30 Minutes of Cardio

iowahawkette

Someone told me that doing any more then 30 minutes of cardio won't really do you any good. Is this true or not?

jessready

bump...would like to see answers

Queen_JessieA

I think that 30 mins is a great starting point!! And, it is much better than doing nothing

jessready

I think that 30 mins is a great starting point!! And, it is much better than doing nothing

Yes 30 is a great starting point...but my friend has been told anything more than 30 a day is pointless...so the question is how much should one do in a day if wanting to lose 2 pounds a week? I try for 60 6 times a week...

cmccorma

It's great for all sorts of things. And yes over 30 minutes is good too. For your heart, for endurance, for blood pressure, for blood sugar. And for burning calories. But add weights or body resistance stuff for the last 30 for even better benefits!

amykluver

This intreagued me. I do 10-20min of a workout every morning (well - I'm suppose to) - sometimes running sometimes 30 day shred. I have lost over 30# in about a year doing just that. So I googled this and found a trainer's blog (http://sheerbalance.com/brettsblog/4-indicators-you-do-too-much-cardio/) where she talks a little bit about this. The only other thing I founds was some amature bodybuilder posting that after 45 min your body starts to burn muscle tissue for energy (but that didn't seem to be the most reputible resource).

Here's a paste from the above referenced trainer blog (since the pasted URL didn't turn into a link):
Sometimes when I go to the gym, I have this urge to tell some of the most religious treadmill riders “Ma’am, Step away from the treadmill!” No matter how many articles and reports are written on the benefits of other than cardio, it never ceases to amaze me how many women (and men too…) relegate themselves to the endless monotony of the treadmill – or for that matter, any other piece of cardio equipment. Moreover, these individuals will do cardio for over an hour…sometimes hopping from one piece of cardio equipment to another…never even considering time in the weight room, in classes or outdoors.

Although there are definite benefits to doing aerobic exercise; strength, core and flexibility training all provide numerous health benefits that cardio can’t: They increase muscular and bone strength, increase lean body mass, safeguard against injury and boost metabolism while decreasing fat.

Is it possible you are overdoing the cardio? Here’s how to know:

1) Time: Unless you are training for a race, marathon or triathlon, there is no need to do more than 30 minutes of cardio (with your heart rate between 65% – 85% of your maximum heart rate) when you workout. Fitness Revamp: If you want to exercise for over 30 minutes, you are better off doing a 20 – 30 minute cardio session and another 20 – 30 minutes dedicated to strength training, stretching and/or core training.
2) You aren’t seeing results: If you are trying to lose weight, yet you aren’t seeing results, it may be because of too much cardio. Believe it or not the idea of ‘burning off fat’ does not stem from cardio…it stems from strength training. Fitness Revamp: Build in 20 – 30 minute strength training sessions 2 – 3 times a week.
3) Injuries: Too much wear and tear on your muscles and joints can end up in an injury…or even worse, multiple injuries. Incorporating flexibility and strength training helps to strengthen the joints which will prevent pain and damage to joints. Fitness Revamp: Take the time to stretch before and after your cardio sessions.
4) Boredom: Does it take a lot to motivate yourself to go to the gym? Doing the same type of exercise every day, of every week, of every year is…BORING! Working out should be fun and should make you feel good. Fitness Revamp: Mix it up. Take a class or two that interest you each week. Get into the weight room and do a few sets of bicep curls. Go hiking. Do things that motivate you and keep you interested. Being active is what is most important…not the time and mileage on a piece of equipment.
Do you think you are overdoing cardio? Have you found any of the above indicators true?

BonjourAmelia

I think the main reason people say this is because after this your body starts to deplete muscle mass.


Not saying that's true or not, but I have heard that.
I would imagine that it would depend on your diet. If you have sufficient carbs to burn, I would imagine the body could go longer than 30 mins on glycogen (carb energy) stores.

gmallan

Similar to the above poster I think it depends on what kind of results you are after. I'm all for intensity in exercise and using your time efficiently. I think that 30 minutes of intense interval training would be far better for improving fitness than 1 hour plodding away at the same speed. Obviously the exception is if you are training for an endurance event.

