Too Much Cardio?

Does this hold any truth?

Nope, but it might suggest that you're not burning as much as you think you are.

70% of my current routine is Cardio, while the other portion is HIIT/Tabata and weights.

What do you define as cardio? It means all sorts of activities.

Also, HIIT/ Tabata is just a mode of training, you can do it using pretty much any variety of exercise. Do you mean high intensity cardio or throwing weights around?

I am at the point where a device may be needed,

If you're doing your CV outdoors then a tracking app may be all you need, I work on the basis of the calories that Runkeeper gives me, I also use Endomondo but it seems to measure a little higher.

Notwithstanding that I rarely eat back all of my exercise calories.

What you may be finding is a degree of exercise adaptation, as your fitness improves if you're not increasing the demand of your workouts you'll find that you're burning less than you did initially.

Subject to the type of training you're doing an HRM may not be as useful as you'd think, I trust mine for my easy paced and tempo runs, but don't have a huge amount of confidence when I'm doing hard interval sessions as there is quite a lot of HR fluctuation as I'm increasing my speed, or reducing in the lower intensity periods.

IDK.

When all I did was run on the treadmill for 45mins to an hour I dropped weight.

Now I just do strength training which is mixed with some cardio and do not lose as much. But is worth it as my composition is great.

Loosing? Or losing? You LOSE weight, you don't loose it.

No, too much cardio is not why you're not losing. Perhaps you should focus more on how your body looks and feels and being fit instead of some arbitrary number on a scale. If you're losing inches, you're making progress.

And the most important response on this thread is lost in an uproar about spelling...

OP, stop focussing on what the scale says - focus on the number of inches you are losing and how much fitter you are. It is most likely you are becoming more muscular which is why the "number" on the scale isn't moving. The amount you weigh isn't important but body composition and health/fitness is so keep doing the cardio.

I dunno. Don't get me wrong I love my MFPal from up thread, but is this thing about scale weight not mattering just something skinny gals (and guys) say? I mean, at some point isn't the scale weight important, like when you're 80 lbs overweight? It seems when I've ignored the scale, it's ignored me too and crept upwards.

If you're losing inches, you're losing *something*. If you're fitting into smaller clothes, but are still the same weight, have you considered that you may be replacing your body fat with muscle? Muscle tissue is about 18% more dense than fat, on average, so if you replaced 1 lb of fat with 1 lb of muscle, you shrink in size but weigh the same.

Instead of focusing on just weight, take more measurements, they'll show more of your actual progress. Arms, legs, chest, waist are all good places to start. You can get a cheap pair of body fat calipers (or if you can afford it and understand the limitations of the technology, one of those electronic body fat measuring devices/scales) and have a partner take bf% measurements for you.

I'm sure what you'll see, even if the scale isn't moving, is that you're slimming down all over, your bf% is decreasing, which means your lean muscle mass is *increasing*. And you're going to be downsizing your wardrobe.

Good luck, and remember that weight is ultimately just a number on a scale, and it's not the only number that matters.

This, great advice right here.

As far as the grammar Nazi's go, spelling is not everyone's strong suit. When a person here asks for help, why not be positive in your response or not respond at all. Seems simple enough.

Thank you thank you, a push is needed, its past time to kick it up a notch, thank you for the push

Prof Curlzs, depending on what the article you read about cardio said - there probably is a lot of truth to it if somebody is doing 30-45 minutes of daily cardio at lower intensities (unless a technique I mention below is used). The success rate of losing weight increases if strength training is also added during the week, as well as the use of interval training during cardio. This can be done with more intensity as intervals within longer sessions, or after a 20 minute warm-up you bump up the session and go harder.

I would be curious at what efforts and durations your cardio (the 70% that is part of your current routine) workouts are.

I like the simple way of describing my cardio workouts (but of course I use heart rate, and watts to measure my cycling)...

1. Old lady pace
2. Chatty pace
3. Feel good hard
4. Feel bad hard
5. I am going to die
6. Flat out

You can do a lot of cardio in the "old lady pace", and "chatty pace" without losing much weight unless you bump it up to 90 minutes - 180 minutes per day which will fire up the calorie burn. So I would be curious as to what your week looks like in terms of perceived effort (or heart rate), and the duration of your sessions. That might or might not explain why you are not seeing the weight drop that you would like to see. Are you doing a lot of shorter "old lady pace" and "chatty pace" (30-45 minute sessions)?

