Why is weight training not considered cardio??

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Replies

  • LittleQuelie
    LittleQuelie Posts: 37 Member
    Cahgetsfit wrote: »
    Does it really matter though, that is the main question.

    As in - you like to do your intensive strength training, you like to do your volleyball.

    Keep doing them!

    You dislike the "traditional" cardio machines (so do I!!!) and HIIT (me too!!!) - so why do them????

    Do what you like, and you will be happier for it. Regardless if it's "cardio" or not (which your volleball IS).

    Excellent points!!
  • Unknown
    Unknown
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  • LittleQuelie
    LittleQuelie Posts: 37 Member
    NorthCascades wrote: »
    LittleQuelie wrote: »
    NorthCascades wrote: »
    LittleQuelie wrote: »
    LittleQuelie wrote: »
    NorthCascades wrote: »
    LittleQuelie wrote: »
    No, I don’t find it boring. I’m talking about traditional modes of cardio exercise. If I could play volleyball everyday I would!

    For the record, people were running outdoors, riding bikes, hiking, paddling small boats, etc, long before there were elliptical machines.

    The reason I'm making this point is that if you hate the hamster wheel but want to improve your fitness including of your heart, there are a lot of options that are way more enjoyable than picking things up and putting them back down again.

    I like picking things up and putting them back down again! I do like hiking, however paddling is not an option for me. Also, I live in a place where the summer time is super short and the winter is extremely long so I’m pretty much relegated to the offerings at the gym for the great majority of my workout sessions. I do have a HIIT routine I do with the rowing machine which I don’t loathe, but I’d just rather not, ya know?


    Which I do do. My original question only asked why weightlifting cant be considered a form of cardio.

    Well you can consider anything anything. But nobody ever trained for a marathon by doing squats and bench presses.

    Good thing I’m not interested in running a marathon, I suppose.

    Neither am I. And that's ok. There's no rule that says you have to run ever, unless zombies are chasing you. And marathons would be less awesome for people who do them if everyone did.

    So why does it bother you that there's this cardio thing, if you're not interested in it? It's ok for other people to do exercise that isn't weights, too.

    🙂

    I’m not saying it bothers me, I really just wanted to know why weight training can’t be considered cardio exercise. I know cardio is necessary, but I was hoping what I was already doing was enough to hit two birds with one stone, so to speak.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    LittleQuelie wrote: »
    NorthCascades wrote: »
    LittleQuelie wrote: »
    NorthCascades wrote: »
    LittleQuelie wrote: »
    LittleQuelie wrote: »
    NorthCascades wrote: »
    LittleQuelie wrote: »
    No, I don’t find it boring. I’m talking about traditional modes of cardio exercise. If I could play volleyball everyday I would!

    For the record, people were running outdoors, riding bikes, hiking, paddling small boats, etc, long before there were elliptical machines.

    The reason I'm making this point is that if you hate the hamster wheel but want to improve your fitness including of your heart, there are a lot of options that are way more enjoyable than picking things up and putting them back down again.

    I like picking things up and putting them back down again! I do like hiking, however paddling is not an option for me. Also, I live in a place where the summer time is super short and the winter is extremely long so I’m pretty much relegated to the offerings at the gym for the great majority of my workout sessions. I do have a HIIT routine I do with the rowing machine which I don’t loathe, but I’d just rather not, ya know?


    Which I do do. My original question only asked why weightlifting cant be considered a form of cardio.

    Well you can consider anything anything. But nobody ever trained for a marathon by doing squats and bench presses.

    Good thing I’m not interested in running a marathon, I suppose.

    Neither am I. And that's ok. There's no rule that says you have to run ever, unless zombies are chasing you. And marathons would be less awesome for people who do them if everyone did.

    So why does it bother you that there's this cardio thing, if you're not interested in it? It's ok for other people to do exercise that isn't weights, too.

    🙂

    I’m not saying it bothers me, I really just wanted to know why weight training can’t be considered cardio exercise. I know cardio is necessary, but I was hoping what I was already doing was enough to hit two birds with one stone, so to speak.

    Volleyball is cardio, so you're good.
  • aokoye
    aokoye Posts: 3,495 Member
    LittleQuelie wrote: »
    NorthCascades wrote: »
    LittleQuelie wrote: »
    NorthCascades wrote: »
    LittleQuelie wrote: »
    LittleQuelie wrote: »
    NorthCascades wrote: »
    LittleQuelie wrote: »
    No, I don’t find it boring. I’m talking about traditional modes of cardio exercise. If I could play volleyball everyday I would!

    For the record, people were running outdoors, riding bikes, hiking, paddling small boats, etc, long before there were elliptical machines.

    The reason I'm making this point is that if you hate the hamster wheel but want to improve your fitness including of your heart, there are a lot of options that are way more enjoyable than picking things up and putting them back down again.

    I like picking things up and putting them back down again! I do like hiking, however paddling is not an option for me. Also, I live in a place where the summer time is super short and the winter is extremely long so I’m pretty much relegated to the offerings at the gym for the great majority of my workout sessions. I do have a HIIT routine I do with the rowing machine which I don’t loathe, but I’d just rather not, ya know?


    Which I do do. My original question only asked why weightlifting cant be considered a form of cardio.

    Well you can consider anything anything. But nobody ever trained for a marathon by doing squats and bench presses.

    Good thing I’m not interested in running a marathon, I suppose.

    Neither am I. And that's ok. There's no rule that says you have to run ever, unless zombies are chasing you. And marathons would be less awesome for people who do them if everyone did.

