How long do you WO?

EddieG77

I see a lot of people posting that they WO for 60mins, 120mins, etc....from what I read, WO that long really has no effect on you. Short HIIT type of WOs are the best to do and with longer WOs, you tend to burn out quicker.

Just wanted some opinions!!

Thanks
Ed

persephone87

I have a programme by my gym and my work out's only last about 36 minutes but they are high intensity and they keep changing like I will do walking at 5km/hr for 2 mins then it goes up to 6.8 for 2 mins same with the cross trainer and the bike. I think you get a better work out that way than spending an hour on say the cross trainer at a lower level.

scarletleavy

When I lift it's usually 35-40 minutes, but all my other workouts are 15 minutes or less. I'm a big believer in Tabata, HIIT, in general. I'd rather die than run on a treadmill for hours.

Although I do rock climb for longer periods of time, but that's more of a sport/hobby for me and less of a workout.

tanyacc

I do 15 minutes on my treadmill and 15 minutes on my punching bag (30-30-30). I was wondering if I needed to work out more, because I noticed a lot of people, as youve said, who do so much more.

daffodilsoup

I lift for about 30 minutes, then do 30-50 minutes of cardio. The results work for me, but I have yet to try HIIT - maybe if I run into a plateau at some point I'll give that a shot to get myself out of a rut. But for now, I like the longer cardio - I listen to my podcast and I kind of enjoy it in a freakish way, haha.

ackeebee

i aim to workout at least 4 days a week for anywhere between 30 and 60 mins per session. most days it is abt 40 - 50 minutes

Aprillsmith

I am one of "those people" you speak of lol I work out two hours a day, 6 days a week. I do either a 60 min zumba class or 60 min on the elliptical and a 60 min body pump class (light weight lifting). I think how much you workout all depends on the person. Me, at 5'6 and 235 lbs, I dont think its a lot at all. Though I am going to switch it up from body pump everyday to alternating days with a yoga class (just learned I should give my muscles a 24 hr break), but other than that its 2 hours for me.

justle

i like to do 30 mins on treadmill i just find it such a stress reliever but i also do hiit too

GymBunny86

I am a high intensity short duration person. I LOVE HIIT!

One of the reasons I keep cardio short is that it can start to use up your muscle for energy if you go for too long.

Nice short bursts of high intensity exercise alongside a strength training programme = perfect :-)

Lyadeia

Weight training 3 days a week...45-60 minute sessions each.
Cardio 6 days a week...45 minute sessions each.

I prefer moderate to intense cardio with intervals to HIIT, but I don't discredit it either.

sjtreely

I work out as long as it takes me to do that day's run. I'm currently doing a half marathon training program. If it's a 3 mile run, then it's about 30 minutes. If the plan calls for 5 miles, then I plan on 50-55 minutes. 8 miles this past Saturday took me 91 minutes. Cross train days I go around an hour and don't measure distance.

I try and exercise at least 6 days a week, but sometimes I get l-a-z-y or life gets in the way - whatever you want to call it.

blondishandbookish

I see a lot of people posting that they WO for 60mins, 120mins, etc....from what I read, WO that long really has no effect on you. Short HIIT type of WOs are the best to do and with longer WOs, you tend to burn out quicker.

Just wanted some opinions!!

Thanks
Ed

Surely it depends upon the goal of the exercise - when I trained and completed a hilly half marathon, there was no getting out of the fact I had to prepare to run for a long time and up hills. I wanted to do a half simply because I'd started running and it was the goal of running further than I'd ever thought of walking that did it.
Now I do a variety of exercise and different time lengths and plan to start running again (same half and want to go faster) but my reasons for choosing different types of exercises vary.

asyouseefit

40-60 minutes (cardio or strength, including warm-up and stretching)

BeautyAndStrength50

Thats true what you said. I workout 4-5 days a week 30 -45 min each. You dont need to do extended time to get results just as long as you mix cardio with strength training. I have done it for over a yr with Jillian Michaels and Shawn T and my results are AMAZING. I love only knowing I have that less of time to get results. Hope this helped

Radcliffe83

not sure, do long session of cardio and sometimes short bursts or weight training. Keep moving everyone!

