How long is your morning cardio ?

[Seashell]

For those of you that do it, how long do you go for? 30 mins? An hour?

I'm starting tomorrow, I'm pretty sure it will kill me, not being a morning person at all. I can barely put together a coherant sentence until about an hour after I wake up, so this is going to be a challenge.

If I plan to go back and do weights after work, how long does that am cardio session need to be?

 

[Liftbig]

my morning cardio is the time it takes me to get out of bed and make my way to the kitched to make breakfast.

 

[Seashell]

my morning cardio is the time it takes me to get out of bed and make my way to the kitched to make breakfast.

My current routine is strikingly similar! Which is why I'm dreading tomorrow...

 

[Nonerz]

The only morning cardio I do is a 5-6 AM Wednesday spin class...kicks my ass!

 

[Griz1]

Seashell,

Might I suggest starting with something easy then?

I would suggest as an am cardio workout to start with doing a mere 20 min to the point where your pretty sweaty (you know where your gonch/panties start to get soaked around the edges? I'm being serious here too...O.K.?). Do that for a few days until your ready to start doing something like a 20 min BFL or a 20 min 1min on/off kind of training. I find these are the easiest ones to keep up with. Otherwise I feel like I'm doing math in my head while I'm running full out.....fuck I can't count the fingers on my hand once I'm 5 min into my cardio how am I supposed to calculate "O.K. I've done 1.5 min at level X now I need to drop to about 60% of my MHR for 2 min before I kick it up to level X+Y/MHR and equal to 50% of my...aw shit! What the hell was I at?" At least with these two methods it's simple, every minute hit the button either once or 4 or 5 times depending on the method.

I.e. (1 min at level X, next minute at level X+1, next minute at (X+1)+1, next minute at (X+1+1)+1, next minute at level (X+1+1+1)+1, then repeat by going back to starting for 1 min at level X. On your LAST minute do level (X+1+1+1)+2 (one extra level higher). Then cool down for a few minutes.

Or alternately, do 20 minutes of 1 minute at level X, then one minute at level X+4or5, then one minute of level X then one minute of level X+4 or 5, til you hit the 20 min mark then cool down again for a few minutes at a light level.

On your weight days I would not even do cardio like I explained above. I'd do some very LIGHT steady cardio for 20 minutes that won't tax you too much so you have some energy for weights that day.

Some folks on this board will tell you that you should do very little or no cardio at all. That's fine if your a young stud with a raging metabolism and active lifestyle. But if your and old fart like me that drives a desk all day YOU WILL NEED CARDIO to drop lbs. That being said remember that D-I-E-T is the MOST important aspect to losing weight.

 

[JG1]

45-60 minutes.

 

[The_Eviscerator]

For those of you that do it, how long do you go for? 30 mins? An hour?

I'm starting tomorrow, I'm pretty sure it will kill me, not being a morning person at all. I can barely put together a coherant sentence until about an hour after I wake up, so this is going to be a challenge.

If I plan to go back and do weights after work, how long does that am cardio session need to be?

I do 45-60... but JG1 and I are both on SGX.

To help you roll out of bed set your alarm for 20 minutes before you want to awake. Have a caffeine pill or an ECA stack sitting by your bed with a glass of water. suck it down and resume sleeping... I guarantee in 20 minutes you will hopping out of the bed ready to roll.

 

[onerepmaximum]

If I'm gonna have my ass out of bed before 6 in the morning, I'm gonna get some good out of it. If it's worth me getting out of bed, I'll do an hour. If you are just starting out though you may want to ease yourself into it. No matter what time of day. I would say no less that 20-30 minutes, depending on what kind of lifestyle you have been leading.

 

[hellboy]

As long as it takes to brush my teeth.

 

[Seashell]

Okay cool! Thanks for all the info!

I normally do my cardio after weights, anywhere up to 60 mins depending on the how intense the weight session was.

But I'm not sure if I can do that first thing in the AM on an empty stomach. Maybe I'll start off at 20-30 and see how it goes.. ugg..

Could I have a protein shake before the cardio? Or would that defeat the purpose of AM cardio..?