cardio- thoughts?

nick1109

I have been with my trainer who is now my friend and she looks amazing. She teaches 60 min cardio kickboxing, 60 mins of strength training classes, and so on. We have become quite close over the past few months and she has told me u need a min of 30 cardio at least every other day. You are not supposed to train the same muscle group 2 days in a row. That is because u break down the muscle when you train and it takes at least 24 hrs for it to rebuild to a stronger leaner muscle. I have been overtraining, so I have actually spent less time working out and notice that my body is responding better when I do. Im starting to lose more inches! Thought that the more you did the better, but not always. You have to find your balance. When Im not taking her classes I try to do at least 5 miles on the bike everyday. I do it to keep stress levels down

Again it depends on what context. Why must you do minimum 30 mins cardio every other day? To simply lose weight a diet alone will suffice or even doing HIIT and weight training lasting less than 30 mins per session 3-4 days a week is fine effcetive with a strict diet (especially for somebody with a busy schedule).

On the flip side you could say 30 mins every other day is no where near enough, for marathon or long distance cycle athletes

heybales

How is HIIT not cardio? The term cardio in the exercise world is defined as an exercise that elevates the heart rate. If HIIT is done as its suppose to be it should be done at 'high intensity' which would normally see the heart rate well over 160bpm in most cases

In the context of the comment of the 3 types of exercises mentioned throughout the post, cardio, weight lifting, and intervals (HIIT). I understood she meant aerobic because HIIT was mentioned separately from that.

heybales

she has told me u need a min of 30 cardio at least every other day. You are not supposed to train the same muscle group 2 days in a row. That is because u break down the muscle when you train and it takes at least 24 hrs for it to rebuild to a stronger leaner muscle.

If this was true, the Tour de France riders would have no muscle to continue after probably the 3rd day.

Cardio, what in these posts seems to refer to something aerobic, can easily be done every day. Because it doesn't really build more muscle, because you don't really tear down like you are describing.

That is weight lifting that damages muscle, and then it grows back stronger. Unless you come back in again.

You can get stronger muscle from cardio, if you know how to push yourself really hard, that could use a break the next day, but not required. Otherwise you are just training your aerobic system better, and getting gains that way.

Now, you can overtrain for sure, especially if diet is too low and body isn't getting enough energy. Or you aren't sleeping enough, or not eating good foods. And the body does need a break, even from cardio, especially if not trained on doing slow days for recovery.