Trying to figure out how much cardio to do.

lexgem

And more specifically, what should I do? I am at 30.7% BF and I'd really like to lower that faster than what's been happening so far. I also wish the scale would move, which it really isn't doing even though I'm losing a bit on the tape measure.

I have gone from 34% BF to 30.7% in a month but I have not lost much if any weight (the scale fluctuates a lot, if I've lost anything it's less than 2 lbs). I have lost 0.7 inches around the waist and a full inch around the hips in the past month. I have a nearly 4 month old daughter.
I've been doing stronglifts 5x5 for about a month. I used to walk a lot but with the baby and the cold weather I haven't been doing much of that, and most of the "free" time I can get to the gym is spent on stronglifts. As the weather improves I will probably get out more for walks.

Running isn't an option (I tried it and it causes terrible joint pain in my hips & pelvis).
Swimming isn't an option yet (the local pool is closed for the winter)


I can probably find time to make it to zumba or spin class once or twice a week.
I have an elliptical bike at home but my DH uses it mostly. I'm open to suggestions for how to use it for effective HIIT. It's a pain to get out & put away.
I have a wii with 2 dancing games
I bought ripped in 30, 2 years ago. Still have it. Tempted to give it a go, but worried it will interfere with my lifting. i know it would give great fat burning results though.

I'm kinda torn as to what to do.

My schedule (so far I just do lifting but I wrote down the classes I could potentially attend). My schedule depends on when my husband can be at home to watch our baby. My gym opens early enough on Tuesdays and Thursdays that I can go, work out and be home before he has to leave for work, and I'm not really willing to sacrifice more than 1-2 evenings at home with him.

Monday evening: body balance possible
Tuesday early morning: lift
Tuesday evening: spinning possible
Wednesday evening: zumba is possible
Thursday early morning: lift
Friday evening: spinning possible
Saturday (anytime): lift (no fun cardio classes on Saturdays)

Of course, the elliptical, the wii, going for a walk on nice days and ripped in 30 can be done any day during naptime.

What do you ladies (and guys since there are a few in here I think) think?

auddii

The best cardio to do is cardio you think is fun and will stick with. I personally hate cardio, but I find I'm getting elated as I find I am increasing my endurance. So maybe I don't hate it as much as I did (good music and/or book to read really helps). Personally I'm usually lazy, so I just do one of the programs on the arc trainer (similar to an elliptical). Long ago I had a trainer and he beat it into my head that increasing resistance on a machine is far more important than speed, so if I do steady state, I try to increase the resistance a little each time. But usually I do the "weight loss" program which has periods of higher resistance and incline. I don't know if that actually counts as HIIT or not (a lot of people associate it with running and talk about going faster).

Personally, I only do the arc trainer two days a week for 45 minutes each. I also incorporated a daily walk to my car from work (it's about a mile). Weather's nice now, but I know I'm not going to want to do that in my work clothes when it 105 out. I use Heybales spreadsheet for calculating calories, and those exercises combine with stronglifts three days a week allow me to optimize weight loss and still eat above BMR (I didn't want to do any cardio, but since the spread sheet won't let you eat below BMR, I was actually limiting my weight loss). I just sat there for a while figuring out exactly how many minutes of exercise I needed...

Soosannah

I'm with Audi, find something YOU like. I love my stationary bike, me and treadmill, well it's a love hate kind of thing. If nothing else, just walk. Spring is coming and you get all that fresh spring air. I try for 2 days a week cardio, sometimes it's hit or miss, but with 3 days lifting, 2 days cardio that still gives me 2 complete rest, read lazy as h3ll, days.

ETA:cardio was getting me no where alone as far as losing anything.

Will_Thrust_For_Candy

I'm with the other ladies in finding something that you like and that you will stick to. A word of caution though, that as your lifts get heavier it becomes harder to do serious cardio and the lifting is by far a bigger, better priority than cardio.

If you are losing inches then you are totally on the right path. With lifting it's super common to not see the scale move at all. It's ultimately your BF% that you want to get lower, so I say keep doing what you're doing and if you don't like cardio, don't do it! Sounds like you have a few options that you can do at home that would work just fine.

Oh and I did try to do JM Ripped in 30 on my non lifting days. Bad. Idea. :laugh: If you have any of her workouts that don't utilize weights, then giver or do 30DS without the weights maybe.

RunDoozer

I'm with the other ladies in finding something that you like and that you will stick to. A word of caution though, that as your lifts get heavier it becomes harder to do serious cardio and the lifting is by far a bigger, better priority than cardio.

If you are losing inches then you are totally on the right path. With lifting it's super common to not see the scale move at all. It's ultimately your BF% that you want to get lower, so I say keep doing what you're doing and if you don't like cardio, don't do it! Sounds like you have a few options that you can do at home that would work just fine.

Oh and I did try to do JM Ripped in 30 on my non lifting days. Bad. Idea. :laugh: If you have any of her workouts that don't utilize weights, then giver or do 30DS without the weights maybe.

I agree with Vegas. Being in week 12 now it is really hard to do anything else on off days. I haven't really done anything intense since I hit month 2.

I used to do spin and it was way too much on my legs. I like spinning a lot but just couldn't do it. I personally think that anything you do should be low impact and not include weight.

Zumba would be a good choice. Or yoga class or dvds. The stretching from yoga may actually help. Been thinking about getting into this myself.

Swimming will also be really good once you can get in the pool.

tameko2

any cardio you care to add, and feel comfortable adding (as in it doesn't exhaust your legs too much to squat) should be fine, but really I wouldn't fret too much I think. You're only 4 months PP, you already dropped 1% of bodyfat per month (pretty good) and you're eating a deficit (right?) so the cardio shouldn't be a big deal. Do what you can for now, when the baby is older you can do more.

I personally just walk a lot, maybe spend a bit of time jogging or on an elliptical, but beyond that I don't do much. I don't even walk for exercise, per se, I just make a point of walking places if I can, like to get lunch or coffee.