m o re “health insurance.” High-protein diets are known to be
acidic to the body and the alkalinity of the fruit and vegetable
powders can help. Acidosis of the blood can slow muscle
g rowth and fat loss, so be sure to get enough fruits and
ve gg ies. I f yo u c an ’t do tha t, t he n ext b e st thin g i s t o
supplement with capsules and powders.
Q: Currently I do four 30-minute sessions, one on
Saturday, one on Sunday and a session on each of my
leg days. Everyone I talk to says I should increase the
number of minutes so I can get into burning bodyfat
for energy. Should I do longer sessions?
A:A lot of studies say that fat burning during cardio doesn’t
begin till about 25 minutes in; however, you can speed that up
by:
- Not eating any carbs a few hours prior to your session
(have a small protein shake or a few amino acid capsules about
an hour before to prevent muscle breakdown). - Having a cup of coffee before (or something else that
con tain s abo ut 1 00 m ill ig ram s o f ca ffein e) , a s c aff e i n e
increases the use of fat substrates for energy. - Doing your cardio after a weight-training workout, as the
lifting will deplete your bloodstream of glucose and prime your
body to shift to fat for energy during the low-intensity card i o
that follows.
You say you do cardio on leg days. New research suggests
t h a t ’s not a good idea because it can interrupt leg-muscle
recovery if you do it after your workout. A better plan is to do it
on the same day, but do it at low intensity before the workout
as a warmup. Or you can do it after if you wait at least 30
minutes—later in the day would probably be better. Doing
c a rdio immediately after an upper-body workout, however, is
fine and will allow you to tap into bodyfat sooner.
As for your weekend cardio, try not eating carbs before you
do it and having a small protein shake (one scoop) 30 minutes
to an hour before. You can also bump up the amount of cardio