Exercise Advice Cardio

ChrisUK70

HI,

I have been logging for 31 days now and have been going to the gym on average about 3 times a week. Recently I have been going 5 times a week.

My work is normally 20 minutes of cardio on the cross trainer and then I work two muscle groups.

Recently I have done something to my shoulder muscle so this week I have been doing 40 minutes of cardio.

The question is how hard should the cardio be, I am exercising so I am sweating enough but I am not out of breath?

Thanks

Chris

Cherimoose

There is no one right answer. It depends on a person's goals, abilities, and preferences. You burn more calories per hour at higher heart rates, but for some people, it may be too exhausting to do on a regular basis. Find an exertion level that works for you.

By the way, consider switching to a full-body workout done every 2-3 days. It tends to be easier on joints than body part splits. A good program for your age range is New Rules of Lifting for Life.

All4Me2014xx

You could also try intervals. Go hard for a couple/few minutes, then slow down and catch your breath. Repeat until your time is up.

criticaltodd

Intervals are good.

You might want to invest in an HRM. It'll give you a much better idea of the effort you're expending.

ChrisUK70

Thanks I have done intervals before on a bike it is a killer. :O)

I forgot about the age factor thanks I am going to get the book it sounds interesting.

oxers

I strongly, strongly, strongly recommend a HRM. It helped me so much - not only figuring out my burn, but figuring out what intensity I should be at and what it takes to get there.

Personally, I love hard cardio. I work my *kitten* off in zumba and sweat halfway to my naval because I love love love the feeling, during and after. But I hate lifting with a passion and have to basically trick myself into doing it. I think your intensity really depends on what's right for your body, you know?

MeanderingMammal

The question is how hard should the cardio be, I am exercising so I am sweating enough but I am not out of breath?

It really depends on your objectives, as different types of session give different results. Lots of zealots of high intensity intervals on here would advocate that because it's quick, but without an underlying aerobic capacity you're not exploiting it.

In general you'd base all of this on knowing your heart rate, and being able to plan around that. You're the same age as me, but these figures are just a guide.

Theoretically max heart rate is 176 beats per minute, that said the underlying theory is quite broad so that's a very rough approximation.

Your long steady session is generally around the 60-70% of max heart rate, for a long period. That builds stamina and capacity. For me that's 90-120 minutes at around 150bpm. Clearly I couldn't do that in a gym without going crazy, so that's running or cycling for me.

Your tempo session is shorter duration at just below your lactate threshold of around 80%MHR. These sessions help your exercise efficiency, so increasing tolerance for coping with the waste products from energy conversion, and improving the energy conversion. A tempo session for me would be 60 minutes at around 165-170bpm

Interval sessions (HIIT) tend to be shorter sessions of highest intensity (90-95%MHR) periods alternating with lower intensity (50-60%). These help improve oxygen uptake, if the sessions are sustained for a decent time. As HIIT sessions are very intense they're generally fairly short, 20 minutes, and only once or twice per week. I'll warm up for fifteen minutes, then do 20 minutes of alternating 195bpm with 150bpm, followed by another 15 minutes cool down.

You'll see from those figures that my max heart rate is significantly higher than my theoretical maximum.

I'll do one long run, and one long cycle per week, two tempo runs and one tempo ride per week and one interval run per week. The three types of session are complementary, the long steady builds the capacity, the tempo and interval sessions really build on that capacity and allow it to be exploited more effectively. One without the other two doesn't give the same gross benefit.

sheedy17

I do intervals, I run as hard as i can until I cannot run anymore, take a break with a walk and repeat, I usually do about an hour