I do a lot of hours per week and have been averaging 8-10+ hours of cardio per week since January 6 along with two strength training days. Even when not eating back the calories burned, the weight loss is measured and slow (about a pound a week) due to the goals I set and desire not to cut weight so fast that it interferes with my training. 14 weeks in, and I'm down 13 pounds with a few more to go.

As soon as I add some intervals and durations in the "feel good hard", "feel bad hard", "I am going to die", and "flat out" - the metabolism really gets fired up for a full 24 hours afterwards. Saturday and Sunday both included at least 30 minutes of "feel good hard" and "feel bad hard" within longer sessions (2 hours, and 1 1/2 hours).

So be honest about the cardio work you are currently doing which might help answer the question as to why you are not seeing any weight loss.

Another excellent tool, if done properly, for using the "old lady pace" and "chatty pace" to lose weight is called 'bonk training'. It's a bit of a misnomer because you are not going to bonk if done right.

You can read about that here (although the article talks about using cycling, you could substitute, treadmill, jogging, walking, elipitical, etc... if that's your preference)...

http://www.superskinnyme.com/bonk-training.html

A quote from the article...

It’s morning. Give your fat a kiss good-bye and get to work.

If you’re normal, well adjusted and sentient, you have to ask why any cyclist would submit himself to “bonk training.” It’s the ultimate in hair-shirt riding. You wake up in the morning, drink two cups of coffee without putting anything else in your stomach, then go for a 60-90 minute ride. The answer: To lose weight. FAST.

Andy Pruitt, clinical director of the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine, has seen plenty of cyclists shed their guts with bonk training. “If I have a patient who’s trying to lose weight- cyclist or not- I have him ride 20-30 minutes before breakfast on a stationary bike at about 60 percent of max heart rate,” says Pruitt. “This ignites your fat-burning metabolism, and it stays lit during the day.” If you have an extra 5-10 pounds to lose, empty-stomach exercise first thing in the morning is ideal, he says.

Bonk training works, according to Pruitt, because there’s no readily available fuel source for your muscles (there’s very little glycogen in the bloodstream when you wake up), so your body has to seek out fuel…stored fat. To get the full effect, you have to maintain an endurance pace; you should be able to converse without panting.

The name of this weight-loss comes from the idea that the training mimics the conditions that lead to the scourge of cyclists- bonking. In fact, true bonking is a danger.

“If you ride like this longer than 90 minutes, your body starts breaking down muscle and protein in organs,” says Liz Applegate, sports nutritionist at the University of California-Davis, cyclist and author of Eat Smart, Play Hard. “Then you’re not just losing fat, you’re weakening your body.”

Laura Gabrels Metcalf


HOW TO BONK TRAIN

1. Upon waking, drink 2-3 cups of coffee, up to 45 minutes before cycling. Don’t eat.
2. Ride at endurance pace- 60-70% of your max heart rate, or a casual pace that doesn’t make you pant when you talk.
3. Keep it up for 20-90 minutes.
4. You can do this on consecutive days, but mix in at least one normal breakfast per week.
5. Eat your typical breakfast as soon as the ride ends.
6 . Watch the blubber ignite!!

I don't have time to read all replies since i'm at work. Just want to add my 2cents . English is my 3rd language, so yeah, i might do spelling mistake and honestly don't give a damn. When I read the OP origianal post i realized that she meant lose and not loose and I'm pretty sure all of you "vocabulary police" understood her / him as well. This is a fitness forum and not an English class ,holy.

Native English speakers make more mistakes usually ;-) anyhow, I find myself looking up things in the dictionary before posting, just because people can be pains... And the topic is lost between spelling and solidarity...

As for cardio an not losing weight. Examine your calories and measuring techniques. I lose just fine with running and cycling alone, no calorie counting, no fancy intervals. I just have to quit eating when I am not hungry anymore. I want to add strength to shape things up a bit, but I'll get to it when I am ready (mentally).

Peoe should just quit stressing and obsessing so much. Be it numbers or spelling.

Peoe should just quit stressing and obsessing so much.

Nicely played observation in traditional hackish

I was just talking to someone about this. I have been losing inches but, the number on the scale isn't moving. I like that my inches are shrinking but, i want the number on the scale to go down also.

Why?

Good question cuz I feel the same way. I teach Zumba 3 days a week, go to my own classes 2 days and have one free day. On Fridays I am going to try and go to yoga at 6 am just to change up my routine and help out my digestive system.