mikeriegger

Since I promised some guidelines…..;

If you are a serious hardgainer:step away from any cardio equipment except for top 2 times a week. Do no more than 5 minutes of hard consistent work. That is all you need, but PUSH though so you feel it. Do not ever do it empty stomach!

If you want to drop a lot of fat yesterday: do cardio 6 days a week, alternate between intervals, steady state, different machines. The more you mix it up the less resistant to burning calories your body will be. Do the steady work ones on an empty stomach, but if you want to work harder and reaching lactic acid building, take BCAA’s pre workout and post workout. This protects the muscles.

If you are trying to get rid of fat thighs and butt otherwise lean: do both empty stomach cardio AND interval training. The more you work the legs the bigger the chance the fat will come off…

If you want to get lean and build at the same time: do short sessions HIIT style. I would do it separately from weight training.

Now over to when to do it:

Whenever you can!!! The more intense the session the more it does not matter when you do it. You are not doing cardio to burn fat during the workout IMO, you are doing it to create a fatburning environment. Now, yes you will have different hormonal setups depending on when you do them, but it is of less great importance…You should really do them when you are most likely to go do them. It’s not smart to schedule an intense grueling session a sunday night because vegging out at home is more appealing! If you are me anyway it is! So, schedule your sessions when you are most likely to commit and do it. Day in and day out! Find routines you can stick to or it is not worth your time!

Regarding cardio I’ll keep on. I mostly do short workouts where I keep my pace at 85% mhr for about 15 minutes and then do intervals every time it drops down below 170 for ten minutes. I track how many calories my heart rate monitor tells me I’ve burned and then I try to outperform myself.

My kitchen carries the same foods all the time. You find this in the freezer, fridge and the cupboards:

tilapia, frozen cauliflower, green beans, chicken breasts, beef, sugarfree jell-o, cottage cheese, eggs, liquid eggwhites, beef jerky, wheat bran, oats, pistachio nuts, smoked salmon, canned salmon, salmon filets, mahi filet, tuna, cole slaw, bbq spices without sugar, flax seeds, caramel rice cakes, white instant rice, shrimp, carrots, quark, cinnamon, garlic and green peas.

I eat tons of carrots. About 1 pound a day. Add 4 more lbs of veggies and you have my daily serving of vegetables. I’m the gourmet chef’s worst nightmare: I put all my vegetables in a big bowl in the microwave for 35 minutes. With some tilapia it’s a delicious meal!

Fish is a lot easier to check. If it’s white it’s a go. Salmon is nutritious but caution with serving sizes! Lots of calories in a small filet….

Don’t fool yourself into thinking fruit is a great tool to get in shape. It might be if your past diet has been nothing but mcdonalds and Wendys. In that perspective even choosing a big mac without accompanying fries is halleluja…It’s all relative…