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Thread: Cardio Question

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    Veteran Member Isis's Avatar
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    Default Cardio Question

    I've read that too much cardio is bad because it burns up muscle instead of fat.

    How much cardio is just enough ?

    for example: 1 hour walking on a treadmill average 3.3 mph on lower incline levels like 1-3

    is that too much or too little for weight loss ? How about weight maintance ?

    Thanks

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    Featured Member MeganS's Avatar
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    Default Re:Cardio Question

    It's hard to just come right out and say what's right for you. You're always going to hear: Strength Training! Try out some workout vidoes/classes that incorporate strength training with cardio. It comes down to what your goals are. How much do you wish to lose and are you going for definition and muscle tone?
    "A dress makes no sense unless it inspires men to want to take it off you."
    Francoise Sagan

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    Senior Member Flounder's Avatar
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    Default Re:Cardio Question

    You would have to have a body with almost zero body fat to start losing a lot of muscle by walking. The only time I have heard that too much cardio is bad are for those with physicial conditions (bad heart, knees, lungs, etc). When my mom was between 40-50 she used to play 1-2 hours of tennis and run 6-10 miles a day, she was in better shape than her two teenage sons who played football and the other was a cross country runner. I don't know where you got your info but I would disagree. The times in my life where I was working out cardio the most, I felt and looked my best.

    Normaly you lose muscle when you stop using those muscles or you eat so little that your muscles starve.

    You lose weight when you eat less than you can burn off daily.
    Doing cardio increases the amount you burn off.

    More info on calories needs
    http://science.howstuffworks.com/question457.htm

    For example an average person needs to eat 2000 calories a day to maintain their weight.

    So if that person walks for one hour a day but ate 7000 calories a day, they would probably gain weight. Now this might include some muscle but prolly not much.

    Or that person walks for one hour a day but ate 1000 calories a day, they would probably lose weight. They would prolly be burning off mainly fat.

    How much cardio is just enough for what? What are you trying to do, lose weight, maintain weight, tone and strengthen? Each will have a different answer.

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    Featured Member SCGirl's Avatar
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    Default Re:Cardio Question

    This is a topic that I'm very confused on too!!! I was just looking at the Body for Life book and it said no more than 20 min cardio every other day. But then I was watching "Special Edition Extreme Makeover" and they were talking about exercise do's and don'ts and the guy on there said slow LONG walks (for an hour or so) everyday is the way to go. AAAAHHHHHH!!!! I'm so confused! I don't know who to believe!!!!!
    "You did then what you knew how to do; when you knew better, you did better" ~Maya Angelou

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    God/dess Lexi's Avatar
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    Default Re:Cardio Question

    SCGirl, in the Body for Life Book he mentions that if you do it at different intensity levels (low, med, high etc) it will give GREAT results in a short amount of time. Doing too much cardio does burn muscle. Believe me. I mentioned this in another thread. "Skinny fat" The girls who burn muscle are the skinny girls who have a ton of cellulite, but no muscle definition.
    Walking a long time is great, too.
    It just depends. You cant do too much HIGH intensity working out for a long period of time. Better to jog 40 minutes than it is to sprint for 20.
    I will post a link when I get the info.

    When you do cardio machines, press FAT BURN, not cardio. You wanna burn the fat. (Cardio is to work your cardiovascular system (heart and the oxygen in your blood) plus if done too long (cardio is high intensity) it will burn muscle.

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    Senior Member Flounder's Avatar
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    Default Re:Cardio Question

    I'm not sure I understand the whole doing less cardio thing. First I am not an expert or doctor but like many people here I read a lot and have been around sports and the gym my whole life. I like to be informed. I like to believe what i read but at the same time will not over look common sense just because someone has a book.

    I guess I use common sense and I look at a group of people like say men and women Basketball and Soccer players and I see some of the healthest people on the planet. Nearly everyone at the high level of these sports is trim and extreemly fit. Can you name 5 overweight people in any of these pro sports? I know I can't.

    The one thing they have in common is they do an extreem amount of cardio a day. Both these sports average in excess of 40 minutes of hard cardio a day, running, with most doing a lot more. While these are not your average people, I would have to believe that an average person who did the same workouts everyday that there body would fall in line with all the other players in these sport. Here is a test group that is muscular, healthy and does an extreem amount of cardio.