I agree with the post above that if you've got an hour to spend exercising, for overall fitness, you'd be better off doing 30 minutes of strength work folllowed by 30 minutes of intense cardio (in that order) or possibly even 40 strength 20 cardio. The key with the cardio is to ramp up the intensity

jessready

This intreagued me. I do 10-20min of a workout every morning (well - I'm suppose to) - sometimes running sometimes 30 day shred. I have lost over 30# in about a year doing just that. So I googled this and found a trainer's blog (http://sheerbalance.com/brettsblog/4-indicators-you-do-too-much-cardio/) where she talks a little bit about this. The only other thing I founds was some amature bodybuilder posting that after 45 min your body starts to burn muscle tissue for energy (but that didn't seem to be the most reputible resource).

Here's a paste from the above referenced trainer blog (since the pasted URL didn't turn into a link):
Sometimes when I go to the gym, I have this urge to tell some of the most religious treadmill riders “Ma’am, Step away from the treadmill!” No matter how many articles and reports are written on the benefits of other than cardio, it never ceases to amaze me how many women (and men too…) relegate themselves to the endless monotony of the treadmill – or for that matter, any other piece of cardio equipment. Moreover, these individuals will do cardio for over an hour…sometimes hopping from one piece of cardio equipment to another…never even considering time in the weight room, in classes or outdoors.

Although there are definite benefits to doing aerobic exercise; strength, core and flexibility training all provide numerous health benefits that cardio can’t: They increase muscular and bone strength, increase lean body mass, safeguard against injury and boost metabolism while decreasing fat.

Is it possible you are overdoing the cardio? Here’s how to know:

1) Time: Unless you are training for a race, marathon or triathlon, there is no need to do more than 30 minutes of cardio (with your heart rate between 65% – 85% of your maximum heart rate) when you workout. Fitness Revamp: If you want to exercise for over 30 minutes, you are better off doing a 20 – 30 minute cardio session and another 20 – 30 minutes dedicated to strength training, stretching and/or core training.
2) You aren’t seeing results: If you are trying to lose weight, yet you aren’t seeing results, it may be because of too much cardio. Believe it or not the idea of ‘burning off fat’ does not stem from cardio…it stems from strength training. Fitness Revamp: Build in 20 – 30 minute strength training sessions 2 – 3 times a week.
3) Injuries: Too much wear and tear on your muscles and joints can end up in an injury…or even worse, multiple injuries. Incorporating flexibility and strength training helps to strengthen the joints which will prevent pain and damage to joints. Fitness Revamp: Take the time to stretch before and after your cardio sessions.
4) Boredom: Does it take a lot to motivate yourself to go to the gym? Doing the same type of exercise every day, of every week, of every year is…BORING! Working out should be fun and should make you feel good. Fitness Revamp: Mix it up. Take a class or two that interest you each week. Get into the weight room and do a few sets of bicep curls. Go hiking. Do things that motivate you and keep you interested. Being active is what is most important…not the time and mileage on a piece of equipment.
Do you think you are overdoing cardio? Have you found any of the above indicators true?

very interesting read....

iowahawkette

Wow I had no idea! I LOVE cardio...but I do enjoy building the muscle, so I will start breaking it up a little better

DavPul

I'm not a fan of cardio and you'll be hard pressed to see me recommend more than 30 mins of cardio top anybody, but the information presented in this thread seems suspect to me

jessready

Good article


http://www.livestrong.com/article/378376-how-much-cardio-should-you-do-in-your-exercise/

Cardio for Weight Loss
You may need to put in up to 60 to 90 minutes of cardio per day if you're trying to lose weight. However, the exact figure is variable based on how many calories you eat, how much you weigh and what type of cardio you do. If you are a medium-sized adult, you'd need to walk more than 30 miles to burn the equivalent of about 1 lb. of fat, according to Medline Plus, or one mile per day for a month. To burn off 1 lb. in one week, you need to burn off an extra 500 calories per day without eating any more calories than normal.

