Is there such thing as Too Much cardio?

[tomcat]

My goal for the last 6 months has been to mainly lose weight and get strong. Now, I want to ramp up on the Strength training and muscle mass. Question is, if I still want to continue to lose the last 10-15 lbs of fat but start concentrating more on the Strength training, is 1 hr of cardio 4 days a week too much? (5'10", 195, 38yrs old, OK diet) I spend 30 min doing cardio first, then 1 hr doing free weights(4 day split)and then 30 min of cardio to end the workout. Am I hurting the Strength training by doing too much cardio?
I really enjoy it and it helps me from being too sore/stiff after a hard lift. Opinions please...thanks

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-Work to live
-Fish to live

 

[he-man]

If your only going for strength training I would'nt think that would be too bad - I would start off with three times a week and see how well that works - then up it if you don't see the results you want.

 

[keiko]

You might want to check WarLobo's recent epistle on the Women's Board : http://www.elitefitness.com/ubb/Forum9/HTML/001928.html

 

[VixenVenus]

Yes, there is. When you have lost all the feeling of your ass and legs then you know that you have over done it on cardio.

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"Don't hate the player; hate the game!" -Booker T

 

[tomcat]

How could I have missed such a fantastic Post? Outstanding.
How about a 15 Min cardio warmup than hit the weights for 60min. Then, work up to 60 min of cardio to finish the morning. Is 4 days a week too much for this plan? I think I can do it, at least until I die of heart failure on the Treadmill,Precor or Bike.
Bag me and tag me..

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-Work to live
-Live to Fish

 

[tlhc]

i once read an article by poliquin (?sp) where he claimed that his clients don't do cardio at all because such extreme sessions (60mins+ multiple times a week) lowers your testosterone levels?
what's up with that?

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true love - hardcore

 

[keiko]

I warm-up for 5, lift, and then do my 60 minutes, except on legs day when I'll do maybe 30 minutes (if I can stand it) to get rid of lactic acid. As WarLobo says, you don't have to do it at hyperdrive (or a super-high rate). I average about 11 cals a minute on the ellipitcal and 18 mph on the bike, and I, as old and weak as I am, can do this. And my 25% BF went down to 23% seemingly overnight--so if this works for me, it should work for you.

 

[booger]

When I was young I used to run lots, fast. I gave it up. Now days I just run if Pit Bulls come after me. When I ran I could never get my arms over 16. After stopping they jumped to 17 within a month. Cardio just burns up a lot of energy and lowers the bodies ability to recover. If you look at people who are into cardio seriously they generally have a pencil-neck look. They don't look good. Besides that it takes a lot of running to burn off any negligible amount of fat. It's energy and time prohibitive. You're better off just lowering calories and stepping up the metabolism with ECA derivatives. Another point is that humans were not designed to run. At least not for long periods of time. For that matter the only other oxygen breathers that are designed for long distance running/cardio are migrators. The whole purpose of running is for survival. Run or die. The cheetah/gazelle game. If you look at our mechanical structure in comparison to the four legged runners you'll see that we aren't correctly aligned for this stuff. In time it will bang your knees and ankles up. Especially if you are carrying around excess muscle or fat. But running/cardio is kind of an 'in' thing. So I doubt that people will give it up. Enough of this rant.

 

[Cannibal Thrill]

If you look at people who are into cardio seriously they generally have a pencil-neck look. They don't look good.

That's kind of subjective, isn't it. Just because you're into getting huge...Anyway, when I'm in great cardiovascular shape I feel much, much better than when I am not, and I like being able to do stuff like mountain climbing, bike tours, etc that I love

Anyway, it's true running is tough on your joints. There are tons of other cardio exercises. Bicycling is my favorite. Swimming is great too.

 

[keiko]

I hate to run, but the cardio thingies (tech term) that aren't weight-bearing work fine. When I was a beginner I could do almost no cardio and build muscle and burn fat at the same time, but now I seem to have to do one or the other. My metbolism is compromised due to age and an underactive thryoid, so lifting and ECA aren't going to do it.