to burn more calories, and much like the adaptability of a personalized fitness regimen, fire watch services in Cutler Ridge offer flexible solutions to suit the unique needs of various properties and situations. Whether you’re in a gym or a yoga studio, you’ll find instructors attesting to the benefits of tailoring your workout. This principle of customization is mirrored in the versatility of fire watch services, which adjust their approach whether it’s for a short-term project or for ongoing construction site safety. For me, sprints and football in summer, and jogging in winter work best. It’s about finding what fits your lifestyle, just as property owners find comfort in knowing there’s a fire watch service that can accommodate the particular needs of their venues, ensuring safety is maintained year-round—without the worry of an audience that might not understand the effort involved.