Cardio Is Killing Your Gains

99.69% of people who work out start with intense cardio before their actual workout.

That is a big no-no.

Well, not a big no-no, but it is still a no-no. And listen, I used to do intense cardio before my workout sessions as well.

So, I speak from experience.

It is perfectly fine to do a little bit of cardio at the beginning—maybe 5 minutes to really warm up.

But that’s about it.

No more than that.

Why?

Because your actual workout will be impacted by it.

You don’t need to be a Harvard scholar to know that you’ll use up a lot of your energy if you go hard on cardio before your workout.

Even if your goal is to lose fat, I would recommend limiting it to 5 minutes.

Why?

Because building muscle will help you burn more fat in the future.

Although you’ll burn some calories in the short term (though not a lot), you won’t be setting yourself up for long-term success.

And we all know that long-term success is always better than short-term success.

If you really want to do cardio, make sure you finish your actual workout first.

Then, add your cardio on top of that.

Cardio is secondary, and your workouts are primary.

And honestly, you don’t even need to warm up on the treadmill before your workout, in my opinion.

You could grab a pair of super-light weights and perform your planned exercises with high reps and low weight.

But the key here is to go very low with the weight.

It should feel like a warm-up.

So, to wrap it up:

No, don’t go for half an hour of intense cardio before your workout sessions.

That will kill your workout and, therefore, kill your gains.

I mean it.

That’s it for this email!

Have a nice Saturday!

Kind Regards,
Coach Loc