6 Day Cardio Vs. 3days lift/3cardio

manetta1
manetta1 Posts: 138
edited September 22 in Fitness and Exercise
I've had such a mixed review about what people consider as a optimal weight loss. From what I've read in Men's Health and my bro-in-law who has told me from a doctor and personal training perspective that 3 days intense cardio with 3 days lifting is by far the best way to promote weight loss because you build lean muscle. While doing 6 days of cardio is a nice weight loss, your prone to lose muscle in that aspect as well. Does anyone concur with this? What are your guys preference and what has worked for you guys? Right now I'm doing Insanity with the g/f and though insanity doesn't break down the liftinging like P90x does, I think doing the push ups in it are adequate strength training to promote lean muscles. Let me hear your thoughts.

Mike

Replies

  • LadyBarb
    LadyBarb Posts: 116
    Humm, I think as far as cardio to help with the weight loss and at least 3-4 days a week and the weight lifting at least 3 with a rest day in-between working from the same set of muscles group. A good mixed that my personal had me was the following

    The Plan first 4 weeks:

    Monday: Chest, Hamstrings and Calf’s

    Tuesday: Cardio and Abs

    Wednesday: Back and Traps

    Thursday: Cardio and Abs

    Friday: Neck, Shoulders and Triceps

    Saturday: Biceps, Forearms and quads

    Goal: Lose weight, tone body and increase stamina
    And then it change jsut like the p90X does, BTW, that is excellant program to those workout to the gym!
    Barb
  • Darkling
    Darkling Posts: 64
    I had good results with doing three day sof cardio with weight lifting and 2 more days of just cardio. For months I did cardio only and didnt seem to have the amout of weight loss that I had with the combo of the two.
  • murf19
    murf19 Posts: 453 Member
    Too much cardio is not the best thing. You can end up burnig off muscle for fuel. I'll do 2- 3 days of lifting heavy, One day of running and one day of cardio intervals and one of abs or whatever I feel like doing.
    Insanity is a higher concentrate of cardio. P90X is more lifting but has some cardio too. The one on ones are good too to mix up the workouts. I've done P90X twice, 3rd time starting soon and the One on Ones inbetween creating my own workouts while mixing in p90X dvds. It works well. Don't forget to give your body a rest too!
  • miqisha
    miqisha Posts: 1,534 Member
    I do 3 days Weight training and 3 days of cardio.....The weight training tones and makes the body lean and more defined....
  • shanettep
    shanettep Posts: 1
    This sounds great! I do similar things but I do cardio daily, I just don't feel right if I don't do cardio...but if it's not beneficial I'll try it this way!
    Humm, I think as far as cardio to help with the weight loss and at least 3-4 days a week and the weight lifting at least 3 with a rest day in-between working from the same set of muscles group. A good mixed that my personal had me was the following

    The Plan first 4 weeks:

    Monday: Chest, Hamstrings and Calf’s

    Tuesday: Cardio and Abs

    Wednesday: Back and Traps

    Thursday: Cardio and Abs

    Friday: Neck, Shoulders and Triceps

    Saturday: Biceps, Forearms and quads

    Goal: Lose weight, tone body and increase stamina
    And then it change jsut like the p90X does, BTW, that is excellant program to those workout to the gym!
    Barb
  • sepatown410
    sepatown410 Posts: 8
    I had good results with doing about three days of cardio with weight lifting and 2 more days of just cardio. For months I did cardio only and didnt seem to have the amout of weight loss that I had with the combo of the two.

    What this guy said. I'm having success with something similar, although I don't make it that structured. Here's what I do these days:
    1. I have two "lifting" days. One day is chest, shoulders, and triceps. The other is back, biceps, and legs. I rotate these, but never lift 3 days in a row.
    2. I do cardio more often. Usually a half hour after I've lifted, or sometimes an hour on my "long run day" or if my schedule doesn't allow both lifting and cardio
    3. I play a few hours of flag football every weekend, and make excuses to run. (I chase guys the length of the field I know I'll never catch, etc.)
    4. Core (situps, etc.) 3 or 4 times a week watching TV or other random times.

    So the days get shuffled around, but in the end of it all my typical week would be:
    3 days of some kind of lifting plus cardio (almost exclusively running now)
    1 or 2 days of cardio only
    1 day of flag football or some other sport
    1 or 2 days of rest (except maybe core, I'll do that on rest days or any day)

    With this, and with watching the amount I eat with the help of this site (I still don't eat 100% "healthy" all the time and never plan to.) I'm losing weight just slightly faster than the 1 lb a week I was aiming for. Perfect!
  • FAKECED
    FAKECED Posts: 61
    I agree Bri. I do 2 days lifting and 3-4 days cardio/mma training. also with murf19 comment it depends on your heart rate. if your heart rate is at a certain percentage it will burn fat however the body will store far because it will assume you will need it later. as for a higher percentage heart rate it uses (those words that start with a g as fuel). Which i believe is better. look at the body of a marathon runner and the body of a sprinter. long story short when i do cardio i do mix it up however i am more concerned with my heart rate being 90% doing intervals than long runs at 60%. But i do mix it up
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