To achieve a 500-calorie deficit through exercise alone, you can exercise for hours at a moderate intensity or pick up the pace. For example, if you weigh 200 lbs., 30 minutes of running at 8 mph would burn about 615 calories, whereas jogging at 5 mph would burn 364 calories and walking at a pace of about 2 mph would burn off about 114.


Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/378376-how-much-cardio-should-you-do-in-your-exercise/#ixzz2HLvOqvdv

Azdak

It's true. If you exercise for longer than 30 min:

1. Your muscles will shrink.

2. You will go into starvation mode.

3. Your hair will fall out.

4. If you are a woman, your uterus will fall out.

5. If you do cardio longer than 45 minutes, you will gain weight.

Don't believe me?



THIS person did 35 MINUTES of cardio:

Azdak

This intreagued me. I do 10-20min of a workout every morning (well - I'm suppose to) - sometimes running sometimes 30 day shred. I have lost over 30# in about a year doing just that. So I googled this and found a trainer's blog (http://sheerbalance.com/brettsblog/4-indicators-you-do-too-much-cardio/) where she talks a little bit about this. The only other thing I founds was some amature bodybuilder posting that after 45 min your body starts to burn muscle tissue for energy (but that didn't seem to be the most reputible resource).

Here's a paste from the above referenced trainer blog (since the pasted URL didn't turn into a link):
Sometimes when I go to the gym, I have this urge to tell some of the most religious treadmill riders “Ma’am, Step away from the treadmill!” No matter how many articles and reports are written on the benefits of other than cardio, it never ceases to amaze me how many women (and men too…) relegate themselves to the endless monotony of the treadmill – or for that matter, any other piece of cardio equipment. Moreover, these individuals will do cardio for over an hour…sometimes hopping from one piece of cardio equipment to another…never even considering time in the weight room, in classes or outdoors.

Although there are definite benefits to doing aerobic exercise; strength, core and flexibility training all provide numerous health benefits that cardio can’t: They increase muscular and bone strength, increase lean body mass, safeguard against injury and boost metabolism while decreasing fat.

Is it possible you are overdoing the cardio? Here’s how to know:

1) Time: Unless you are training for a race, marathon or triathlon, there is no need to do more than 30 minutes of cardio (with your heart rate between 65% – 85% of your maximum heart rate) when you workout. Fitness Revamp: If you want to exercise for over 30 minutes, you are better off doing a 20 – 30 minute cardio session and another 20 – 30 minutes dedicated to strength training, stretching and/or core training.
2) You aren’t seeing results: If you are trying to lose weight, yet you aren’t seeing results, it may be because of too much cardio. Believe it or not the idea of ‘burning off fat’ does not stem from cardio…it stems from strength training. Fitness Revamp: Build in 20 – 30 minute strength training sessions 2 – 3 times a week.
3) Injuries: Too much wear and tear on your muscles and joints can end up in an injury…or even worse, multiple injuries. Incorporating flexibility and strength training helps to strengthen the joints which will prevent pain and damage to joints. Fitness Revamp: Take the time to stretch before and after your cardio sessions.
4) Boredom: Does it take a lot to motivate yourself to go to the gym? Doing the same type of exercise every day, of every week, of every year is…BORING! Working out should be fun and should make you feel good. Fitness Revamp: Mix it up. Take a class or two that interest you each week. Get into the weight room and do a few sets of bicep curls. Go hiking. Do things that motivate you and keep you interested. Being active is what is most important…not the time and mileage on a piece of equipment.
Do you think you are overdoing cardio? Have you found any of the above indicators true?

There are a bunch of people out there who, for personal, ideological, or self-marketing reasons, have decided they are "anti cardio" and twist themselves into logical pretzels trying to justify and rationalize their ideology.

As soon as I hear someone use the word "boring" cardio, I know I am dealing with someone who is both "thintelligent" and pushing a personal agenda.

jessready

It's true. If you exercise for longer than 30 min:

1. Your muscles will shrink.

2. You will go into starvation mode.

3. Your hair will fall out.

4. If you are a woman, your uterus will fall out.

5. If you do cardio longer than 45 minutes, you will gain weight.

Don't believe me?



THIS person did 35 MINUTES of cardio:

LOL hahahahah

nack_23

I would say 30 minutes is all you need

scottb81

A lot of runners would say that anything less than 30 minutes is a waste of time.

