Cardio 30mins 2x or 60 mins 1x?

javarushed

Hey MFP!

Can someone answer this question about cardio for my wife. Cardio isn't exactly my strong point.

She asked: "Is it more efficient to do 30mins of cardio 2x/day or go for a full 60 mins 1x/day. Everything I'm reading says it really doesn't matter but one person on a forum said, go 60mins straight to hit the fat burning zone."

I answered: "If you do the same steady cardo program, I'd say it wouldn't matter much, but overall I'd say the 2x/day would get the upper hand because its jump starting your metabolism twice throughout the day. 2x a day would still get the upper hand if you ran intervals because you'd be able to put more max effort in a 30 min period then you could over a 1 hour period. I'll look into it though because when it comes to cardo, I don't know much except Intervals > Steady Cardo." I told her I'd ask on here, since cardio isn't really my thing lol.

Thanks

toddgipson

Cardio lasting 45 minutes or longer tends to burn the most calories becuase you start to burn stored energy after approxiamately 30-45 min. The split work out is still effective although the energy bar, protien shake, etc.. that is consummed prior to work out will sustain your energy needs for that short period.

Todd

jmmtaylor

Good question. I don't have an opinion on this, but cant wait to hear what others have to say.

poustotah

I recently read a report that said if you do intense cardio for more than 45 minutes at a time, it can actually cause damage to the heart. I've also heard this from other trainers in the past few years and from my anatomy classes and nursing classes, this makes a lot of sense for bodily processes to function optimally so I would lean towards the twice a day.

MissConfidence

i'd like to hear some solid answers myself, so tagging along. Personally, twice a day seems to make sense because of metabolism and just being more active throughout the day rather than one boosted time. But I'm no scientist.

javarushed

Thank you all for the advice and if anyone else has something to add, please educate me lol