EricMurano

I used to do HIIT every cardio day. It was fun and all that.

This year I went from not being able to run for longer than a minute to running for 35 minutes non stop.

The thing I've noticed is that while my cardiovascular fitness has improved it hasn't improved as much as it did when I was doing HIIT.

That's not proof, though, because it's just one guy with an anecdote.

I wonder if there are any studies into this.

jsteffen80

Typically, I'm in the gym 45 minutes to an hour.

On strength days I aim to lift for 40 minutes keeping my rest time to a minimum. Then I finish off my trip with 10 minutes of intervals on the stairmill (I'm ready to fall off the thing when I'm done with this one). I think that I could probably lift a bit longer, but I don't really want to be in that gym any longer than I have to. I can get everything done in 40 minutes.

On cardio days I will do 30 minutes of intervals on one machine (stairmill) and 15 minutes of intervals on a second machine (bike). Add in a few laps around the track afterward to cool down, or my legs are in a state where it's hard to walk down the stairs.

I don't feel there is a decent reason to be in the gym for more than an hour a day. That's not to say there's no place for longer sessions... Sometimes I plan to eat a large portion of particularly bad stuff, so I try to burn off some extra calories. Or I hang out in my basement and bounce between the spinner and speed bag for a few hours watching football so I don't have the desire to sit on the couch eating chips and drinking beer. I also advocate running for extended periods of time.

marleydawgg

People who WO for more than 90 minutes per day are addicts. They're not "seeing" benefits but rather "feeling" them. Much like a drug abuser, without that burn or rush, they'll go into withdrawl. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but like any addiction, it can lead to over training. I don't care how perfect your form is or what kind of cardiovascular health you're in, parts of your body don't last forever. Anything over 90 minutes per day is, in my opinion, excessive and does no good. Cheers!

dad106

Between 30-60 minutes.. any longer and I want to shoot myself.

I just said it in another post, but I have a life. and I'd like to live it outside of the gym

Stacyanne324

I do the Leslie Sansone walking DVD's. My favorites are the fast miles where it's about a 12 minute mile and end in two minutes of jogging. I do two sessions a day five days a week, and one session a day the other two days of the week. My morning workout is generally 30 to 45 minutes and my afternoon 45 to a hour.

BobbyClerici

I workout 2 hours each day with a cardio rest day every 10 days or so and resistance rest day weekly.

My exercises are cardio for 90 minutes for fat burning with high intensity interval training for 30 minutes and 60 minutes low intensity.

I tried that short high intense stuff - don't like it, because it leaves me restless all day.

When I do cardio, I do it while thinking of business related things dealing with my work as a broker.
Also, I do 30 minuted of light resistance 6 days a week with one day of rest per week - breaking up upper and lower body.

Based on my goals and result expectations, this works better than anything.

I've lost 64 lbs, 16% body fat - went from 46" waist down to 36", heading to 32" by May of 2012.
Additionally, I am very active during the day - playing tennis, working in the yard, walking around the neighborhood while I talk business on my headset cell phone.

I need all that exercise.
I eat over 3000 calories daily - good stuff except on "free day" like yesterday.
And I am losing a little over 1 lb each week.

It works, and I wouldn't trade this for anything on the planet. People can argue exercise and diet philosophy, but I know what works, and results speak volumes. I judge a man's result before his workout philosophy.

What fruit has it produced?

That's where we start; nothing else matters except results.

taramaureen

I think it depends on your goals. Sure if you want to just lose weight HIIT, tabata, and the like are fine. But if you have different fitness goals, such as running long distances, HIIT isn't going to cut it. I'm training for a half marathon, I alternate about 30 mins (with warm up/ cool down) of circuit training with long distance running. I'm currently on week 5 of my program and it calls for two 3.5 mile runs and one 5 mile run this week. I'm slow so the 3.5 mile runs take me about 45 mins, and the 5 mile one will take me about 60 mins. As the distances get longer I can see my "workouts" increasing to 90 mins or even 2 hours. Trust me, my workouts are very effective for MY goals.

ackeebee

I do the Leslie Sansone walking DVD's. My favorites are the fast miles where it's about a 12 minute mile and end in two minutes of jogging. I do two sessions a day five days a week, and one session a day the other two days of the week. My morning workout is generally 30 to 45 minutes and my afternoon 45 to a hour.

i also do the leslie sansone walks. did the 2 mile this morning (only 30 mins) :-)

i am always puzzled why people workout twice a day. for me it's easier to get if all over and done with at once. also, unless i didn't work. i could not see how i would be able to fit this in my schedule nor can i see what i would gain from it.