    While I am not saying we should try and do what they do I do think it makes a good point about the effects of a lot of hard cardio. Heck, who would not like to look like michael jordan, mia hamm and a hundred others in these sports. So based on that example I find it hard to believe that too much cardio is bad and that you might lose muscle from it.

    I don't know what is right or wrong, but am I crazy to think that maybe a book saying less hard cardio is better could be wrong. It just gets me thinking to 8-10 years ago when every diet book was on the whole don't eat fat, fat-free diet fad only to have nearly all of that proved wrong a couple years later.

    Please don't take this as a your wrong post, I just wanted to present a different view, not right nor wrong. If I totaly misunderstood what has been said here I'm sorry for the long post.

    When I do use cardio machines I also use the Fat Burn choice )

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    Veteran Member Isis's Avatar
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    Default Re:Cardio Question

    Quote Originally Posted by Flounder link=board=5;threadid=7785;start=msg89215#msg89215 date=1080510772

    How much cardio is just enough for what? What are you trying to do, lose weight, maintain weight, tone and strengthen? Each will have a different answer.
    I want to lose a dress size and then maintain that.

    I am doing strength training n cardio already and I eat ok, I'm trimming my sugars n meats at the moment.

    Basicaly, I'm just looking 4 others opinion on length of cardio time


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    Veteran Member MotherDaisy's Avatar
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    Default Re:Cardio Question

    I also know that if all you do is cardio and you don't do strength training you will build up a resistance to the cardio and have to do more and more of it each time to get a good work out.

    I would suggest cross training. Do different kinds of activity so you are not continually using the same muscle groups.

    Quality not quanitity. Do enough so you get a good workout but don't exhaust yourself. It will just discourage future workouts.
    Those who bring sunshine into lives of others, cannot keep it from themselves.

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    Default Re:Cardio Question

    Ok first are you currently losing weight with your current program of eating and cardio workouts?

    If you are losing weight then it's only a matter of time and you will lose the dress size, be patience losing real weight takes time.

    If you are OK with your weight but feel you have room to firm into one less dress size then you prolly want to maintain your diet but increase your cardio and maybe include more weight workouts.

    If you are not losing then you prolly need to increase the workout time and decrease your food intake.

    If you are losing and firming but you feel its going to slow then ramp up your workout and decrease your food intake a little. Be careful anytime you increase your workout, gradualy increase it don't just double your workout in a day to avoid injuries.

    As far as cardio times, I would try to get into the 30-60 minute range but make sure to do a variety of machines. I would split my workout between the treadmill and stairmaster/ellipticals , you can mix it up on off days and do say an arobics type classes, rower, bike or a true set machine. You want to workout as many muscles as you can, this helps burn more body fat and tone more. In any case start by adding weekly to your time on each. You want to be tired when you finish but not dead tired.

    I see way to many people in the gym that use the cardio machines but don't push themselves and really fail to get a good workout. If you finish that 20 minute walk and feel like you could easily do another 20 minutes then you need to either increase the speed or elavation to ensure you are getting a good cardio workout. Your trying to workout your body, it should not be easy.

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    Featured Member krys's Avatar
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    Default Re:Cardio Question

    Lexi you mentioned hitting 'fatburn' on the treadmill... do these settings REALLY make a differance? How do they vary?

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    Featured Member Muyaha's Avatar
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    Default Re:Cardio Question

    okay this is my rational thinking coming in.... If you have to hit that fat burning point or HR to burn fat why is it that those long distance runners that run at a "cardio HR" are so thin? That's why I personally think that the burning fat HR point is full of BS.
    Personally I was in the best shape of my life when I was doing at least 1 hr and 30 min of some type of cardio 5x a week then weights 3x a week. I didn't just jump into this I took my time and progressed to that point thru alot of muscle pain.

    The problem with the calorie burning read outs on the machines is that there's no way the machine can tell your weight to fat ratio and metabolism, so it's not exact but a very big guessmation

    I may have many faults, but being wrong ain't one of them.

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