We are pleased to announce that on March 4, 2025, an updated Rich Text Editor will be introduced in the MyFitnessPal Community. To learn more about the upcoming changes, please click here. We look forward to sharing this new feature with you!

How soon did you notice an increase in cardio fitness?

rachaelgifford
rachaelgifford Posts: 320 Member
edited February 1 in Fitness and Exercise
I am just wondering how soon you guys started to feel results on improved cardio fitness. Are we talking days? Weeks? Months?

Thanks.

Replies

  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
    It's different for everybody as we're all starting from different points and respond differently to exercise.

    Personally I found it was a slow process but I also started running in my early fifties, had been sedentary for way too many years and was carrying a lot of extra weight.

    Depending on where you're starting from as long as you are consistent you will probably start to feel improvements in a matter of weeks. I know there are people, for example, that use the C25K program and go from zero to running a 5K in 9 or 10 weeks and others who can't progress that quickly.

    All I can suggest is that patience and consistency are your friends.
  • rachaelgifford
    rachaelgifford Posts: 320 Member
    It is more just a curiosity. I like how I feel after too much to quit now.

    Thanks for the response :-)
  • KateK8LoseW8
    KateK8LoseW8 Posts: 824 Member
    Within about a month for me.
  • MsEndomorph
    MsEndomorph Posts: 604 Member
    I'd say I was surprising myself about 3 weeks in.
  • Booksandbeaches
    Booksandbeaches Posts: 1,791 Member
    Probably within 3-4 weeks.
  • ayalowich
    ayalowich Posts: 242 Member
    It is more just a curiosity. I like how I feel after too much to quit now.

    Thanks for the response :-)


    That is 75% of the battle. If you enjoy the activity you are much more likely to stick with it long term.

    I've run for 30 years, but after an injury or a period when I've dropped well below normal it always takes me 2 months before I see a training effect.
  • MellyMel340
    MellyMel340 Posts: 20 Member
    I saw a huge increase in my fitness level in about a month of daily cardio doing no less than an hour per session.
  • ArtemisRuns
    ArtemisRuns Posts: 251 Member
    I gradually felt better and better, but 2 months into running I am now really starting to have major changes in the way I feel and do things.
  • ferocityturbine
    ferocityturbine Posts: 110 Member
    When I got my elliptical, I had to increase the resistance around every four weeks :smile:
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 8,087 Member
    I got seriously ill in 2011 (6 months in hospital including 7 weeks on life support in intensive care), and one of the after effects was elevated resting heart rate. My resting heart rate was a whopping 100 BPM when I got out of hospital. It took a couple of months of 1 hour sessions the elliptical five times a week to get it back to the high 60s. Given the amount of cardio I do, my resting heart rate should be lower, but it is not.
  • kimosabe1
    kimosabe1 Posts: 2,467 Member
    I did 1 year of just full cardio. On year 2, I cut cardio in half & added weights.:flowerforyou:
This discussion has been closed.

Categories