The truth is that any amount of time is good but if your goal is to build aerobic capacity then longer periods (2+ hours) at lower intensity (around 75% max heart rate) are necessary to obtain the full range of adaptations.

If your goal is something else then it doesn't matter how long you go.

kdiamond

It realy depends on your goals. For me, someone who has maintained for over 8 years and is happy where I am, yes, more than 30 minutes a few times a week is overkill and unnecessary. However, if I was trying to lose weight, I'd probably start with 30-45 minutes a day.

geekyjock76

It's because in several studies, groups who did more aerobic activity did not really lose any more weight, or fat mass, than the the lesser duration group. Here is an example of such a study:

Body fat loss and compensatory mechanisms in response to different doses of aerobic exercise—a randomized controlled trial in overweight sedentary males

Mads Rosenkilde, Pernille Auerbach, Michala Holm Reichkendler, Thorkil Ploug, Bente Merete Stallknecht, and Anders Sjödin

1Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark; and
2Department of Human Nutrition, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

Submitted 2 April 2012. Accepted 30 July 2012.

Abstract

The amount of weight loss induced by exercise is often disappointing. A diet-induced negative energy balance triggers compensatory mechanisms, e.g., lower metabolic rate and increased appetite. However, knowledge about potential compensatory mechanisms triggered by increased aerobic exercise is limited. A randomized controlled trial was performed in healthy, sedentary, moderately overweight young men to examine the effects of increasing doses of aerobic exercise on body composition, accumulated energy balance, and the degree of compensation. Eighteen participants were randomized to a continuous sedentary control group, 21 to a moderate-exercise (MOD; 300 kcal/day), and 22 to a high-exercise (HIGH; 600 kcal/day) group for 13 wk, corresponding to ∼30 and 60 min of daily aerobic exercise, respectively. Body weight (MOD: −3.6 kg, P < 0.001; HIGH: −2.7 kg, P = 0.01) and fat mass (MOD: −4.0 kg, P < 0.001 and HIGH: −3.8 kg, P < 0.001) decreased similarly in both exercise groups. Although the exercise-induced energy expenditure in HIGH was twice that of MOD, the resulting accumulated energy balance, calculated from changes in body composition, was not different (MOD: −39.6 Mcal, HIGH: −34.3 Mcal, not significant). Energy balance was 83% more negative than expected in MOD, while it was 20% less negative than expected in HIGH. No statistically significant changes were found in energy intake or nonexercise physical activity that could explain the different compensatory responses associated with 30 vs. 60 min of daily aerobic exercise. In conclusion, a similar body fat loss was obtained regardless of exercise dose. A moderate dose of exercise induced a markedly greater than expected negative energy balance, while a higher dose induced a small but quantifiable degree of compensation.

http://ajpregu.physiology.org/content/303/6/R571.abstract

Queen_JessieA

I think that 30 mins is a great starting point!! And, it is much better than doing nothing

Yes 30 is a great starting point...but my friend has been told anything more than 30 a day is pointless...so the question is how much should one do in a day if wanting to lose 2 pounds a week? I try for 60 6 times a week...

I lost 35 pounds in 3 months not exercising at all. So I still think that 30 mins is a great START. But, I do believe you should add on from it. So there ya go. Jmo.

ejwme

I'm not a fan of cardio and you'll be hard pressed to see me recommend more than 30 mins of cardio top anybody, but the information presented in this thread seems suspect to me

This.

As a distance runner, being limited to 30 minutes of cardio would freak me out. 30 minutes of cardio is my warm up, THEN the work begins. I don't get the urge to stop for a few hours some times, and sometimes I run out of time before I run out of running I want to do.

If your goal is just weight loss, then sure, maybe the first 30 is where you get most of your returns. But the next 30, depending on HR level, is where you do the hard work of building capilaries and aerobic capacity (endurance). And the next 30 some REALLY neat things start to happen, depending on heart rate and caloric intake...

If you want to lose weight, eat properly and build muscle with some good strength and HIIT. But don't ever accuse cardio of being a waste of time.