Jillian Michaels' interview

"When you're short on time in the gym, what are your go-to moves? How much time is enough spent on cardio, and what is a good ratio of cardio vs. strength training?" -

Jillian Michaels: "I always like to use moves that I call hybrid or combination lifts, which work multiple muscle groups at am time. A lunge with a bicep curl. Or rows in a plank position. A squat and a press. Anything with upper and lower body in it is a great way to go.

Cardio is the bread and butter of weight loss. You could do hours upon hours – we have contestants that do four hours a day of cardio. But I never let them do more than four hours of strength a week. That would be overtraining – your muscles never have a chance to heal.

I would say no more four to five hours of resistance training a week. Two times a week is ideal [for a single muscle group.] If you don’t have weight to lose, make sure you’re balancing out your cardio with calories (if someone told me she was doing two hours of cardio a day, I’d say make sure you’re taking in an extra 500 calories.) But if you have a lot of weigh to lose, you can do as much cardio as you want. It’s not realistic at all, but it is possible."

so my question is: Is it okay if I do like two hours of stationary bike and one hour I walk on the treadmill? Because I have time, I want to know if it will help me lose weight faster? Or it will make my body something like in starvation mode or it is overtraining?

Too much cardio can be counterproductive to weight loss, read The Final Nail in the Cardio Coffin.

The amount of weight you lose is determined by your average daily calorie deficit.  Doing more cardio helps you to create bigger deficits.  It is not recommend that you run a deficit larger than 1000 a day which will give a 2 lb. a week loss.  While running a deficit you run the risk of losing muscle mass as well as fat.  To minimize muscle loss, make should you do resistance training, such as weight lifting, in addition to your cardio.

Original Post by ankow:

Too much cardio can be counterproductive to weight loss, read The Final Nail in the Cardio Coffin.

OOH love that article

thanks! I read that interview last week on ivillage's diet weblog. I tried to do more cardio than 90 minutes a day and I was so tired and sluggish most of the time and not energetic at all.

Original Post by spirochete:

Original Post by ankow:

Too much cardio can be counterproductive to weight loss, read The Final Nail in the Cardio Coffin.

OOH love that article

yes, great article!!!! Strength training really is key. You can do all the cardio you want, but you could still be what ive heard around here: skinny fat!

personally, there is NO WAY I could do that much cardio. It's too boring and results are too slow. I do an hour of careio (run) on an off weight day, and I mainly make sure I get my weights in 3xs a week, and then do another day, MAYBE 2 of some shorter cardio sessions: either HIIT on my elliptical (which is like 20 mins) or a dvd or something (that still incorporates strength stuff too) which is about 20-30 mins....I've done sooo many diff ways, and I see the best results when I stick to my weights...not as much if I cut out weights and stick to cardio.

The Biggest Loser workout also allows you to combine cardio and strength training for an overall workout.  What I do is break it up with 20 min. of elliptical, 20 min. of treadclimber, and 20 min. of running four time a week.  Then I try to do weights 3x with  1 of the Biggest Loser workouts.  It gives me a good balance and allows me to work mutipule body parts twice a week.

Didn't one of the people reach out to insider for an doctor to remove his extra skin. It was a guy, and I think it was last year season. He said, if he had the chance to do it all over again he would pass on the fast weight loss. He said he looks awful, and the sores he get from the folds of skin is painful.

I mean really, they should sign them up for a free body lift or something.

My mom had the bypass done years ago, and that extra skin that was hanging from her belly did give her some sores she couldn't bare to live with. She had a tummy tuck, and the insurance did pay for it some of it, but sometimes the insurance don't.

I think 4 hours of cardio is a little too much. I do good to do 2 hours 3 days a week.

my personal experience from being a CARDIO QUEEN is i am SKINNY FAT! its true. I am 5'4 weigh 110 and am skinny fat. its really not good. but recently i started doing strength training and less cardio and you wouldnt imagine the results ive already seen especially in my legs and butt areat...my arms are looking great too.

I do strength training for 50 minutes every other day!!! With dumbbells and body weight. I cannot do HIIT becaue I have asthma that is why I thought maybe if I do more cardio. Thanks anyways!

What kind of weight routine are you doing???? I started this routine 2 weeks ago, and already I'm getting pretty good results...I workout at home and have home equipment, so I had to modify it slightly, but I like it.....

Otherwise, you'll really just have to tweak your diet a bit!

Original Post by ankow:

Too much cardio can be counterproductive to weight loss, read The Final Nail in the Cardio Coffin.

Very good article and totally true. I saw very little loss of fat when doing moderate cycling every day  and some weight lifting thrown in. I did notice my endurance increase a lot which helped me on the next step but i plateaued completely. For about 3 months i kept at it and saw very small changes mostly due to diet.

The schedule i have been on for over 3 months now made pretty big changes in my fat percentage. I havent been checked yet for my body fat % but when i started i was around 21% , if i had to guess i would say i am closer to 15 now.

My goal is to see my abs and i will get there some how, i have one of those body types that does not want to show abs, i have never seen them in my entire life, even when i was younger and extremely skinny...then again , i dont think i had any back then as i didnt do any exercise. So maybe if i can get back to really skinny  i will be able to see the abs i can feel thru my inch of flub thats left.

whew , i type too much.

To end this i want to say, aerobics is great for fat loss...when you do intervals...riding a bike for a hundred miles at the same speed at 150bpm will do virtually nothing for fat loss...riding a mountain bike for 10 miles thru the mountains up and down hills and ranging heart rate from 140 to 180 will give you the results you want =)

I do carmen electra's Fit to Strip DVD2. I also want to do winsor pilates Ab Sculp that's 20 minutes ab work.