Eat a little bit of carbs before a heavy workout. Weights first while you're at maximum strength. This will also help hype up your metabolism. Then cardio. Drink lots of water. Then have a protein shake. Having protein 45 minutes or less after your workout helps build and maintain muscle mass.
FLAWLESS ADVICE!!!! This is exactly what I strive to say, just that it takes me 5 novel-length paragraphs to do it!
Would HIIT be ok to do on the alternate days?? If i train on Mon Wed Fri Sat and do HIIT on Tue and Thu would that be too much do you think?
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I would go with BSL who says
cardio and weights on different days. Cardio and weights are two different animals and so the demands on the body are different.
Let me say this again....you can talk to different trainers & nutritionist, read different books; opinions on this will vary, you just can't lay-down a concrete answer and everyone is different. That said....here's my understanding, quite subject to many "experts" dissection:
Most my trainers have me do about 5-10 minuutes of light/med cardio BEFORE I workout....this is intended to get the body warmed-up, blood circulating and get a nice sweat going. You don't want to jump right into some hardcore heavy weights abruptly, so this "pre-cardio" is more of a warm-up cardio...there's no intention of burning fat or doing much more then waking-up the body for what's to come. Same reason you let your sports car warm-up before you romp on it.
When you come into the gym, your body should be all fueled-up...glycogen reserves replenished from earlier meals, no lactic acid built-up in the muscles, you're ready to rock some weights. Think of it as the beginning of a camping trip: everything packed & in order, all your food & drinks ready for consumption....topped-off & prime to go!
Never do weights on an emtpy stomach. Weight-training requires heavy-duty energy...you'll be exerting yourself to the point of muscle failure/fatigue. Your pre-meal should include some carbs, some protein and even some fats...a well-balanced meal. I like some oatmeal with a bit of raisins and a few almonds and Derwyddon has me chewing on some tuna for protein as well. I like to eat about an hour before so there's some digestion & nutrient integration. I do about 250-450 calories. Ain't nothing wrong with a Zonebar, or some other 120-240 calorie energy bar.
Do your warm-up...5-10 minutes on the treadmil, elliptical of whatever gets your sweat on and wakes-up the body.
Work weights for no more then 60-80 minutes, your burning-up lots of fuel in mostly an anaerobic state. That doesn't mean you're not burning fat, theory holds that after some 20-minutes your blood-sugar will start dropping and the body will start firing-up reserves, drawing energy from a combination of glycogen, fat and other sources. Understand, you're still burning fat during weights...but energy derived from fat comes at a slow rate. Here are your fuel sources:
ATP/Creatine-Phosphate = dynamite, very explosive energy, uber-fast burning
Glycogen = gasoline, fast burning
Fat = wood, slow-burning
After some 60-80 minutes of heavy-duty weight work, you should feel pretty spent, depleted and worn. You still have more glycogen and energy resources, but at this point your body may start breaking-down and denaturing proteins as part of the fuel to keep going; this is catabolism. Desipte popular rumor, it's not an on-off switch, the body is constantly moving in & out of this state; anabolism and catabolism. The thing is, after an hour of hard work, you can start really moving into more catabolism....and this must be why many MANY trainers say not to work out with weights for more then an hour.
After working out with weights, it IS best to slam down a solid protein shake and replenish some of the fuel you've used. This window of opporutnity varies based on the source, but 30-45 minutes tends to be the trend. If you're trying to bulk, hit the protein shake immediately and enjoy a nice meal within the hour.
BUT, if you're trying to lose some weight, then this is a perfect time to take advantage of your body being partially depleted of it's high-potency energy sources. At this point your body is in drawing on it's energy reserves to sustain blood-sugar levels...and since the explosive stuff is pretty tapped, your body is all too eager to use a large majority of FAT to fuel a low/mid-exertion cardio routine. Hop on the elliptical, treadmill or whatever you like and do some cardio.
If you came into the gym fresh and hopped on the elliptical, you'd have to burn through some of that blood-sugar before your body started tapping into the fat to fuel your cardio...but after weight-training, you're body is already burning fat and will continue to burn fat as you continue on doing cardio: this is the reason cardio is suggested after weights. If you did cardio first, you'd burn a lot of the explosive fuel you'd want for weights. So that's the theory behind weights first, cardio after.
A few other thoughts. As I do weights, I often sip some of my protein shake...not enough so I can feel my stomach working to digest it, just enough to keep a slow "protein drip" going. If I intend to do more then 30 minutes of cardio after weights, I pop some BCAA (Branch Chain Amino Acids)...clinical research has shown a reduction in catabolism when taken.
My cardio days are generally 3.25 hours...a combination of spinning, treadmill and swimming, THIS kind of cardio should not be done on the same days as weights, but on any day (even on days you do weights) you can get in an hour and not worry about it.
