Too much Cardio?

Wookinpanub

I am trying to lose about 20 lbs and have been doing Arc trainer for cardio and weight training. My gym time is getting close to 2 hrs with travel and prep time. I love cardio and sweating and seeing the high calorie burn on the Arc trainer. I am doing 50 minutes usually about 3-5 days per week during HIIT program (program 5 on the Cybex Arc trainer).

Do you think the 50 minutes is too much and see diminishing returns at some point or should I keep pushing myself to keep increasing time and resistance?

On the Arc trainer do you think it is better to go faster at a lower resistance or slower at a higher resistance? I do level 46 for about 8 intervals, level 48 for 8 intervals and then level 52-55 for the remaining 10 or so intervals. Obviously much slower on the higher 50+ levels.

DopeItUp

I think you might be overthinking it a bit. You're probably just fine.

Wookinpanub

So could I cut back cardio to 30 minutes and it not be a huge difference?

Chief_Rocka

Returns will diminish no matter what you do, you have to continue to improve to see results.

It sounds like you're doing intervals, but you aren't doing HIIT. If you want to keep your cardio sessions short, you should do actual HIIT.

Wookinpanub

The program is 1minute at higher resistance and 1 minute at lower resistance. For the 1 minute higher resistance I do 30 seconds at a "jogging" pace, followed by 15 seconds "run" then 15 seconds sprint

Soccermavrick

OK, I do not do ARC so some of this is foreign. My question though is are you tracking your heart rate and calorie burn??? (There is no mention, hence why I am raising the question.)

Soccermavrick

Personally, I wonder if you could make gains, in losing weight, switching up the types of Cardo, surprising your system a little.

glevinso

Wookinpanub wrote: »

I am trying to lose about 20 lbs and have been doing Arc trainer for cardio and weight training. My gym time is getting close to 2 hrs with travel and prep time. I love cardio and sweating and seeing the high calorie burn on the Arc trainer. I am doing 50 minutes usually about 3-5 days per week during HIIT program (program 5 on the Cybex Arc trainer).

Do you think the 50 minutes is too much and see diminishing returns at some point or should I keep pushing myself to keep increasing time and resistance?

On the Arc trainer do you think it is better to go faster at a lower resistance or slower at a higher resistance? I do level 46 for about 8 intervals, level 48 for 8 intervals and then level 52-55 for the remaining 10 or so intervals. Obviously much slower on the higher 50+ levels.

50 minutes a day is nothing, go for it.

Wookinpanub

Soccermavrick wrote: »

OK, I do not do ARC so some of this is foreign. My question though is are you tracking your heart rate and calorie burn??? (There is no mention, hence why I am raising the question.)

I pay attention to the calories burned but I don't track them. I just try to increase the time every couple weeks to increase the calories burned.

DavPul

DopeItUp wrote: »

I think you might be overthinking it a bit. You're probably just fine.

this

Wookinpanub wrote: »

So could I cut back cardio to 30 minutes and it not be a huge difference?

depends on if you cut back your eating a bit too

Daiako

Wookinpanub wrote: »

So could I cut back cardio to 30 minutes and it not be a huge difference?

Are you gonna eat less to compensate?

Some days I walk 2 miles. Some days I walk 5. I lose at the same rate, ultimately, because I scale back on the two mile days.