Sunday, May 15, 2011

Warm Up With Cardio, Then Go To Weights. Right? ...Wrong!

Hit the weights hard, then go to cardio. "The body needs to burn through its sugar source first before it taps into the fat," says Stan Terry, a fitness enthusiast since 1992. "You burn the sugar while doing the weights then burn the fat while doing the cardio."

After researching this information, it turns out, he's right. The optimal workout is a 10-minute warm-up on a low-impact cardio machine followed by 30 minutes of weights and then 30 minutes of intense cardio.

"Efficiency is the key when structuring any workout, so long-duration cardio should not be done in the beginning of the session," says strength and conditioning specialist Kevin Kubeczka. "The most intensive training should be done first in the workout, when you are at your best."

By starting with weights, you alert your muscles to trigger the proteins that churn through calories while you train. So even though you're probably spent after 30 minutes of weights, your body is ready to eat fat faster than it would if you started by "telling" the body to attack sugar.

A lot of people get this wrong, thinking weight training diminishes the effect of the cardio work. It's the opposite. Just remember the phrase: "Muscle eats the fat." If you want to lose the flab -- and who doesn't? -- you want your muscles as active as possible. That means starting with weights.

And if you only have 30 minutes total, go for weights instead of cardio. That sounds counterintuitive, since we feel sweating is "proof" we're losing fat. However, you will lose a lot more fat by pushing and pulling weights and then going on a brisk walk on your treadmill.

Fit Tips are provided by Exercise Houston, the leader in high-quality exercise equipment for homes in the Greater Houston Area. For more information on Fit Tips and other fitness advice and expertise visit www.exercisehouston.com or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/exercisehouston

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