Using Nutrition to Boost Your Cardio
By: Tony Hale

So youre doing cardio religiously and youre not getting any

resultsWhats the deal! Good news. Youre probably just making

some minor mistakes that need to be corrected. If you want to make

changes to your body its probably pretty important for you to

understand how your body works. After all I doubt youre running on the

treadmill because your cable got shut off and the cardiotheater at your

gym is the only place you can watch The OC. Im almost certain you

want to burn fat. So lets learn how that works.

Were going to talk about using nutrition to maximize the benefits of your workout. What you

eat and when you eat it can make a world of difference. But first we

need to talk about how your body works.

Even though you want to get

rid of the excess fat thats stretching out your pants your body is not in

such a hurry to do so. You almost have to trick your body into burning

that fat as energy. You need to have fat to survive and to your body

those love handles are money in the bank. Because of this when you

dont eat anything for an extended period of time (as little as 4 waking

hours) your body will go into whats called starvation mode. In

starvation mode your body will actually store more fat and break down

muscle tissue to use as fuel. This slows your metabolism and increases

your body fat. Its basically a self defense mechanism. With no fuel

coming in your body fears it may have to survive for some time without

food. Your body doesnt know that youre just stuck in traffic or that you

had to skip lunch because your boss was making you do his work. It just

thinksHoly Mackerel Im gonna starve. So instead of using its

valuable fat stores your body gets stingy and actually cannibalizes its

own muscle tissue to use as fuel.

So to keep your body from freaking

out and going into starvation mode try to eat small meals throughout the

day. 5 to 6 small meals a day is ideal. When I say meals that doesnt

mean that you need to sit down and have 3 courses. A handful of

almonds or even a protein shake can count as one of those meals.

On the other end of the spectrum if you eat a turkey sandwich right

before you hop on the treadmill your body wont burn fat then either.

When you eat carbohydrates your body stores them in the form of

glycogen in your liver. As you expend energy your body uses these

glycogen stores until they are gone. When performing any type of

aerobic activity like walking running etc. your body can use glycogen

stores or fat stores for fuel. The problem is that your body will never use

the fat stores until the glycogen stores are gone.

So youre saying that

if I dont eat my body will get scared and hold on to all my body fat but if

I do eat my body will just use that as fuel instead of burning fat Yes.

And if this were the end of the article you would probably be pretty mad.

Fortunately there are ways to make this work.

Option 1: Right when you wake up before you eat or drink anything

(except water) do 55 minutes of moderate impact cardio. Walking or an

elliptical machine is ideal. If youre breathing too hard to carry on a

conversation normally slow down. If you get light headed or weak from

this option eat something with no carbs before you workout. For

example: egg whites chicken breast or a protein shake with no carbs.

Protein consumption will not affect your glycogen stores so your body

will still be willing to burn fat. With this option its okay to eat breakfast

when youre done.

Option 2: If you only have 20 minutes in the

morning do intervals before you eat. Warm up for 5 minutes and then

run for one minute and walk for two. Each time you run make it a little

more intense until you are running at full blast for one minute. After 20

minutes of these intervals cool down walking for 5 minutes and then

dont eat for an hour after youre done. Your body will burn fat for that

entire hour.

Option 3: If you can only do your cardio in the middle or at

the end of the day use either of the above formulas but try to workout

about 22 1/2 hours after you eat.

Option 4: Do your cardio right after

you do your weight training. I know youve heard to do it beforethis is

wrong. Warming up for 5 minutes before you weight train is fine but

always do your fat burning cardio sessions after your weights. For more

on this option read Weights Before Cardio: www.shapeyou.com/nutrition_cardio.html

Option 5: If your cardio

sessions are more intense like an advanced step class or a spin class

youre better off having something in your stomach. Try eating about 2

hours before the class and then dont eat for an hour after the class.

Most often during an intense cardio workout your body is not willing to

burn fat as fuel. It doesnt know that youre going to stop in an hour. It

thinks this behavior could continue for some time so it can get stingy

with its energy stores. But it will burn plenty of fat in the hour after youre

done.

Be specific when following these formulas. They work. Am I

saying that if you eat before your cardio that youre wasting your time

No anytime you do cardio its great for your heart youre burning

calories and you can increase your metabolism. But why not get the

maximum benefits if youre going to do the work anyway.

You may reprint or publish this article freely as long as you include a

visible active link to ShapeYou.com along with the authors bio.

Tony Hale is a certified personal trainer with 12 years of experience

servicing clients in the entertainment industry throughout the Hollywood

area. He is also the editor in chief for http://www.shapeyou.com

To Train with Tony online visit http://www.shapeyou.com/trainers.html