    So why does it bother you that there's this cardio thing, if you're not interested in it? It's ok for other people to do exercise that isn't weights, too.

    🙂

    I’m not saying it bothers me, I really just wanted to know why weight training can’t be considered cardio exercise. I know cardio is necessary, but I was hoping what I was already doing was enough to hit two birds with one stone, so to speak.

    Give that you play vollyball and you like it, it sounds like you don't need to hit two birds with one stone.
  • AZTeri2016
    AZTeri2016 Posts: 77 Member
    Quickly reading through these and I have a question (I'll finish reading later this afternoon after I get home from my bike ride). I work out with my trainer 3 days a week. I'm usually burning between 300-400 calories on those days. I count them as cardio, mostly for the calories. On the alternate days I am on either the elliptical or stationary bike, and once a week (Saturdays) my husband and I go for a longer ride. I'm not putting my training down as strength training even though that is because the system doesn't allow for calories for that. Am I in error by logging it as HIIT, when that's what it feels like, or does it not matter?
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
    Strength training is not HIIT. That would not be an accurate way to log it. There is a strength training exercise in the cardio section that would at least be slightly more accurate.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    AZTeri2016 wrote: »
    Quickly reading through these and I have a question (I'll finish reading later this afternoon after I get home from my bike ride). I work out with my trainer 3 days a week. I'm usually burning between 300-400 calories on those days. I count them as cardio, mostly for the calories. On the alternate days I am on either the elliptical or stationary bike, and once a week (Saturdays) my husband and I go for a longer ride. I'm not putting my training down as strength training even though that is because the system doesn't allow for calories for that. Am I in error by logging it as HIIT, when that's what it feels like, or does it not matter?

    It’s not what you call it, it’s the number logged that is significant. The 300-400 calories in a hour is probably a little high, but not enough to make a big difference.

    From an education standpoint, as the previous poster stated, weight training is not HIIT. But for logging calories, you can pick a set number for each workout and call it whatever you want.

  • aokoye
    aokoye Posts: 3,495 Member
    AZTeri2016 wrote: »
    Quickly reading through these and I have a question (I'll finish reading later this afternoon after I get home from my bike ride). I work out with my trainer 3 days a week. I'm usually burning between 300-400 calories on those days. I count them as cardio, mostly for the calories. On the alternate days I am on either the elliptical or stationary bike, and once a week (Saturdays) my husband and I go for a longer ride. I'm not putting my training down as strength training even though that is because the system doesn't allow for calories for that. Am I in error by logging it as HIIT, when that's what it feels like, or does it not matter?

    What are you doing when you're working out with your trainer? If it's primarily strength training exercises then no, it's not cardio which means yes, you are logging in error when when you're putting it down as HIIT. Where is the 300-400 calorie number coming from?
  • MikePTY
    MikePTY Posts: 3,814 Member
    LittleQuelie wrote: »
    NorthCascades wrote: »
    LittleQuelie wrote: »
    NorthCascades wrote: »
    LittleQuelie wrote: »
    LittleQuelie wrote: »
    NorthCascades wrote: »
    LittleQuelie wrote: »
    No, I don’t find it boring. I’m talking about traditional modes of cardio exercise. If I could play volleyball everyday I would!

    For the record, people were running outdoors, riding bikes, hiking, paddling small boats, etc, long before there were elliptical machines.

    The reason I'm making this point is that if you hate the hamster wheel but want to improve your fitness including of your heart, there are a lot of options that are way more enjoyable than picking things up and putting them back down again.

    I like picking things up and putting them back down again! I do like hiking, however paddling is not an option for me. Also, I live in a place where the summer time is super short and the winter is extremely long so I’m pretty much relegated to the offerings at the gym for the great majority of my workout sessions. I do have a HIIT routine I do with the rowing machine which I don’t loathe, but I’d just rather not, ya know?


    Which I do do. My original question only asked why weightlifting cant be considered a form of cardio.

    Well you can consider anything anything. But nobody ever trained for a marathon by doing squats and bench presses.

    Good thing I’m not interested in running a marathon, I suppose.

    Neither am I. And that's ok. There's no rule that says you have to run ever, unless zombies are chasing you. And marathons would be less awesome for people who do them if everyone did.

    So why does it bother you that there's this cardio thing, if you're not interested in it? It's ok for other people to do exercise that isn't weights, too.

    🙂

    I’m not saying it bothers me, I really just wanted to know why weight training can’t be considered cardio exercise. I know cardio is necessary, but I was hoping what I was already doing was enough to hit two birds with one stone, so to speak.

    I would argue that cardio is not really "necessary", depending on your goals, especially if you are already doing strength training. It is true that the research generally favors a mixed approach (both cardio and strength training), as the best one for overall health outcomes. But as far as choosing one or the other, there's no evidence that cardio is any better than strength training. In fact, on average, most of the newer research tends to favor strength training of the two if you are only choosing one or the other.

    The whole "cardio is king" belief is a little outdated now. It sold a whole generation on treadmills and ellipicals, but it's not exactly the case. One could make the case for strength training being king.

    Ultimately they each have their own benefits from an athletics perspective. Strength training will develop your muscles and help you lift heavy things. Cardio will increase your endurance and allow you to walk and run farther and faster. (I'm generalizing on both of these things to illustrate the point). If you want to accomplish all of those things, then a mixed approach is best. However if you don't really care about the endurance aspect of things, then I don't think you "need" to do cardio if you are already lifting.

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