How much cardio do you do at the gym?

abbiez
abbiez Posts: 229 Member
edited September 21 in Fitness and Exercise
Every time I go to the gym I do about 30 minutes on the elliptical and then a 5 minute cool down, and every other day I run a couch to 5k training thing (just started yesterday). When I dont run I do another half hour on a machine or 15 mins on the stair master and 15 on the bike.

I'm asking because I went to a "design your own program" class at planet fitness this morning and was told I should only be doing 20mins of cardio (30 at the most) when I work out. I just feel thats not enough! i know this lady is a professional and such but i personally feel I can handle more than 20 mins (i have been for a couple weeks)

Opinions? Thoughts?

Replies

  • Becky_Boop
    Becky_Boop Posts: 96
    Barely any!
    I usually walk to my gym (an hours walk away) as my warm-up then walk back home as my cool-down. I occasionally do 15-20 minutes on a treadmill or rowing-machine in the middle of my strength training, but only if I feel like I am cooling down too much, or if I'm there that long that I needed a break. x
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    Everyone is different, and it takes trial and error to see what works best for yourself, but you can easily make 30 minutes enough by some simple adjustments. This can be achieved by doing HIIT training (intervals), or simply by increasing speed or intensity (resistance) on the machines.
  • AMOMONAJOURNEYTOCHANGEHERLIFE
    AMOMONAJOURNEYTOCHANGEHERLIFE Posts: 170 Member
    My trainer told me I shouldn't do more then an hour of cardio in a workout. And if I'm working out for an hour that half should be weight and strength training. She said that too much cardio doesn't help you burn fat it makes your body burn muscle. She also said that strength and weight training makes you body burn more calories then cardio alone. So what I do is 6minutes cardio to warm up I keep increasing resistance. My target heart-rate is 170 then go to do weights either arms or legs. I do one set of 15 on every muscle group on either arms or legs. Then back to cardio to raise my heart-rate back up. Then back to weights and strength training. Then back to cardio. Depending on the workout I do 20-40minutes of cardio just depends on how long I stay at the gym for.
  • knittygirl52
    knittygirl52 Posts: 432 Member
    I try to do a half hour.

    I'm gonna guess that the trainer is trying to tell you that strength training is really super important. A lot of us do tons of cardio and no strength (I'm pretty guilty there) and strength training is supposed to be even better at blasting through the fat.
  • JennaM222
    JennaM222 Posts: 1,996 Member
    I always try to do an hour. I will do 30/30 on two diff machines to try to mix it up so I dont get bored.
  • ErinGiam
    ErinGiam Posts: 396 Member
    I try not to do any less than 45 minutes a day but time doesn't always allow for it. I think the lady at your class said 20 because she wants you to do strength training as well.
  • redbedhead
    redbedhead Posts: 53
    I always do an hour usually on the treadmill, unless my arthritis tells me otherwise. I am going to try to do the recumbant bike this week, because my arthritis Doc says that is better for me than the treadmill, just not sure the knees will agree to do it, thier range of motion is all jacked up after 6 joint surgeries (3 on each side). :smile:
  • abbiez
    abbiez Posts: 229 Member
    The program she gave me has strength training in it. I do a strength training circuit (same thing ive been doing)

    I just feel that 20mins isnt enough :( idk.
  • crlujan
    crlujan Posts: 59
    I usually do 30 minutes with a 5 minute cooldown like stated from another above. These are the days that I'm working arms/shoulders/back/chest. If I've overdone it with strength on the previous days and am sore, I'll just do 45 minutes on the elliptical with a 5 minute cooldown and skip the strength training.
  • heyzoos
    heyzoos Posts: 21
    As with most things in life, it is the quality not the quantity that is important. I keep my caridio sessions below 30 minutes at all times and instead of increasing the length I pack in variety and intensity. Tabata Intervals are another method (a more intense HIIT method) you could use to increase the challenge.

    http://www.rosstraining.com/articles/tabataintervals.html

    For me high intensity intervals with a variety of movements helps me lose the most weight and is more relevant to my chosen sport than any other form of aerobic exercise.
  • IsMollyReallyHungry
    IsMollyReallyHungry Posts: 15,385 Member
    My trainer told me I shouldn't do more then an hour of cardio in a workout. And if I'm working out for an hour that half should be weight and strength training. She said that too much cardio doesn't help you burn fat it makes your body burn muscle. She also said that strength and weight training makes you body burn more calories then cardio alone. So what I do is 6minutes cardio to warm up I keep increasing resistance. My target heart-rate is 170 then go to do weights either arms or legs. I do one set of 15 on every muscle group on either arms or legs. Then back to cardio to raise my heart-rate back up. Then back to weights and strength training. Then back to cardio. Depending on the workout I do 20-40minutes of cardio just depends on how long I stay at the gym for.

