Lobo: Please address 30 + 30 NOT = 60 >>>> Frequency?

[Fennec]

WarLobo,

Could you please address the whys and wherefores of how often longer cardio sessions should be performed? We've had lots of posts about increasing the length of the cardio but doing the cardio fewer times per week as opposed to daily. Skydancer recently mentioned it again in another post, and I was wondering if you would go into the explanation behind this.

TIA
Fennec

 

[Fennec]

I was thinking more in terms of: (for instance)

On Monica Brant's web site she says that she does 60 minutes cardio in the morning and another 60 in the afternoon/evening. She's obviously one of those at the highest levels of the sport.

We have had lots of posts to newbies saying they should hit the weights more and do the cardio for a longer time and less frequently.

There are other posts saying do as little as you can and still get results, then when you no longer get the results, increase the duration or intensity. That if you kick it into full gear right off the bat, you will have nowhere to go when your body adjusts.

I've been training for approx 3 years now. I train 3 to 4 times/week, hardcore, and currently do cardio in the morning, prior to first meal, usually 6 days per week. Was doing 45 minutes, kicked it up to 60 this week for fun, prompted by the 30 + 30 NOT = 60 post. I'm at 18% b/f and still need to knock it down quite a bit to 12% or so in order to compete next fall. I'm still getting results from pretty much everything I do, just slow, of course. (I started at, if I remember right, about 44% b/f 3 years ago.) So.... given all the background info, if someone already seriously into the weight training like me does longer duration, would you still recommend to decrease the frequency of the cardio? Or would you say since I am already doing my cardio so frequently and am getting results, I actually should NOT be increasing the duration right now, for fear I won't have anywhere to go when I stop getting results?

Fennec

 

[smallmovesal]

ok and here's one that i've been thinking about... ok so you know you said that the workout should leave you able to have a conversation without getting too out of breath...? ok i got that one covered, but after i switched from 30mins on the stepmill (level one at 5) to the treadmill (no incline at 5) for 30 mins... i stopped sweating profusely and the jog was super easy. it didn't kill me in other words, like the stepmill was. i think i'd have been getting out of breath if i had gone faster. did i go about this correctly? did i need to go faster?

 

[AmberR]

Finally, now I know what I was doing wrong. I do 10 of cardio for warm up and then after my workout 30 minutes more of cardio and there have not been any noticeable results. I am going to start doing one hour 3 to 4 days a week. I hope this does the trick. Thanks

 

[keiko]

Upping my cardio to 60 mintues made a huge difference to me. I'm 48 and while I started about 2 months ago at 170 and 30%BF (yikes!), I lowered my body fat to 25% by lifting and medium cardio.

But once I jumped to the 60 minutes, my pounds started dropping. I still lift 3 days one week, 4 the next, but the cardio made a difference to my weight. I'll check my BF mid-month, and I hope to see a lower percentage.

 

[thebird]

Okay since I do know a bit about building endurance I'll say this about cardio frequency. If you can do a 30+ min cardio work out (like running) and you come off it not feeling too spent you need to add some bursts to it. For example if I'm training for a marathon I'll put like two 8 min miles in with my normal 10 min miles in a 60 min long run. This makes stepping up from say 30 min of cardio to 60 min or even two or three hours much easier.

I lost about 15 lb training for my last marathon by doing this. (it was all fat too)

I know a lot of you are on low carb diets and so more than 30 min will be very hard, you'll hit the wall early but the bursts can reinvigorate you.

If it get real bad you can take a up to a 20 second break without losing the heart rate (and fat burning) benefits. If you are running walk 10 steps then keep going, and don't forget the "bursts"

Susan

 

[MR. BMJ]

Alright, I am gonna add a little fuel to the fire to spice things up...here is a very recent study regarding this topic.

http://www.am-coll-nutr.org/jacn/vol_20/no_5/pg497.htm

I think an occasional long bout of cardio might shock the system and change things up, but for the last 2 years, I have had more success with a HIIT regimine. Short interval training for 20-30 minutes. Something similar to what Buttplug has in his Body-For-Life diet. This is a pretty heated topic...lol, but the main goal is to lose body fat obviously, so if something has worked for you in the past, then by all means, stick with.

Hey WARLOBO, FUCKENSHREDDED mentioned in one of his AF threads how he does his cardio. Don't know if you read it, but it was a fairly recent thread if I believe, and that is pretty similar to how I do mine. I mix it up between the stationary bike and the treadmill (painful, but gratifying when over).

BMJ

 

[MR. BMJ]

Just checked to see if the link worked, and it did, but it did not give any reference. Here is the journal reference for those wondering what it is:

Journal of the American College of Nutrition
Vol. 20, #5, October 2001.

BMJ

 

[VooDoo Lady]

Appx 6-7 weeks ago I decided to get serious about building muscle. At that point I was working out 6 days a week and doing intense cardio 4-5 out of those 6 days (lifting very little, obviously). 6-7 weeks ago I started my clean diet, and started lifting 4-5 days/week, and cut cardio to 1 or 2 days (after being told by nearly everyone on this board that was what I needed to do). I have gotten down to 127.5lbs 13% BF while significantly increasing muscle mass.

I would waste away if I added 4-5 days of cardio to my routine... I am a total contradiction to everything that is being said in this and the other '30+30' post.

Is what I am experiencing due to the fact that this all being new to me, and eventually my body will stop reacting so well to my diet - and at that point I'll need to add significantly more cardio?

VDL