Written by Jay Cutler
10 May 2017

15NN034-JAY

Problem Solving with Jay Cutler

Answers to Pre-Workout Meal, Cardio & Chest Questions

 

 

Body Needs Time to Digest Food Before Workout

 Q: I work out in the morning and have found that if I eat anything before I work out, I have pretty shitty energy levels, which leads to bad workouts. Your thoughts?

 A: The first thing I’m wondering is, do you eat and then immediately go train? If so, that could be your problem. Your body needs some time to digest the food before you start working out. For me, I always try to time it so that I finish my pre-workout meal 60 minutes before I start my workout. Some guys do 90 minutes or two hours, but they aren’t factoring in that you’re training for a good hour in most cases if not more on some days. I know if I go three hours or more without having eaten, I start feeling really flat and depleted in my workouts.

      I always felt the three most important meals of the day are breakfast, the pre-workout meal (which is breakfast for a lot of guys) and the post-workout meal. I found that cleaner, faster-digesting proteins and carbs worked best for me in the pre-workout meal. For protein, I never had red meat, because it sits in your stomach and takes a long time to digest. Instead, I went with chicken breast, white fish or egg whites. For carbs, I preferred white rice, white potatoes or grits instead of brown rice (which I hardly ever eat anyway), oatmeal or sweet potatoes. I tried those other carbs for a while, but like red meat, I found they sat in my stomach too long. Once I switched to sources like white rice or grits, my energy levels were much better.

 

Shorter, Intense Cardio and Fast-Paced Workouts Will Spare Muscle

 Q: I have built a good amount of mass over the years, but have never really done much cardio. If I can gradually strip-off some of the extra body fat that I’ve accumulated, my musculature will really show well. I would like to start a cardio regimen, however I do not want to lose any lean mass. What do you think would be the most “muscle sparing” type of cardio, high intensity interval cardio or steady state?        

 A:I’m a big believer in “whatever works.” I have done both styles, but I prefer the shorter cardio sessions where your intensity levels zigzag up and down. That seems to work much better for me than longer sessions of 45-60 minutes at a steady pace, which just fatigue me. I’ve had the best results from doing sessions that are 20-30 minutes long, alternating two-minute intervals of going hard with two minutes easing up. That’s also spared the most muscle. Longer cardio sessions aren’t necessarily better, just like longer workouts aren’t. One reason I keep my rest periods shorter when I train, as in 40-60 seconds between sets, is because I found it helped me build more muscle and burn more fat. Between shorter, more intense cardio sessions and faster-paced workouts, you can get pretty lean.

 

Do Flyes Between Presses for Better Chest Workout

 Q: Jay, I want to put a good chest workout together. It seems like most guys do all their presses first, then move on to flyes or the pec deck or cables. What do you think about putting a flye movement between pressing exercises so the front delts and triceps get a little time to recover before you use them again? Or do you think it still makes the most sense to do all the pressing movements first?

 A:That’s a good question, because it’s something I have done in my own chest training for years. I used to talk about “stretching and filling” when I worked chest. Most people are aware of doing flye movements before a press as a way to pre-exhaust the chest, but I did it for other reasons. The flye motion would stretch and open up the tissue to allow more blood flow when I followed it up with a press. Dumbbell flyes, the pec deck and cable crossovers are often called “finishing movements.” I’ve never looked at them that way. Just because you aren’t using as much weight and it’s not as taxing as a press doesn’t mean you should wait until the end of the workout to do them.

     All the various exercises for chest are important, because you can’t get complete development without working it from all the different angles. That doesn’t just apply to doing flat, incline and decline presses. You should also do a flye movement from both flat and incline angles too. But to get back to your original question, mixing up pressing and flye movements is definitely an effective way to arrange your chest workouts.

 

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