Better Exercise Routine

Skinny_Mocha

Hi everyone. I did search in the previous topics, but couldn't find the information for which I was looking. So, I apologize if this has already been covered!

Does anyone know whether 'tis better to do cardio:

40 minutes, 3 times a week?
30 minutes, 4 times a week?
25 minutes, 5 times a week? *pretty sure this routine wouldn't work, but I wanted to throw it in as an option in case I'm way off

I would think the longer you exercise in one session, the more productive the workout is. However, what if 3 times a week isn't enough?

Thanks!

Mamakatspokane

I can't wait to see your answers so I'll bump this for you.
Great question!:flowerforyou:

yankeefamily05

I am curious also

VballLeash

In my opinion its better to go more often. If you can only go 25 minutes than you should do intervals, these are very beneficial especially when you don't have a lot of time. If you can't go 5 times a week though thats ok, whatever you can get in is better than nothing, good luck!

~Leash

chrissyh

For heart health benefits - you need to keep your heart rate up for 20 minutes....so if your workout is total time including a warm up and cool down - keep that in mind.

I would suggest adding some strength in there and not just cardio - cardio is great but muscles burn for you even when you're at rest

July

From what I read, it's mostly about two things:

1. How often you get your heart up to the 85%. (See really good NPR story on intervals: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112069354)

2. If you're keeping the same heart rate and speed, then it's about distance overall

For me personally, I feel better when I get a work out a day, rather than lengthening my workout, and I feel more efficient when I try to do as fast or as much as possible in a short time.

Skinny_Mocha

Thanks to all for your input!

Based on what folks are saying, I'm thinking somewhere in the middle is probably best. Please feel free to argue with me if I'm getting this all wrong. :sad:

See, I thought about what would happen if one were to do 60 minutes twice a week... and I'm pretty sure most people wouldn't get much benefit, because it would be so infrequent the body wouldn't actually adjust. So, there'd be no development and the person would probably become exhausted before that hour is up.

On the other side of that, if you only do 25 minutes a day, would your body have anything to accommodate? It doesn't seem like enough exertion to make any difference in your muscle build or stamina. Maybe that would be more of a maintenance routine?

I think I'm going to ask the people who work at my gym and report back!

SHBoss1673

While it's more about total time spent exercising, if you're doing 3 days a week you're probably taking more time off than you need in between (that's an individual thing though, for some 3 times a week is as much as they can do). Other than that, it's about total time exercised.

One thing to keep in mind though, as to time you exercise, there is a point of diminishing returns with time you exercise, once you hit that point (in an individual session) you're going to see the return on your exercise go down sharply. This is especially true for weight training, but can also be true for cardio activity as well. So if you're doing long routines, make sure you either keep your heart rate low enough to not hit that spike too fast, or do the work in intervals so that you give your body the needed recovery time between very intense periods. With this in mind you probably want to lower your time per day, and raise your time per week as it gives your body more time to recover for cardio. For weight training, 2 to 3 days between working a muscle group is usually recommended.

Skinny_Mocha

Thank you for the additional info, SHBoss1673!

I talked to three folks who work at my gym, and got a bit of a mixed opinion (and some information that wasn't really an answer to my question), but somewhat helpful:

Personal Trainer Guy said: 25 minutes isn't enough time per session for cardio, you need at least 30 minutes, and to go as many times a week as possible

Girl Who Has Clearly Never Been Overweight said: you should add weight-lifting to the cardio, and really expect to spend about an hour working out

Customer Service Oriented Friendly Guy said: weight-lifitng creates toning and helps burn fat when you are not working out (in agreement with Girl Who Has Clearly Never Been Overweight)

Honestly, I was irritated that they shifted the conversation to weight-training, because that had nothing to do with my cardio minutes question. I was also aggravated at the thought that my elliptical 3 to 5 times a week, 30-45 minutes a session was dissed, because I didn't want to add weight-lifting.

Does this mean I NEED to hop around on those hideous contraptions with a bunch of other people rightnexttome in order to lose weight? Because that's mean. I don't like being near other people at the gym. I sweat more than even the men.

SHBoss1673

Thank you for the additional info, SHBoss1673!

I talked to three folks who work at my gym, and got a bit of a mixed opinion (and some information that wasn't really an answer to my question), but somewhat helpful:

Personal Trainer Guy said: 25 minutes isn't enough time per session for cardio, you need at least 30 minutes, and to go as many times a week as possible

Girl Who Has Clearly Never Been Overweight said: you should add weight-lifting to the cardio, and really expect to spend about an hour working out

Customer Service Oriented Friendly Guy said: weight-lifitng creates toning and helps burn fat when you are not working out (in agreement with Girl Who Has Clearly Never Been Overweight)

Honestly, I was irritated that they shifted the conversation to weight-training, because that had nothing to do with my cardio minutes question. I was also aggravated at the thought that my elliptical 3 to 5 times a week, 30-45 minutes a session was dissed, because I didn't want to add weight-lifting.

Does this mean I NEED to hop around on those hideous contraptions with a bunch of other people rightnexttome in order to lose weight? Because that's mean. I don't like being near other people at the gym. I sweat more than even the men.

You'll get a lot of different opinions from a lot of people, the great thing about exercise is that there's no one right way to do it. You can do all kinds of different exercise and still see results. While I do agree with the general premise of weight training, I also understand that this isn't what you needed to know about.

I tend to think that, how much cardio you do is a much more detailed answer than just "30 minutes isn't long enough". That's kind of a cop out in my opinion. I do 30 minutes 5 days a week, and I'm in great shape, my VO2 Max is at 52 (elite athlete level), and I haven't done more than an hour of cardio in over 2 years, my body fat % is at around 10% right now, which is pretty darn good! I dare say I could hang with the best fitness trainers in the country with cardio. NOW, that being said, different strokes for different folks, I prefer my cardio to be HARDCORE in the extreme. I.E. periods of 90 plus % Max Heart Rate surrounded by periods of lower intensity for recovery. Others may prefer a constant, lower Heart Rate for a longer sustained period, and others may want shorter periods of exercise multiple times a day, all have advantages, and all have drawbacks, it's up to you what type to follow.

I will say this, the ACSM (American Council on Sports Medicine) recommends this for healthy adults under 65:

Do moderately intense cardio 30 minutes a day, five days a week
Or
Do vigorously intense cardio 20 minutes a day, 3 days a week
And
Do eight to 10 strength-training exercises, eight to 12 repetitions of each exercise twice a week.