how many hours cardio?

hi i was just wondering everyones thoughts on this, i am a little confused on how much cardio u should do a week for fatloss, there is alot of conflicting information out there, with over training and things like if you do high intensity for too long you burn your muscle (and thats the last thing i want!) if anyone could help it would be greatly appriciated :)

Two to three, thirty minute sessions per week to maintain weight. Four to five, thirty minute sessions per week to lose. Is the standard. I hope that helps. I personally do six, thirty minute sessions a week.

You could probably do as much as you like, each session up to one hour and a half.

I suggest doing it up to three times a day, not more. The sessions should be very easy on you, don't do any hard running because then you'll need longer rest times (up to 48 hours when doing high-intensity aerobic). Walking/fast walking should be fine.

By the way, you should eat carbs before and after each session, very low blood sugar levels cause muscle catabolism.

thanks, it sounds like so litte to me im expecting to do an hour or more. i usually do 3 x45 min cycle classes and 2 - 3 x20 min hitt a week plus i have a very active job where i work 9 - 15 hours (moving around, lifting etc) and usually 2 x 45 min weights. is this enough? i am thinking of upping my cardio for better results 

you shouldn't worry much about cardio, as long as it's not too intensive you can do it as much as you want.

to prevent muscle catabolism always make sure you eat enough and that you're not doing any excercise on low sugar levels. (also make sure your blood sugar levels aren't too high, so that you don't get it thrown to fat)

No your doing great, just keep up the great work. I am sure if you keep it up you will start to see those pound go down. And if you don't just ask around and we will help get to where you want to be.

i always find that i try to push my heart rate to 70 to 90 percent of my max heart rate or i dont fell that my workout counts, i have been in a plateu for 2 months (i think, scales havent been moving - just started measurements 2 weeks ago and have lost 2 cm from waist) its just daunting to look at the same number and i know i am carying to much body fat. should i increse my times? 

 

No your doing great. Your just gaining musle mass in place of your weight. But if your looking to lose more weight the change up your routine a little, pick up the pace when your at the gym, go an extra 5 minutes everyonce in a while, lift some weights for about 10 minutes on a cardio day. Switch out your meals, eat breakfast a lunch. Any of those things will shock your body into losing weight again.

thanks, i always thought my routine was varied enough cos of work etc and eating times and meals are always different and so are my workouts the ony thing the same is the days i have my cycle classes. is there such a thing as too much variety and my body has no idea of what is going on!?

Holy cow!  So have I been doing it wrong then?!?!?  I've been trying to do an hour of elliptical 4x a week, then I jump on the treadmill for 15 mins.  I also do the weight machines.  I didn't realize you can burn muscle.  So then if I understand you all correctly, I just need 30 mins of light to moderate cardio to lose weight?  Does it matter if you do this before or after weight training?

This just might help me get over my burnout with the gym!!  Yay!  Thanks all!!! 

 

Hi! I am 23/F, 5'4", 155 pounds. My goal is to get to 145 by Halloween or so....I work out 5 days a week for 30 minutes cardio, 30 minutes pilates. ....Am I doing the right thing? My daily intake is between 1000--1200 calories....Any and All advice is appreciated!

Cardio has NOT proven to be much more effective on fat loss (notice I didn't say weight loss) than just diet. Weights are more effective than cardio for fat loss. Just saying, if only because I wanted to address cardio up to three times a day?

Sirochete, your statement is just wrong.  Cardio is not only good for your overall health, it is very effective for fat loss.  I've not seen a study yet that indicated that this is not true, including the links form your previous posts.

tractorizer, the American Heart Association recommends 30 minutes of moderate intesity cardio every day to reduce the chances of heart disease and diabetes.  They recommend 60 to 90 minutes of cardio every day to promote weight loss.  These recommendations are based on over 20 years of study.  Moderate intesity cardio is defined as maintaining an elevated heart rate of 65-85% of max heart rate. 

No one said cardio isn't good for you, but it is NOT effective as a fat loss tool on its own. Maybe you didn't catch this study:

Med. Sci. Sports Exerc., Vol. 31, No. 9, pp. 1320-1329, 1999.

Overweight subjects were assigned to three groups: diet-only, diet plus aerobics, diet plus aerobics plus weights. The diet group lost 14.6 pounds of fat in 12 weeks. The aerobic group lost only one more pound (15.6 pounds) than the diet group (training was three times a week starting at 30 minutes and progressing to 50 minutes over the 12 weeks).

