100% Cardio in the Gym?

rwhawkes

Hi all; I've recently joined the site and have set a goal of running 1/2 or full marathon at the end of July 2013. I've got a lot of weight to lose so I've decided that phase I of the my program will be to literally exercise my *kitten* off till Jan 1 and then in phase II I would start building up road distance.

I'm thinking that since my goal is all about running, that in order to get rid of my *kitten* and other extraneous fat, I'd concentrate on cardio at the gym and spend all my time on bike & elliptical machine basically building up leg strength and cardio endurance.

I realize that adding muscle raises one's BMR so would be interested in feedback. Honestly, I enjoy cardio enhanced by the ipod, and I find weights to be boring, confusing and painful I'd be lying if I said that wasn't at least part of the motivation to 100% cardio.

What d'ya think?

Plates559

Stronger body -> stronger runner

Since your goal is to run you should be running/cardio focused, but you should still build some muscle.... Unless you like that exotic Kenyan/Auschwitz look.

shabaity

building the muscles can help greatly talk to a trainer if it confuses you

whydidjuly

I used to do 100% cardio which helped me lose weight quickly, but long term was harder to maintain. The truth is muscle burns fat. I started to do kickboxing, which included plyometrics. Eventually I added weighted gloves and this took away from the bordom of traditional weight lifting.

I have stepped on a treadmill or gone jogging less than 5 times in the last two years, but lost nearly 50lbs and when I did try running... surprisingly had much more endurance then I ever had when I practiced cardio alone.