BobbyClerici

People who WO for more than 90 minutes per day are addicts. They're not "seeing" benefits but rather "feeling" them. Much like a drug abuser, without that burn or rush, they'll go into withdrawl. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but like any addiction, it can lead to over training. I don't care how perfect your form is or what kind of cardiovascular health you're in, parts of your body don't last forever. Anything over 90 minutes per day is, in my opinion, excessive and does no good. Cheers!

Not true.

I was in the USMC, and also a Fighter many moons ago.

I know what peak fitness is for an athlete, and you don't get it with these short workouts.
My goals are not to simple be in shape but reach that level again with allowances for my body pushing age 50.

I want to do 100 pull-ups again - currently, I am doing 45.
I want to do 1000 sit-ups again - currently I am doing 200

And on and on. Jack Lalanne worked out 2 hours each day until he was 96 years old, but he also worked and ate smart.
Addiction? Who knows, but again, his results speak for itself. And he had critics too, and got the ultimate revenge: Jack outlived them - lol

How a man structures an exercise program is a function of his goals, and mine are high - very high, because I have known that level before. Nothing compares to that, and it won't just happen by accident.

That's reality.

Aprillsmith

People who WO for more than 90 minutes per day are addicts. They're not "seeing" benefits but rather "feeling" them. Much like a drug abuser, without that burn or rush, they'll go into withdrawl. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but like any addiction, it can lead to over training. I don't care how perfect your form is or what kind of cardiovascular health you're in, parts of your body don't last forever. Anything over 90 minutes per day is, in my opinion, excessive and does no good. Cheers!

I workout over 90 min a day and I'm both seeing AND feeling results. But thats what works for ME. To each his/her own. Everything didn't work for everyone but there is no need to speak negatively on something just because maybe thats not what works for you.

Joisgettingfit

At the moment i'm just using workout dvd's so it varies from anywhere between 25-60 minutes

sometimes on the shorter workouts i'll add an extra ten minutes of ab/leg work but that's about it.

Dgaines54

In additional to my regular "real" workouts, I will often watch a movie while taking a nice and easy 3mph walk on the treadmill. Sometimes I take a break in the middle, and sometimes I just walk straight through the entire movie. Are you saying is not beneficial for my weight loss? I should just sit on the couch and enjoy the movie and I'll see the same weight loss results?

stylistchik

My workout is stress reliever too. anywhere from 20-40 minutes depending on the day and sometimes I do ballroom dancing or power yoga too

Kamalka

I am on my third week on run (outdoor) and bike (indoor) for 120min/day average, 6/7 days . I feel ok as long as I have my daily carbs and proteins. I only want to lose fat (I have a year of chocolate, peanuts, beer...belly) and decided yesturday I would tempt a marathon in 2012...maybe a triathlon. I hate to run less than 45 min and I love the feeling after 2h...I am addicted even though it is not recommanded. If I try to follow a training plan, I quit after 2 or 3 days (if I jump a training, I quit...I tried maybe 15 times). I like to wake up; look at the weather and decide what I will do in the morning. This is opposite to every recommandations, but I love it and stick to it for now. The only major weight loss (from 112kg to 68kg) was that way. Maybe when I will have lost my fat, I will concentrate on competition and stick to a personal training plan.

Soon2BeMrsThomson

I exercise for 60 minutes 5 times a week - a session with my trainer 3 times a week which is a mix of weights and cardio and 2 sessions of swimming on rest days. It works for me but maybe not for everyone - I've lost 11lbs but most importantly 15 inches from my waist/hips!!

Dtrmnd86

I used to workout for 20-25 minutes, but within the past few weeks I upped it to 40-45. I never workout over an hour. Most of my workouts are cardio or HIIT and I add 2-3 days of strength training in.