How much cardio are you doing?

ripzone13

Curious to see how much cardio others are doing?? I understand rest days. I've scaled back quite a bit. I have a lot of weight to lose though. 50+lbs. I've recently started lifting again and love it, but am wondering how much cardio i should incorporate. Days a week? Intensity? Thanks in advance! New to this group, read the book, and am looking to take this seriously. Looking for new friends that are too! Please add me if you'd like

sleepyjen

When I'm healthy and all, I usually do some cardio on my off days from lifting, with one or two rest days a week. When we aren't living in the arctic tundra, I run outside, doing intervals (one walk minute, two run, usually at least 5k). The last few months--partly b/c of weather and partly b/c of a knee injury--I've been using the elliptical. I hate the elliptical, but it does the job.

Plenty of people do no cardio, but I was midway to losing about 20 pounds when I started lifting, and didn't want to lose those deficits. I also like to run. Once I hit my goal, my BMI drops below overweight to normal and per the NROLW calculations, I generally get to eat lots more--yaaaaaaaay--in order to build some muscle.

mnsmov15

Hi, Welcome!
Couple of us are in Stage 1 week 1 & 2 and you can find the discussion in "starting Stage 1"
I myself was a cardio girl until recently. Used to running 3X and HIIT/ST circuits 2X. slowly switched in last 2 weeks to 3X heavy lifting with NROLFW and 2X some sort of cardio. When I did some running on my rest days from lifting, I felt really tired and my performance the nexy lifting day suffered.
So this week I am planning to do some walking only on rest days instead.
Slowly, if and when I can, I would like to add running back, since I also would like to lose some weight.

Take it slow. See how you feel. Start with some walking/bike/elliptical on your rest day @ the beginning and see how you feel. This would depend on how much you are used to lifting and how easy/hard you find it the next day.

jo_marnes

I workout 5- 6 days a week. I lift 3 times and do cardio 2-3 times. I'd do more cardio if I were trying to lose weight, but probably by adding it in to my lifting workouts - i.e. warming up with a 20 min run etc

ripzone13

Hi, Welcome!
Couple of us are in Stage 1 week 1 & 2 and you can find the discussion in "starting Stage 1"
I myself was a cardio girl until recently. Used to running 3X and HIIT/ST circuits 2X. slowly switched in last 2 weeks to 3X heavy lifting with NROLFW and 2X some sort of cardio. When I did some running on my rest days from lifting, I felt really tired and my performance the nexy lifting day suffered.
So this week I am planning to do some walking only on rest days instead.
Slowly, if and when I can, I would like to add running back, since I also would like to lose some weight.

Take it slow. See how you feel. Start with some walking/bike/elliptical on your rest day @ the beginning and see how you feel. This would depend on how much you are used to lifting and how easy/hard you find it the next day.

Thanks! I'll check out the discussion. Would be nice to be involved with folks as they are starting out too. I also have been feeling super tired on my "rest" days...and not being able to crank out cadio like I was before. Makes sense. But I hear you about trying to incorporate it back in some day soon...I'll just have to feel it out I guess

ripzone13

I workout 5- 6 days a week. I lift 3 times and do cardio 2-3 times. I'd do more cardio if I were trying to lose weight, but probably by adding it in to my lifting workouts - i.e. warming up with a 20 min run etc

Thanks for the advice. I appreciate it!

BarbellCowgirl

I started with 40+ lbs to lose. I started with no cardio. It's the last thing to worry about when you're trying to lose weight unless you need it to create a deficit. If you have a desk job and don't move around much other than lifting, you may find it helpful to do some cardio so that you can eat a little more to lose. I was pretty active with kids and other things and found that I could lose easily without cardio. It can actually be counter productive when you're beginning a lifting program(increases hunger, hinders recovery, adds more "stress" to your body). Also consider what you want to do for the rest of your life. From here on, you have to increase the intensity of your workouts to acheive the same results. So if you begin doing several sessions of cardio now, you will have to continue to make them more intense to maintain or continue to see progress. So my two cents is to start out light and see what works to meet your goals.
Now I do one hour of cardio a week- Zumba, because its fun.