Some Questions Regarding Endurance/Running etc

[Tonkabosh]

I'm trying to lose fat therefore I'm training 4x a week & I'd like to start running (preferably HIIT) in order to speed up the fat loss. The thing is I have some questions that I'm hoping you guys can help answer for me. I'm hoping to get from 18% bodyfat down to around 10-12%.


- I'm around 18% bodyfat therefore I wouldn't exactly consider myself "fat" (just a little bit chubby round the waist really) and I went to go for a run today for the first time in a couple of years. When I started running I actually had to stop about 30 seconds into the run because I felt as if I'd been running for miles. Now obviously as you can imagine this really got to me, as I didn't realise I was THAT unfit. To be honest, my endurance is sh*t as I found out today, and after I'd run for about 30 seconds I had to stop for a minute or so before running again. This carried on for around 4-5 minutes and then I just gave up completely & went home. I'd really like to improve my endurance so that I can start doing HIIT as my cardio, so if you guys could give me any tips I'd appreciate it.

- I train 4x a week (Mon/Tue/Thu/Fri) therefore what days & time do you advise that I incorporate my cardio? I was thinking 5x a week, straight after my workout. Would this be alright? I'm unfortunately not a morning person therefore I won't be doing my cardio first thing in the morning, and I also heard that doing cardio AFTER your work out is a decent idea because you will have used up most of the glycogen (carbs?) in your muscles from lifting, therefore when it comes to doing your cardio you'll be burning fat as a source of energy instead of using glycogen. A lot of people also say that this doesn't matter as it's all to do with Calories in Vs Calories Out, so I'm not sure which would be the best approach to take.

- Let's say I went with the above idea (cardio AFTER weights). As I work out for an hour on my lifting days, would it be better to take my Post Workout Shake BEFORE or AFTER the cardio? If it's BEFORE then obviously my muscles would be getting fed straight after the workout, and this would probably be optimal but then that leaves me with the fact that I'll THEN be doing my cardio with glycogen in my muscles (from the PWO shake) therefore it'll be less optimal for fat burning won't it? On the other hand, I could take my PWO shake AFTER the cardio, but then I'm worried that my muscles will have gone too long without any replenishment. I heard that you should take your PWO shake AS SOON AS you finish your workout, so I'm just looking for some advice here.


Anyway that's about it for now, I'd really appreciate any help regarding this, thanks in advance

[Tonkabosh]

Bump!

[balboa29]

This is what I do:

I walk a minute and then jog a minute. Work yourself up to being able to go for a long time. Lets say after an hour 1 minute of each is too easy, then do 2 and 1, and so on.

[kslim09]

What i would do is walk/run as stated above, but just remeber since you are just trying to get back into running shape, while you are running you want to keep a pace that you feel you could hold a conversion with while running. The problem most people have when just trying to start running again is they start out running extremely to hard, and tire them selves to quickly.

I would also would suggest that you try running stadium steps 1-2 a week and run 3x a week.

You will be shocked at the amount of time it takes before you can run 3-4 miles without stopping.