    That is awsome!! I am going to try this at least once a week, with less intervals. My trainer also recommends no more than 60 min cardio depending on time you have. She state also if you only have an hour at the gym to do no more than 20 to 30 min cardio and the rest should be strenght training because toning and building muscles will get your body running like a machine and the muscles built will burn calories.
  • IsMollyReallyHungry
    IsMollyReallyHungry Posts: 15,385 Member
    Every time I go to the gym I do about 30 minutes on the elliptical and then a 5 minute cool down, and every other day I run a couch to 5k training thing (just started yesterday). When I dont run I do another half hour on a machine or 15 mins on the stair master and 15 on the bike.

    I'm asking because I went to a "design your own program" class at planet fitness this morning and was told I should only be doing 20mins of cardio (30 at the most) when I work out. I just feel thats not enough! i know this lady is a professional and such but i personally feel I can handle more than 20 mins (i have been for a couple weeks)

    Opinions? Thoughts?

    The recommendations your trainer is giving is similar to ones my trainer gave me and from what I have heard and read. They sould like they know what they are doing. If you are doing 35 min it is not going to hurt anything. All recommendations are what you make them. You ultimately have to make your own program and what works for you. Good luck to you!
  • LotusF1ower
    LotusF1ower Posts: 1,259 Member
    Every time I go to the gym I do about 30 minutes on the elliptical and then a 5 minute cool down, and every other day I run a couch to 5k training thing (just started yesterday). When I dont run I do another half hour on a machine or 15 mins on the stair master and 15 on the bike.

    I'm asking because I went to a "design your own program" class at planet fitness this morning and was told I should only be doing 20mins of cardio (30 at the most) when I work out. I just feel thats not enough! i know this lady is a professional and such but i personally feel I can handle more than 20 mins (i have been for a couple weeks)

    Opinions? Thoughts?

    I do cardio three times per week for an hour at a time, I would do more times than this per week, but I prefer to do one day on, one off, one on, one off, one on, one off, one day long walk and back to the beginning. I do interval training on the treadmill.

    The only time I can ever see cardio being bad for anybody if they do it for over 20/30 minutes is those people who are very overweight or extremely unfit. Anybody that does cardio as a warm up before doing weights, I can see why it would not be advisable to do cardio for more than 30 minutes first - although some people do do that.

    The fitter we get the more we can do and if we don't push ourselves, we get no fitter. If I were to just stick to 20 minutes per session, I would be going backwards instead of progressing.

    Just want to stick this on the end of this posting:

    It is NOT bad for a healthy person to do more than 30 minutes cardio - if it were, all those athletes all over the world would all be in very bad shape with rough hearts, bad internal organs and dead on their feet. Ask some of the middle-distance track and field athletes, those training for 10k or half marathons or the marathon or ultra runners if they would be happy with training on cardio for 20 minutes only and see what nice cuss words they would come up with :wink:

    It isn't bad for you if you have trained up to it in a responsible manner, if you want to do more but feel you are being held back, perhaps it is time to get second opinions on training sessions.
  • andrewford
    andrewford Posts: 10
    I workout over my lunch break. This means I only have 60 minutes to get to the gym, workout, shower, and get back to work. I have been concentrating primarily on cardio. I normally set the timer for 30 minutes, but I don't stress too much about the amount of time I spend on the machine, as long as I break 300 calories on the counter. Days when I have a little more time and am pushing I like to break 500 and then I do cooldown regardless of what the time says.

