how much cardio is too much

weightloss12345678

How much cardiovascular trainging is too much ie. Treadmill, elliptical, jogging ...etc Like when is the optimum point of cardiovascular vs benefits? Some articles say on 30 mins a day others say different.....opinions?

BeautyFromPain

bump

deathstarclock

I'd say you hit too much when you collapse.

Huffdogg

I'd say you've done too much when you are consistently working yourself dramatically under your daily calorie goal. The idea should be for you to kill the cardio as much as you want, but re-eat the majority of the calories burned. Then you are basically just throwing fuel on a raging fire, making it burn hotter rather than starving it and letting it die out. So...I guess my answer is...when you run out of food to make up the calories.

LorinaLynn

Depends on what your goals are. If you want to be able to run a 10k, or a half or full marathon, you're going to need to do more than a half hour. If your goal is to burn enough calories that you can eat half a pizza, you might need to do more than a half hour, too.

Personally, I aim for about 45 minutes to an hour most days. I like the amount of food that allows me to eat.

Scoobies87

I would really like to know this too. There are times when I get carried away and do 2 hours of cardio (I love hitting the 1,000 calorie mark) but then I am sore for days. Other times I do around 40minutes and don't ache so much.

prettyfitchick

your body gets use to change I started by doing 30 min of cardio and it seemed like forvever at first then my body I started get use to it before I knew I needed an hour of cardio to feel like I even workout I think 30 min a day is just a minum

MusicKeepsMeSane

bump

I tend to do about 45 - 60 minutes of cardio at a time but I'd like to know if I should be doing more or less.

Edit: but just do with whatever doesn't tire you out too much. When I started 45mins felt like it just dragged on but now I can do that easily. I think the longer you're doing cardio the longer you can feel you can go each time. Just don't over exert yourself.

reepobob

I think what has to be considered here are a few things...

1. Intensity...you can burn more calories in shorter time periods depending on the intensity of the workout (think calories burned per minute)

2. Target heart rates...you should figure out what your target heart rate is for your height, weight, age, sex, etc. and try to reach the upper side of your target heart rate regardless of how long you work out.

3. Don't do so much cardio that you run the risk of burning up excessive muscle tissue...mix in strength training, drink a recovery drink...and take rest days.

4. If you have trouble eating back your exercise calories every day, you are probably overtraining.

sjtreely

I think there are too many unknowns to answer the question. The answer is different for different people for a variety of reasons.

First, it depends on your current fitness level. Going out like a bull when your body isn't ready for it will most likely cause injury, thus setting you back even further.

If you make the decision to go full speed ahead and it's a drastic change to your lifestyle, you could easily get burned out within a few weeks.

If you go into adding cardio with realistic expectations, proper nutrition, with gradual increases, I don't think you'd have too much problem going for 1-3 hours a day. But, it's all about balance. It also depends on what your fitness goals are. If you're wishing to lose weight, then daily cardio (with a DOR every now and then - weekly??) would be the way to go. If you're wanting to train for a marathon, for example, you'd be better off doing less cardio on some days with extended cardio on other days to build endurance.

NuttyBrewnette

It does depend on your goals. I've read that 2 (or more) hours a day of cardio is counter productive. It's to much stress on the body and has something to do with hormones-cortisol, I think and it will backfire for losing weight.

If you're training for a marathon or triathalon or something, that's a different matter.

I personally am trying to learn to trust my body. I aim for 45 minutes a day 5-6 days a week, right now. sometimes I do more, sometimes I do less. I try to take at least one rest day a week. I also try to do a variety of activities-keeps my mind interested and my body guessing. It also moves the soreness around a tad.

Sorry I can't put my hands on the actual article/research that I've read at the moment, but this is my .02.

hoppinglark

According the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services guidelines on Physical Activity ,
you will see increasing benefits with increasing exercise up to 420 minutes per week
or approximately 60 minutes a day every day, after that there is no measurable benefit.

deathstarclock

According the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services guidelines on Physical Activity ,
you will see increasing benefits with increasing exercise up to 420 minutes per week
or approximately 60 minutes a day every day, after that there is no measurable benefit.

That's kind of vague, you have a reference link so I can look that up?

hoppinglark

That's kind of vague, you have a reference link so I can look that up?

http://www.health.gov/paguidelines/guidelines/default.aspx

for clarification I assume they mean fasting blood glucose, lipid panels and blood pressure, when they say benefits.

sjtreely

According the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services guidelines on Physical Activity ,
you will see increasing benefits with increasing exercise up to 420 minutes per week
or approximately 60 minutes a day every day, after that there is no measurable benefit.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services must not have ever watched The Biggest Loser.

I think it would depend a great deal on your level of fitness and how much overweight a person is.

And, yes, I posted earlier about going out like a bull and the risk of injury. Contestants on The Biggest Loser are closely monitored to help reduce injury (among other things) - albeit it doesn't always work as some have become injured.

hoppinglark

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services must not have ever watched The Biggest Loser.

Obviously more exercise will burn more calories.
But I think they are talking about Lab values, like fasting blood glucose / A1c, Lipid Panel, Blood Pressure, hematocrit, etc.

deathstarclock

It's like finding a needle in a haystack! I suppose I have much reading to do

weightloss12345678

All things considered this has been good advice so far. Thanks everyone

deathstarclock

To the OP, you can increase the quality of your health simply by being more active on a daily basis. Common examples include biking instead of driving, taking the stairs, and not sitting down as much.

How to weigh the benefits of adding an exercise routine against the amount of time to contribute depends on your goals and needs. What are you trying to achieve exactly?

The average amount of time clients spend with their trainers is 120 to 180 minutes, or two to three sessions a week. This amount of time contributes to overall increase in health and fitness. You can try to look at it that way...

sjtreely

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services must not have ever watched The Biggest Loser.

Obviously more exercise will burn more calories.
But I think they are talking about Lab values, like fasting blood glucose / A1c, Lipid Panel, Blood Pressure, hematocrit, etc.

Point well made. I'm one of the "lucky" ones I suppose. I can still be overweight and have everything - BP, cholesterol, etc, in the normal/good range. I haven't a clue about lab values. I just wanna burn calories.

Codefox

A lot of the nicer HRMs on the market can help guide your workout intensities. I personally love Polar but I've also had similarly good experience with Suunto when it comes to this. Suunto has a meter on the HRM that essentially tells you how hard your workout is. So if on Monday I want a tough workout, I might work until its a 4 or 5. The next day, to recover, I might only go to 2. Polar does something similar.

Something to think about at least. You'll have a hard time 'doing too much' though if you're on a machine of some sort for 30 - 60 minutes. You can do that every day

weightloss12345678

Thanks