Fat loss / muscle gain questions

[igvkfit]

I have a couple of very basic questions, and just could not find consistent answers to them on the internet.

I am a 45yo male, 5'6, 156 pounds. My goal is to gradually shed some fat and gain some muscle. In the gym, I am alternating short cardios (8-10 minutes) with resistance exercises.

My questions are:

1. Is it better to exercise in the morning (before breakfast), or later in the day ?

2. Should I use maximum weights I can handle with the resistance exercise machines and fully relax my muscles after every push, or do 5-10 pushes in a row without relaxing muscles (with the weights 20-25% below the maximum) ?

3. How to control my heartbeat rate when I am doing resistance exercises ?

4. To prevent the heart damage, is it enough to just make sure that my heartbeat is below the cardio maximum (140 for a 45yo), or I need to take some other precautions ?

Will highly appreciate any information.

 

[Karky]

I have a couple of very basic questions, and just could not find consistent answers to them on the internet.

I am a 45yo male, 5'6, 156 pounds. My goal is to gradually shed some fat and gain some muscle. In the gym, I am alternating short cardios (8-10 minutes) with resistance exercises.

My questions are:

1. Is it better to exercise in the morning (before breakfast), or later in the day ?

2. Should I use maximum weights I can handle with the resistance exercise machines and fully relax my muscles after every push, or do 5-10 pushes in a row without relaxing muscles (with the weights 20-25% below the maximum) ?

3. How to control my heartbeat rate when I am doing resistance exercises ?

4. To prevent the heart damage, is it enough to just make sure that my heartbeat is below the cardio maximum (140 for a 45yo), or I need to take some other precautions ?

Will highly appreciate any information.

1. It's better later in the day. Most people won't be able to have an intense workout before breakfast.

2. Depends on your goals, I see you want to shed fat and gain muscle, but what about strength? Do you want to gain strength or muscular endurance? Regardless, I wouldn't start by maxing out, so I'd stay in the 5-12 rep range.

3 and 4. Do you have any heart problems since you are concerned about this? If you don't have any heart or blood pressure problems, then weight training isn't really a problem for the heart.

And about gaining muscle and losing fat, it's better to do one or the other at a time. So either first shed fat and then gain muscle, or the other way a round. The reason for this is that it is much easier to gain muscle when you're in a calorie surplus, but in a calorie surplus you won't lose any fat, and it's much easier to lose fat on a calorie deficit, but hard to gain muscle.

Hope that helps