    It is interesting to read this. I have underestimated the importance of the strength training as part of the weight loss process. I will have to figure out how to get some of that into my workouts.
  • elloradannon
    elloradannon Posts: 111
    I am kind of struggling with this as well. I HATE weights, but I was also told that strength training is SUPER important because the more muscle mass you have, the more calories you will burn during rest and cardio. Up to 3500 extra calories a week if you have the proper amount of muscle. My husband is the opposite- he said cardio at the gym is like a giant hampster wheel just moving but not going anywhere and it drives him crazy. Maybe they are just afraid that if you focus too much on cardio you'll just give up the strength training. I usually do the weights for 20-25 min and then 30 min of cardio (3X a week). On the days that I am not doing weights I do strictly cardio- zumba or running long distance for atleast an hour. I feel like this helps build up my endurance. Keep it up! You're doing a great job.
  • JensLogin
    JensLogin Posts: 74
    I think that your cardio workout can vary based on your overall goals. It does not necessarily need to be X amount of time every day. You can have a day where your focus is cardio, then you do strength training on another day. I strongly encourage strength training at least 2-3 times a week, in addition to the cardio. It helps to build lean muscle and ultimately increase your metabolism.

    The poster that mentioned Tabata - YES, YES, YES! I love Tabata and have noticed significant changes in my body since I've started to implement the intervals into my routine. The link provided gives some great information, along with many others out there on the web. You wouldn't think that 4 minute intervals would kick you butt, however, I'm hear to tell you, they do! I do a total of 5 different intervals and do have the GymBoss ( I love that thing). It really helps to keep you on task!

    Lot's of good advice here from other posters. I'm sure you will find the right balance for you. Just keep tweaking it until it feels right.

    Good luck!
  • disneyfetishboy
    disneyfetishboy Posts: 65 Member
    I think the use of your time needs to be based on your goals. When I was focused on losing weight, I was doing 45 mins to 1 hour of cardio. Now, like many others, I have added strength training to my routine and trimmed it down to about 25 minutes (except on the days that I play basketball or kickbox where I regularly go over 2 hours). However, since I made that switch, the rate of my weight loss has decreased significantly.

    I think it's easy for a lot of trainers to speak in absolutes (e.g. don't do more than 30 mins of cardio, keep your heart rate at 70% of your VO2MAX), but you need to temper that with what works for you and your goals so that you continue what you're doing for the rest of your life.
  • iplayoutside19
    iplayoutside19 Posts: 2,304 Member
    Every time I go to the gym I do about 30 minutes on the elliptical and then a 5 minute cool down, and every other day I run a couch to 5k training thing (just started yesterday). When I dont run I do another half hour on a machine or 15 mins on the stair master and 15 on the bike.

    I'm asking because I went to a "design your own program" class at planet fitness this morning and was told I should only be doing 20mins of cardio (30 at the most) when I work out. I just feel thats not enough! i know this lady is a professional and such but i personally feel I can handle more than 20 mins (i have been for a couple weeks)

    Opinions? Thoughts?

    I do cardio three times per week for an hour at a time, I would do more times than this per week, but I prefer to do one day on, one off, one on, one off, one on, one off, one day long walk and back to the beginning. I do interval training on the treadmill.

    The only time I can ever see cardio being bad for anybody if they do it for over 20/30 minutes is those people who are very overweight or extremely unfit. Anybody that does cardio as a warm up before doing weights, I can see why it would not be advisable to do cardio for more than 30 minutes first - although some people do do that.

    The fitter we get the more we can do and if we don't push ourselves, we get no fitter. If I were to just stick to 20 minutes per session, I would be going backwards instead of progressing.

    Just want to stick this on the end of this posting:

    It is NOT bad for a healthy person to do more than 30 minutes cardio - if it were, all those athletes all over the world would all be in very bad shape with rough hearts, bad internal organs and dead on their feet. Ask some of the middle-distance track and field athletes, those training for 10k or half marathons or the marathon or ultra runners if they would be happy with training on cardio for 20 minutes only and see what nice cuss words they would come up with :wink:

    It isn't bad for you if you have trained up to it in a responsible manner, if you want to do more but feel you are being held back, perhaps it is time to get second opinions on training sessions.

    I pretty much agree with this.

    I alternate my strength days and cardio days. Mostly out of conveince, and also because each session is intense enough that one would detract from the other if they were done on the same day.