The weight training group lost 21.1 pounds of fat (44% and 35% more than diet and aerobic only groups respectively). Basically, the addition of aerobic training didn't result in any real world significant fat loss over dieting alone.

spirochete- I have often read your responses to cardio and have always cringed. Putting cardio in a bad light (ie stating that it is not effective in weight loss) only allows people to write it off as inconsequential. Cardio is very important to good health! And I understand that you always respond that you are not stating that it is bad for you, but you are also not stating that it is good. Your information is dated. (that sounds like I am angry, I am not an angry person but it's hard to show a smile while you are typing ;))

Perhaps what your study was proving was that low intensity aerobic exercise is not effective however high intensity aerobic exercise is  effective.

Try turning it up to a High intensity (80% or more) and going for as long and hard as you can is far more effective for burning fat than medium to low intensity (60% or less). At a lower intensity, your body prefers fat for fuel at first then your body adapts by actually laying down fat to become more efficient at the given task and this usually occurs in the lower body. A higher relative amount of fat is burned during low intensity cardio but a greater absolute amount is burned with higher intensity cardio and in less time.

Other things to consider are: a) the EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption) is greater for a longer duration following higher intensity work; in other words, you're metabolism is much higher for a longer period of time post-workout with high intensity cardio, and b) higher lactate levels exist with high intensity cardio. There is a direct correlation with lactate and GH (Growth Hormone) and GH is a potent fat-burner.

Bottom line: with regards to burning fat, do higher intensity work in the form of interval training and you'll get great results.

P.S.- This has been killing me, why is your screenname the spiral bacteria responsible for syphillis?

Heh, I have my degree in bio with an emphasis in microbiology. I just loved that word. Go figure.

As for cardio, I'm sorry if I ever implied it was bad. No one thinks it's bad. The point is people focus almost soley on cardio for fat loss and the truth is it does not promote fat loss any better than just watching your diet. I never addressed any of the other benefits of cardio.

If there are recent studies that show cardio is better than weight training for fat loss, I'm all ears. Trust me!

I figured you had something to do with biology, haha!

I found this article at Medscape. It's slightly more up to date.

Ballor and colleagues studied the effects of 12 weeks of aerobic exercise or resistance training on retention of weight loss in patients who had recently lost an average of 9% of their body weight.[2] Half of the participants trained aerobically at 50% functional capacity for 60 minutes 3 times per week. The other half participated in a progressive resistance training program 3 times per week. The resistance training group experienced no further weight loss, and there was a trend toward increased fat-free mass. On the other hand, aerobic exercisers experienced an average of 2.5 kilograms of additional weight loss, predominantly composed of body fat with a maintenance of fat-free mass. There were no significant changes in resting metabolic rate (absolute or relative to body mass), although there was an upward trend in absolute resting metabolic rate in weight trainers.

...

The greatest impact of exercise is on the retention of weight loss. This is widely supported by the prospective and retrospective studies reviewed by Votruba and coworkers. Individuals who exercised experienced a significantly smaller amount of weight regain. In addition, a greater percentage of the weight regained was fat-free mass. Two hundred and ten minutes of exercise per week, such as brisk walking, appears to be the minimum amount needed to effectively limit average weight regain to 35% to 40%. The impact of exercise does appear to be dose dependent with 600 minutes of brisk walking per week associated with a weight regain of only 15%.

For those reading Spirochete's post- (maybe she's boreliosis, not syphilis. Let's not make assumptions)- even her own citation says diet PLUS aerobic PLUS weights is the most effective.  We have to put them all together. 

Take a look at the national weight loss registry- that's where the role of exercise becomes clear.  Lot of studies show that calorie reduction is where it's at to lose weight and exercise is the key to keeping it off.

The point being that a lifestyle program that includes reduced calories incorporating healthy foods, a good but not excessive amount of cardio, and 2-3 times per week of resistance training for men AND women seems to be the winning strategy.

At least it better be, because if it's not I'm gonna be damn pissed off. ;)

To get back to the original question - The American Heart Association recommends 30 minutes of moderate exercise every day and 90 minutes a day for weight loss.

 

Three years ago I lost weight from calorie reduction and walking -  now I have done weights for a year and although my weight has gone up about 5- 10 lbs I am 2 pans size smaller.  I also still do cardio every day. 

noelle, it also said this:

Basically, the addition of aerobic training didn't result in any real world significant fat loss over dieting alone.

Spirochete, The study you site that compares diet alone to diet plus 30 to 50 min. of cardio 3 times a week can't be taken seriously.  This amount of cardio is not enough to promote good health let alone weight loss as note by dbackerfan above.

edit to add:

Additionally, Sirochet, your statement, "Basically, the addition of aerobic training didn't result in any real world significant fat loss over dieting alone.", you can't possibly believe that this is true.  Can you?