I know this question gets asked a lot, so I am sorry about the inconvienence, but i just cant seem to find a definative answer on it. I am currently bulking and I do HIIT twice a week, sometimes once, depending on how I feel. It is so friggin hot later in the day, so I am forced to do it in the morning. I have been having a serving of Whey/Casein blend along with a very strong cup of tea for the caffeine before the HIIT. Then a Surge type drink with WPI afterwards.
My biggest concern is am I sacrificing any muscle by doing it this way? I do not want to lose any hard earned muscle to cardio whatsoever. I much rather do a.m. fasted, slow, constant paced cardio for 30 minutes compared to 15 mins of HIIT if I knew I wouldnt be losing any muscle. I am sorry for this FAQ, but I just cant come to a conclusion. Thank You all for your help. It is greatly appreciated.
[quote]BeBig828 wrote:
I know this question gets asked a lot, so I am sorry about the inconvienence, but i just cant seem to find a definative answer on it. I am currently bulking and I do HIIT twice a week, sometimes once, depending on how I feel. It is so friggin hot later in the day, so I am forced to do it in the morning. I have been having a serving of Whey/Casein blend along with a very strong cup of tea for the caffeine before the HIIT. Then a Surge type drink with WPI afterwards.
My biggest concern is am I sacrificing any muscle by doing it this way? I do not want to lose any hard earned muscle to cardio whatsoever. I much rather do a.m. fasted, slow, constant paced cardio for 30 minutes compared to 15 mins of HIIT if I knew I wouldnt be losing any muscle. I am sorry for this FAQ, but I just cant come to a conclusion. Thank You all for your help. It is greatly appreciated.
Peace
J.P.[/quote]
J.P.
No worries for the question as it’s one that worries quite a few people who are trying to gain.
From what I understand from numerous different sources and experience, fasted AM cardio is pretty much useless from a fat loss point of view. Your body adapts far too quickly and the workload required to force compensation gets to be ridiculous . . . we all need to live outside the gym right?
In terms of HIIT, think of it as a metabolism accelerator rather than a fat burning activity in of itself. The risidual fat burning effect from HIIT in your day to day activities is what makes it so effective. Also, in an environment where you are slowing your metabolism down with a caloric deficit, HIIT helps to counteract it.
Now, from a mass gain point of view, (with minimal fat gain as I’m certain that this is why you’re continuing with cardio), HIIT can serve an interesting supportive role. In doing HIIT twice a week with weights you are able to help increase your basal metabolic rate, which will help you with saiety (I.e. Hungry more) as well as potentially supporting a G-Flux environment (Berardi has an article on this). Just keep up the pre-cardio feeding protocol and you’ll be fine from a muscle-sparing point of view.
On a final note, I would especially recommend doing HIIT if you are in strength training mode as low volume work tends not to stimulate the metabolism or heart rate as well as high-volume hypertrophy work.
Thanks for the very in depth response Sasha… It is greatly appreciated. My mindset about HIIT is not all about fat loss, but mostly for conditioning and keeping good cardiovascular health. You said to contiue with the pre-cardio feeding protocol… Do you mean to keep doing what I am doing (A scoop of Whey/Casien), and I will be fine as far as keeping my gains?
It just seems so intense when I am chugging out 30 seconds of all out sprinting. To my understanding, at high intensity, your body uses glycogen as a source of fuel instead of fat, but in the a.m., before a meal, you are depleted of glycogen after sleeping… So thats where it leads me to believe that it turns to the muscles for fuel… Or do you have enough glycogen stored to safely complete the HIIT session?
I feel like a moron asking all these questions… lol.
[quote]BeBig828 wrote:
Thanks for the very in depth response Sasha… It is greatly appreciated. My mindset about HIIT is not all about fat loss, but mostly for conditioning and keeping good cardiovascular health. You said to contiue with the pre-cardio feeding protocol… Do you mean to keep doing what I am doing (A scoop of Whey/Casien), and I will be fine as far as keeping my gains?
It just seems so intense when I am chugging out 30 seconds of all out sprinting. To my understanding, at high intensity, your body uses glycogen as a source of fuel instead of fat, but in the a.m., before a meal, you are depleted of glycogen after sleeping… So thats where it leads me to believe that it turns to the muscles for fuel… Or do you have enough glycogen stored to safely complete the HIIT session?
I feel like a moron asking all these questions… lol.
Thanks for your time.
J.P.[/quote]
J.P.
No worries for the question and you are correct in what I meant by pre-cardio protocol.
You will be ok from a glycogen stand point for early morning HIIT unless you are following a very low carbohydrate diet with little to no postworkout CHOs. One of the major reasons we take in CHOs postworkout is muscle glycogen replenishment. As long as you’re taking in PWO carbs, you’ll have an ample supply for your level of activity.
Just in case you don’t, we have the pre-cardio feeding to act as a buffer. Now that I think about it, if the protein you’re taking in isn’t already a blend and you’re actively mixing casein and whey, I would opt for pure whey. It’s faster digesting and would have a greater propensity to be active in your bloodstream during training. A positive nitrogen balance would further spare muscle breakdown and casein would only slow it down.
Just so you feel a bit better about what you’re doing with HIIT, GH levels are highest in the morning and with HIIT, you’ll further maximize your natural levels. I remember reading that with activities that are high on the intensity scale, I’m thinking of a VO2 max study I think, GH levels increase as a result. This is also why training in the morning carries benefits.