Should I forget cardio?

Ok so everywhere people are telling me that I should forget about cardio and concentrate on the weights and strength training. Although this is news to my ears as I hate the treadmill I can't help but feel like I need to do some cardio to lose weight.

At the moment I am doing 3x Kettlebell classes, 2x Pilates 1x Yoga, Swimming and lifting 2x a week.

To speed up my results should I incorporate cardio 3/4x a week for say 30mins?

Advice please?

If you enjoy what you're doing and you're slowly getting benefits from it, then why change what you're doing on the basis of what random people on the internet tell you?

Everyone seems to think that what they're doing is the best thing to do and everyone else should do it too. Just keep active anyway you want (as long as you're enjoying it, right?) and don't eat a crap-ton of calories over maintenance and you'll get there. It'll take as long as it takes..... might as well have fun on the journey!

Do some squats, deadlifts, bench and overhead presses, chin ups, and power cleans at max capacity and tell me you feel like you need to go jog afterwards for heart health.

Swimming & kettlebell classes can be cardio. Cardio is anything that elevates your heart rate, basically.

Strength training is great for shaping your body so you can get the "look" or results that you want. Some people don't do cardio at all, since it's not necessary for weight loss or body recomposition. However, I like to do it for the health benefits. Too many people in my extended family have heart problems and other health issues and doing cardio a few times a week makes me feel better about lessening my chances of being another statistic.

"Some people don't do cardio at all, since it's not necessary for weight loss or body recomposition."
Where in the world did you get this information from??????

Why do you ask? It is definitely true.

I agree definitely true, some of the fittest people don't do any cardio. Allot of body builders don't. I don't do cardio (not saying I'm the fittest person), but I do do a cool down on the elliptical after my weight training but it wouldn't count as cardio since it's only 10-15 minutes.

Not sure what people consider "fit", but it's all pretty relative. Maybe a lot of body builders can lift a car, but maybe they can't hike for four hours. Maybe someone can run a marathon, but can't do a single pull-up. I think cardio is a good idea to be all around healthy. Aside from the argument of it helping you lose weight or not, it's cardio....it's about your heart health. You want....or should want your heart to be healthy. Especially when we're talking about being people overweight, they're hearts aren't in the best shape they can be. So yes, cardio is necessary.

I agree with "fit" being a relative term, I disagree with cardio being necessary. You can do a good weight training work out and get your heart pumping, cardio isn't for everyone and I don't think you are putting your heart at risk by not doing it.

"Aerobic exercise can indeed increase lung capacity and strengthen the heart muscle which is related to a decrease in cardiovascular disease[6] but it isn’t the only way to do it nor the most efficient. With regards to your heart and lungs it should be noted it is physically impossible to train your muscles without working your heart as well. The two are not disconnected, yet this basic fact of physiology is often overlooked in discussions regarding aerobic exercise requirements. Any improvement in muscle mass and strength brought on by anaerobic exercise of adequate intensity will correspond with an improvement in cardiovascular health parameters as well. The impact of a high intensity workout to your cardiovascular system should not be underestimated, and those who argue that it doesn’t stimulate your heart and lungs have simply never executed a compound resistance movement to a point of momentary muscular failure or beyond. Needless to say, a high intensity set of squats to even close to the threshold of muscular failure leaves even the most conditioned of athletes gasping for air. You can’t work muscles at high intensities without significantly elevating your heart rate."

http://www.naturallyintense.net/blog/exercise/rethinking-the-need-for-cardio/

At 500-1300 calories per day, the last thing I'd do is add more activity.

Not sure what people consider "fit", but it's all pretty relative. Maybe a lot of body builders can lift a car, but maybe they can't hike for four hours. Maybe someone can run a marathon, but can't do a single pull-up. I think cardio is a good idea to be all around healthy. Aside from the argument of it helping you lose weight or not, it's cardio....it's about your heart health. You want....or should want your heart to be healthy. Especially when we're talking about being people overweight, they're hearts aren't in the best shape they can be. So yes, cardio is necessary.

This is tired. The OP did NOT ask about tips for her heart. She asked about losing weight. If you want to promote things you believe to be true about heart health, start your own thread or respond to posts that ask about tips for heart health. You'll still be wrong there if you think her current routine isn't good for her heart, but at least you'll be relevant to the question asked.

Hey OP, you should be flossing, because flossing is good for hygiene. I know that wasn't your question, but some of us want to throw in helpful tips no matter how irrelevant they are to your progress, so I thought I'd offer my .02

Flossing removes excess food from between your teeth keeping it from getting digested which obviously makes it the best way to lose fat.

http://www.webmd.com/heart/news/20000919/is-flossing-good-for-your-heart

Not sure what people consider "fit", but it's all pretty relative. Maybe a lot of body builders can lift a car, but maybe they can't hike for four hours. Maybe someone can run a marathon, but can't do a single pull-up. I think cardio is a good idea to be all around healthy. Aside from the argument of it helping you lose weight or not, it's cardio....it's about your heart health. You want....or should want your heart to be healthy. Especially when we're talking about being people overweight, they're hearts aren't in the best shape they can be. So yes, cardio is necessary.

This is tired. The OP did NOT ask about tips for her heart. She asked about losing weight. If you want to promote things you believe to be true about heart health, start your own thread or respond to posts that ask about tips for heart health. You'll still be wrong there if you think her current routine isn't good for her heart, but at least you'll be relevant to the question asked.

