How much cardio - Exercise & Fitness Message Board

Sinar · 10-07-2004, 02:54 PM

ok, i'm pretty stong right now and i have muscle. i'm going to keep doing things like lifting but my main focus is looseing the weight. I thought you were supposed to do cardio every day but, i keep seeing people say "i fit it in 2 days a week or 3 or 4 or *insert number*" for maximum weight loss, how many days should i do cardio and how much (i heard after like 30 mins of riding a bike or regualr cardo or something then you start burning stored fat but after 60 mins you start burning mucles.) thanks for any help

Kapera_X · 10-07-2004, 03:03 PM

I say for maximun weight loss w/o loosing muscel you should do 30min 5-6 days a week. But make sure you are still doing muscel building excercises.(lifting weights, etc)

Good luck

Jess75 · 10-07-2004, 03:08 PM

I would do cardio about 4x a week for 45 minutes at 80% of your maximum heart rate. For strength training, do full body 2x a week, of course not the same day as the cardio days, unless you find interval training fun

. Rest at least one day out of the 7 day week, or do a good stretching routine, even though you should always stretch after exercising. From reading about exercise and stuff, this is the conclusion I came up with. However, there may be other ideas.

Gopherhead · 10-07-2004, 03:45 PM

It depends on your fitness level and your body type. Someone who loses fat easily can get away with 3 sessions of 30 minutes a week, someone who does not would have to do more, either more in terms of intensity or time and frequency.

They key is to try not to do the same cardio all the time; change keeps your body from adapting and becoming efficient. If you regularly run/jog, try using an elliptical machine or jumping rope or swimming. If you do moderate intensity all the time, throw in a HIIT session to mix it up.

And yes, it is generally advisable to keep workouts (cardio and/or weights) to under an hour, at this point cortisol levels become unmanageable and muscle can be catabolized. If you must workout for longer periods a sports drink at the one hour mark to provide some simple carbs is a good idea - insulin is anabolic and will help control cortisol levels.

fitnessdiva · 10-07-2004, 05:00 PM

In order to loose the fat and tone more cardio is necessary! Experts say 30 min 5 days a week is good! You could do shorter spurts of cardio all depending on how strenous you make it. You can make it more strenous by setting a tredmill on a higher incline and making the pace faster. The best way to burn fat is to do bursts. What I mean by that is, do fast spurts of running, and then bring it down to a lower pace then repeat the cycle. You can do this with any kind of cardio. When I was in track, we would jog on the corners of the track and sprint the straight aways for about 6 laps or more. This helped burn fat and build muscle at the same time as well as making me faster. When we did long distance we would jog for 2 minutes and then sprint for 1 min. My times became faster. It shows true results when doing periods of hard running or what ever cardio, and then bringing the level down then repeatin the same thing! When you repeat the cycle again, you can make it even more strenous by running faster or putting the tredmill at a hight incline than the first time. When I have done this, I noticed a difference in my legs. They become more lean but muscular. It helped me loose fat in them faster! I hope this all makes sense!