    Cardio over a half is bad for you??? I say BS. Last winter when I was running over 50 minutes three times a week, I had never felt better, looked better, or been lighter in my adult life. I will get back to that point by Labor Day.
  • AMOMONAJOURNEYTOCHANGEHERLIFE
    AMOMONAJOURNEYTOCHANGEHERLIFE Posts: 170 Member
    No one said more then 30 minutes of Cardio is bad for you. It's just not the ideal way to burn fat from your body doing a lot of cardio in a workout. You burn a lot more cals when you combine cardio and strength training. Then just doing one or the other in a work out. And when you only have an hour to work out a few days a weeks. It's much more time effective to keep your heart-rate up and do strengthening and weights basically a long side..
  • jkohan
    jkohan Posts: 184 Member
    I disagree with more than 30 min cardio on a given day (with or without strength training) is ineffective at fat burning. I'd like for someone to prove that with facts.

    I go to the gym 4-5 times a week. Each time I do 60 min of cardio with intervals. I do 20 min on the summit trainer and 40 min on elliptical or 20 min treadmill intervals and 40 min elliptical or 20 min each on summit trainer, elliptical and treadmill.

    2 of those days, I ALSO do 30 minute strength training sessions with my trainer. She knows that I do 60 min of cardio on those days plus the other 2-3 days a week and never once told me that what I was doing was ineffective or a waste of time.
  • LotusF1ower
    LotusF1ower Posts: 1,259 Member
    I don't know where this has all suddenly come from. Suddenly doing cardio over half an hour is not an ideal way to burn fat??

    News to me. Cardio burns fat because it burns the calories and continues to burn them for hours and hours AFTER the workout has finished.

    I really cannot believe that this argument has appeared on these boards. Some fly-by-night trainers in some gyms have deemed it wise to tell some people that it is unwise to do more than 20-30 mins cardio in one session. Another even said it was unwise to run for more than QUARTER OF A MILE lest it damages the body!

    What a crock of *kitten* - sorry but this is beginning to get my goat.

    Look at marathon runners, look at ultra distant runners, study their training sessions and then look at their physiques and then tell me that it is not an ideal way to burn fat.

    Weight training is excellent, so is cardio. Cardio does burn the fat - big time - even an hours worth with no weights involved too!

    I have absolutely nothing against weight training in any form, I used to do a hell of a lot of it myself. Perhaps it depends on the body of the person concerned - if I do weights, I build up muscle rather quickly.

    Not everybody goes to a gym or has access to weights, in fact, not everybody even wants to touch weights. Saying that cardio is not effective on its own is daft, it is as effective as you can get, it will burn the fat, burn the calories, gets your heartbeat going and will tone the muscles.

    I am not going to argue what is better, weights or cardio because the vast majority of people on this site are doing some sort of exercise and are doing one or the other if not both. It is unfair and unwarranted to say either one beats the other, it belittles the effort that people are putting into their lives.

    BOTH weights and cardio are excellent, but I would stand my corner and defend that there is absolutely nothing wrong with more than 30 minutes cardio in one session - because 30 minutes cardio is not enough in my opinion and anybody here that comes face to face with one of those trainers that tells you it is bad to run for more than 20 minutes or more than quarter of a mile - run for the hills and do not stop until you find somebody who talks some common sense because where they have come up with some of that rubbish is beyond me and is an insult to anybody with half a brain!
  • HOSED49
    HOSED49 Posts: 642 Member
    Thats why we have these forums, so that someone who is inexperienced or confused by something that a training professional has told them, can ask questions here and get another opinion. Everyone reacts differnetly to exercise, some can lose weight by doing hardly anything, others have to leave a puddle under their cardio equipment only to move onto another piece of equipment to leave another puddle.
    If you have been doing cardio for over an hour for months and you are losing weight, keep doing it, its working for ya!
    If you arent losing weight, try a little longer, push a little harder, until it works for ya.
    If you want some strength and muscle tone, lift some weights, or do bodyweight exercises, it can help!
    Maybe you hate being on a machine for hours, then go shorter but harder, push your intensity ,make your heart work for ya!
    Bottomline for me is, you leave the gym when you know you have done everything you needed to do, you walk out with a sense of accomplishment, like you just won the fight or race or whatever, you should have a little high from your workout, no matter how grueling it was a few minutes ago, you know you didnt slack off and really pushed yourself to your limits. Doesnt matter how long you were on what, , you know you just whipped your own *kitten* and you survived to come back and push yourself again!
  • LotusF1ower
    LotusF1ower Posts: 1,259 Member
    Hosed, I 100% agree with you, unfortunately, what I am getting annoyed with is being told "just doing cardio is no good", "don't run for more than 20 minutes, it is bad for you", "running for more than a quarter of a mile is too much strain on the body" etc. These are the things that could really muck people about, especially, if as you just said, somebody were to not know any better because they have just begun.