Hey OP, you should be flossing, because flossing is good for hygiene. I know that wasn't your question, but some of us want to throw in helpful tips no matter how irrelevant they are to your progress, so I thought I'd offer my .02

Ok, I didn't know people were coming on here to be completely rude. OP asked for advice on losing weight. I don't know how you fight that "cardio" doesn't help you lose weight, when there are so many facts that prove otherwise. I never said her current routine wasn't good for her heart. Maybe you should go back and read my posts. I simply said that she IS doing cardio and her adding more can't hurt...only help. How is that "promoting" heart health? The post about heart health was in response to people saying you don't need cardio at all. So go be rude somewhere else. NOW, to be very plain language: OP, instead of sitting here listening to the "experts", go do some research on your own and find out if you feel you should up your cardio to help you lose weight. Get it from the real experts. And that's not me being rude or condescending to you.

I just re-read your post and came to the conclusion that DavPul was correct.

Correct about what?

I just re-read your post and came to the conclusion that DavPul was correct.

Correct about what?

Everything he said

Ok.

You say you use kettlebells, which weight do you use?
I like them more the more I read about it and the more I use them, they give me great workouts and when I increase the weight I use I also build muscle. In addition to getting my heart rate up. From what I've learned, the kettlebell is perfect for fat burning!

Not sure what people consider "fit", but it's all pretty relative. Maybe a lot of body builders can lift a car, but maybe they can't hike for four hours. Maybe someone can run a marathon, but can't do a single pull-up. I think cardio is a good idea to be all around healthy. Aside from the argument of it helping you lose weight or not, it's cardio....it's about your heart health. You want....or should want your heart to be healthy. Especially when we're talking about being people overweight, they're hearts aren't in the best shape they can be. So yes, cardio is necessary.

This is tired. The OP did NOT ask about tips for her heart. She asked about losing weight. If you want to promote things you believe to be true about heart health, start your own thread or respond to posts that ask about tips for heart health. You'll still be wrong there if you think her current routine isn't good for her heart, but at least you'll be relevant to the question asked.

Hey OP, you should be flossing, because flossing is good for hygiene. I know that wasn't your question, but some of us want to throw in helpful tips no matter how irrelevant they are to your progress, so I thought I'd offer my .02

Ok, I didn't know people were coming on here to be completely rude. OP asked for advice on losing weight. I don't know how you fight that "cardio" doesn't help you lose weight, when there are so many facts that prove otherwise. I never said her current routine wasn't good for her heart. Maybe you should go back and read my posts. I simply said that she IS doing cardio and her adding more can't hurt...only help. How is that "promoting" heart health? The post about heart health was in response to people saying you don't need cardio at all. So go be rude somewhere else. NOW, to be very plain language: OP, instead of sitting here listening to the "experts", go do some research on your own and find out if you feel you should up your cardio to help you lose weight. Get it from the real experts. And that's not me being rude or condescending to you.

I'm not trying to be rude. Please read the OP again. Is your serious advice that she needs to do MORE work? If I was training her I would recommend she cut back. Way back. I don't know how she is fitting all that in each week. You really believe adding 2-3 dreadmill sessions to her routine is optimal for either weight loss or heart health??

You're way off base here whether you choose to believe it or not.

Never!! For the first 20 min., cardio burns carbs. After that stored fat is burned. Not to mention the help with blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease....etc.

I'm not trying to be rude. Please read the OP again. Is your serious advice that she needs to do MORE work? If I was training her I would recommend she cut back. Way back. I don't know how she is fitting all that in each week. You really believe adding 2-3 dreadmill sessions to her routine is optimal for either weight loss or heart health??

You're way off base here whether you choose to believe it or not.

Where did I say she needs to do more? Did you read some other post and just thought it was me? I said she IS doing cardio. It won't hurt her to add in more....which she mentioned throwing in about 15 minutes of treadmill for example. Should she skip cardio all together? No, I don't believe so. Again, she IS already doing cardio. As for the question of whether cardio is NECESSARY for weight loss....I don't know. Does it aid in weight loss....I still think so. I think so, considering so many people I know have lost weight by upping their activity. You even mentioned yourself that walking helped you lose weight initially. Yes, walking is considered cardio by most people. Did I say cardio is the only thing that is good for your heart....strength training is not? No. Does it all help? Again, I believe so. Simple enough, she asked if cardio should be taken out of her routine (as someone had told her) or if cardio would help her weight loss go a bit quicker. To me, it can only help. No more arguments....that's not what my intention was. I'm not an internet troll, so if I'm so far off, I apologize and I hope the OP skips right past anything I said.

I don't think you're an internet troll. Just giving misinformed advice

By my count, the OP is doing 10 different fitness activities each week, and asking if she should up the count to 13 or 14. No. Just no. She's already got swimming in there 2x a week for pure cardio, and I'd bet dollars to donuts those 3 kettlebell classes are basically cardio as well (almost all studio classes are). So another 15-30 mins of treadmill/elliptical isn't going to be a benefit.

I agree with you about people needing to up their activity level for increased gains. That's often my recommendation. But after a certain limit we reach a point of diminishing returns. I'd rather she cut her 10 sessions per week back to 5 or 6 sessions and concentrate on her diet.

The only 'hard' workouts I do are weights and the kettlebells. The swimming, pilates and yoga are more of a hobby with benefits.

I don't think im working too hard but if someone could explain why they would think so I would appreciate that....

Unfortunately for you, your thread has been derailed into an idealogical dispute! You seem to have a pretty varied and balanced workout schedule. If it's working for you, kudos!