Cardio question

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ccarpenter80
ccarpenter80 Posts: 20
in Health and Weight Loss
I met with a trainer on Saturday who told me I need to stop doing so much cardio. I dont want to be really skinny I want to keep my legs to still be 'thick' but with muscle. I have 60 pounds to lose. I do cardio 6 times a week for 30 minuts and weights 4 times a week. He only wants me to do 3 days a week of 30 minutes. That doesnt seem like enough?

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  • DrJenO
    DrJenO Posts: 404 Member
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    I'm not a personal trainer, but I think he is wanting to make sure you aren't shorting your weights for cardio.

    I personally do fewer longer session of cardio (2-3 days of 1-1.5 hrs per week), but that is because of my personal preference and schedule. I don't think he would suggest I shorten that time if I were to bring it up to him.

    Who knows?
  • vismal
    vismal Posts: 2,463 Member
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    You can lose weight and do no cardio at all. Weight loss is 90% diet. I feel like 6 days a week cardio would interfere with my lifting.
  • kpalazzolo73
    kpalazzolo73 Posts: 6
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    What kind of cardio are you doing? Does it involve resistance?

    In my experience as a spinning instructor ( I teach 3, 60 min classes per week) I really start to see the change in the people who are incorporating more strength training into their routine. Those who only come to spin class look the same day in and day out. It's not a decision that you have to make and keep forever. Try it for a month and see if there are results. :smile:
  • Branstin
    Branstin Posts: 2,320 Member
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    He may be concerned about you preserving muscle mass.
  • lindsey1979
    lindsey1979 Posts: 2,395 Member
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    I think it's to get the benefit of your lifting. Too much high level cardio (i.e. more than just walking/hiking) with lifting can make it difficult for some people to recover fully from the heavy lifting. That's why many of us that lift, add in low-level cardio like walking but ditch the higher levels of running, aerobics, etc.
  • ccarpenter80
    ccarpenter80 Posts: 20
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    Thanks! I'm going to try it and then the rest of the time concentrate on lifting. I usually do 30 minutes a day on elliptical or treadmill
  • albertabeefy
    albertabeefy Posts: 1,169 Member
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    I find too-much cardio makes it difficult for me to build lean mass.

    It's a balancing-act because I love cardio - especially cycling. I try to limit it to doing cardio 3 days a week (usually Mon/Wed/Friday), strength-training 3 days a week (Tues, Thur, Saturday) and one day per week of rest.

    On a strength-training day where I haven't done a full hour of lifting, though, I thrown in some added HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) just enough to reach that hour mark. It does my body more good than solid-state cardio.
  • vmclach
    vmclach Posts: 670 Member
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    I met with a trainer on Saturday who told me I need to stop doing so much cardio. I dont want to be really skinny I want to keep my legs to still be 'thick' but with muscle. I have 60 pounds to lose. I do cardio 6 times a week for 30 minuts and weights 4 times a week. He only wants me to do 3 days a week of 30 minutes. That doesnt seem like enough?

    Lol what does you don't want to be "really skinny" mean? You say you have to lose 60 pounds?

    I perform cardio exercises 10+ hours a week. I've only increased in muscle mass over the years of running. Granted, I do lift, but very minimally. I get comments on how muscular my legs all the time and I'm a size 2. I am "skinny" but I still have strong legs.
  • HerbertNenenger
    HerbertNenenger Posts: 453 Member
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    That doesn't seem like enough..... for what?
    Weight loss?
    Fitness?

    It's definitely enough for weight loss, more than enough, as it's mainly based on your food intake/output.
    For fitness, 3 x/week cardio with 4x weights is also quite enough.
    And think about the extra time you'll have !
  • msf74
    msf74 Posts: 3,498 Member
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    I met with a trainer on Saturday who told me I need to stop doing so much cardio. I dont want to be really skinny I want to keep my legs to still be 'thick' but with muscle. I have 60 pounds to lose. I do cardio 6 times a week for 30 minuts and weights 4 times a week. He only wants me to do 3 days a week of 30 minutes. That doesnt seem like enough?

    You lose weight / fat by creating a consistent calorie deficit. It is generally more efficient and easier to create that deficit through diet than exercise. As such you don't need to do any cardio or exercise for that matter if you don't want to presuming you can stick to your diet. That said most people prefer to use a combination of both diet and exercise for a number of reasons.

    It is advisable to preserve existing muscle mass or mitigate the loss of such mass when dieting on a general level. That means incorporating resistance based training. Weight training / heavy lifting is a type of such training.

    Long duration / low intensity "cardio" can impact on recovery or impede such a goal (and it can also make you rather hungry and prompt over eating) but most people won't be doing enough for it to be an issue and unless you are a body builder or the like it won't be worth worrying about. The idea that 30 minutes 6 times a week is an issue for the average person is massive overkill and in all honesty it is laughable for a trainer to suggest that.

    In short: do what you prefer, you like and makes you happy.
  • ccarpenter80
    ccarpenter80 Posts: 20
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    Love this plan! I'm going to start this this week and see how I do!



    I find too-much cardio makes it difficult for me to build lean mass.

    It's a balancing-act because I love cardio - especially cycling. I try to limit it to doing cardio 3 days a week (usually Mon/Wed/Friday), strength-training 3 days a week (Tues, Thur, Saturday) and one day per week of rest.

    On a strength-training day where I haven't done a full hour of lifting, though, I thrown in some added HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) just enough to reach that hour mark. It does my body more good than solid-state cardio.

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