    There is nothing better than doing your utmost at a training session and feeling knackered afterwards - it is a physical tiredness and it is an accomplishment for sure. The hardest competitions are those against yourself, because you can never win :wink:
  • david1956
    david1956 Posts: 190 Member
    One thing about doing longer and longer cardio sessions involving one type of activity is that in terms of fitness it can become a case of diminishing returns, due to our body becoming more and more efficient. So running for hours on a treadmill is great if you are training for distance running, as your objective IS for more and more efficiency. But IMHO for fitness it's perhaps better to seek out something new. For example, if you can run for hours on a treadmill, put on some boxing gloves and try serious sparring... you might be in for a shock, but in terms of fitness that's a good thing. Keep trying new things, and somewhere around 30 mins should be totally adequate in conjunction with weight training.

    Same weight programs. Recently when my trainer changed my program (and this happens every time) I felt like a mess, failing again and again during the routine. My trainer smiled and said, "Good, that's what i'd expect to be happening and it's what we're after. But our bodies are amazing at adapting." Sure enough, within a couple of weeks I am ascending from hell to.. I guess purgatory LOL. So somewhere down the track (4-6 weeks) it'll be time to change again. Although it doesn't feel nice, we get the best gains, I am fairly certain, when our body is yet to adapt and become efficient.
  • abricklin
    abricklin Posts: 156 Member
    I am kind of struggling with this as well. I HATE weights, but I was also told that strength training is SUPER important because the more muscle mass you have, the more calories you will burn during rest and cardio. Up to 3500 extra calories a week if you have the proper amount of muscle. My husband is the opposite- he said cardio at the gym is like a giant hampster wheel just moving but not going anywhere and it drives him crazy. Maybe they are just afraid that if you focus too much on cardio you'll just give up the strength training. I usually do the weights for 20-25 min and then 30 min of cardio (3X a week). On the days that I am not doing weights I do strictly cardio- zumba or running long distance for atleast an hour. I feel like this helps build up my endurance. Keep it up! You're doing a great job.

    This is what I discovered after months and months and years of just cadio. I did have my good days of cardio and strength had not lifted a weight in 12 months prior to this past weekend. I incorporated the 30 day shred into my workout (am) and added strength to my gym (afternoon). I will probably do a long cardio only session on Sundays. I feel a huge difference in just 4 days.
  • jkohan
    jkohan Posts: 184 Member
    Hosed, I 100% agree with you, unfortunately, what I am getting annoyed with is being told "just doing cardio is no good", "don't run for more than 20 minutes, it is bad for you", "running for more than a quarter of a mile is too much strain on the body" etc. These are the things that could really muck people about, especially, if as you just said, somebody were to not know any better because they have just begun.

    There is nothing better than doing your utmost at a training session and feeling knackered afterwards - it is a physical tiredness and it is an accomplishment for sure. The hardest competitions are those against yourself, because you can never win :wink:

    Agreed with everything you've posted in this thread. I went and asked MY trainer on Tuesday about doing "too much cardio leading to burning muscle and being ineffectual". She told me that unless my HR is above my max, that doing cardio will burn fat and is not counterproductive to weight loss. There are no short cuts. Yes, weight training will lead to muscle mass which burns more than fat under our skin, but in terms of good health AND weightloss, cardio is a HUGE part of the equation. Those trainers that tell you otherwise are NOT worth the $ you are paying them.
  • jkohan
    jkohan Posts: 184 Member
    oops...double post.
This discussion has been closed.

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