hiit and regular cardio

[Allon]

I was reading a lot up about hiit and I like it!

First of all it sounds like a great routine to mix up with my regular cardio sessions. Second of all it means that on days I have less time I can get an effective workout in 20 minutes.

I really need to also be doing lots of cardio in order to make my belly flatter. I am not overwight or fat anywhere in my body apart from my stomach which is too soft and sticks out a bit

I do lots of situps etc...

Now for the main topic:

I read on the forum and in other places that hiit eats up the glycogen (from carbs) and then that means that you will burn more fat after the workout. To follow this up it says that it is a good idea to not eat for about an hour after the workout to let the body eat up more fat. But to definitely then eat.
Ok, so if I workout lifting weights and then do a cardio session hiit or regular, I will maybe have a protein shake and then after an hour have a regular meal. that sounds fine to me.
I do not have enough time to lift weights on different days or at different times than the cardio and I need to combine them in one session...

However, I do sometimes on my day off go to the gym just to run.
I thought I could maybe combine a session of 20 minutes regular cardio with 20 minutes of hiit on those days. it makes sense to me to do the hiit first and then the regular paced jog.

Any ideas or comments?
Should I skip the protein shake and give myself that hour to burn off more calories after the run? Gaining mass is not my main objective, I am in no hurry for that and I know that in the long run, if I continue lifting weights I will gain mass anyway.

Sorry for the long post.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Ethan01]

If gaining mass isn't your objective, then you should try to burn as much calories as you can, safely, without injuring your body. Therefore it can be o.k. to do cardio or Hiit after weightlifting. However, understand that you burn MORE calories for more muscle you have on your body, and all this extra cardio is going to tear the muscle away. Don't skip on the protien, that can do more injury to you than relying on your body to utilize the fat you have. I'm trying to think of the fastest, safest route, and the only thing I can think of is to ditch the cardio, focus on weightlifting and eating plenty of protien, and the fat will seem to be replaced by the growing muscle. All that extra muscle will start to burn calories like hell without you having to expend your resources into jogging. As for hiit, since it does preserve muscle tissue, do some but don't do it after you weightlift or else all that weightlifting would have gone to waste.

 

[abear]

its been said that one should treat HIIT cardio as one would a workout with weights. as the basis of HIIT is that it revs up your metabolism for the whole day so you burn more total calories. that it doesnt matter what you burn in or around the workout itself. so take your postworkout shake as you would normally do

 

[Cassidy]

The thing you've got to remember is that cardio training is not just for getting a nice six-pack and impressing the girls; it's the single biggest preventative measure against cardiovascular disease (heart attack, stroke etc). 20 mins three times per week is said to be enough to significantly reduce the risk of this, so its worth it for your health (and possibly life-expectancy).

Stopping all cardio is a bad idea, your health is most important thing you've got.