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When Is The Best Time To Do My Cardio?

By John Kent

As a certified personal trainer, one of the questions I’m most often asked in reference to aerobic exercise is "When is the best time for me to do my cardio for weight loss?"

Aerobic exercise a/k/a cardio is simply exercise in which oxygen requirements are being met. And, there’s one thing I’ve learned throughout the years in working with my clients - either you love it or you hate it. But regardless of how you view it, moderate aerobic exercise is a vital component for health.

Before I answer the question, let me explain a few things about aerobic exercise. As I mentioned, aerobic exercise is exercise in which oxygen requirements are being met. During this type of exercise, oxygen is taken in and delivered to your cells. The more effectively this happens, the more aerobically fit you are. Aerobic exercise is the exercise for our heart and lungs. It is also pivotal for delivering nutrients to the cells and getting waste out of the cells. It has two choices for fuel -- sugar stored in our muscles and liver (called glycogen) or fat. Knowing this, we can determine the most ideal times to do cardio.

There are actually two times in which aerobic exercise is most effective. Notice that I said "most" effective. Most of my clients want to lose fat so the times that I’m presenting here are based on those goals.

The first choice would be to do your cardio in the morning as soon as you wake up and on an empty stomach. Why? Your body has been at rest all night and has been using up your glycogen stores for energy during the night. Earlier we mentioned that aerobic exercise has two choices for fuel -- sugar (glycogen) or fat. If the glycogen stores are empty, it will then start to use the fat stored in your body for fuel.

The second most effective time is immediately following your strength training workout which is also called anaerobic exercise. The same theory applies here except that during your strength training workout, your primary fuel source is sugar (glycogen). After a good strength training workout, your glycogen fuel is used up for energy and then your cardio can be performed and immediately starts using your fat for fuel.

You will find many different opinions on this topic all over the internet, but as the saying goes, "the proof is in the pudding" and my clients always see better results when their cardio exercise is performed during one of these two times.

Effective cardio exercise alone will most likely not get you the sleek, toned look you are looking for unless you combine it with the right strength training program and supportive nutrition. You can achieve all of your health and fitness goals using a synergistic approach with three key components: Moderate aerobic exercise, supportive eating program and the right strength training program.

The three components for fitness synergy work for EVERYONE! I guarantee you can achieve remarkable results if you properly apply the components.

About the Author:

John Kent is a writer, speaker and owner of John Kent Fitness, Inc. located in Clearwater, FL. With his fitness expertise, as well as warm, friendly, and approachable character, John has become a captivating and much sought after speaker on the topics of nutrition and health.

He has contributed articles to various publications and has been featured on Bay News 9, Channel 10’s Life Around the Bay and in Tampa Bay’s Best Magazine where they named him “Tampa Bay’s Body Transformer”. He can be reached at or on the web at www.JohnKentFitness.com