What is excessive cardio and why is it bad?

I think there are a lot of factors that play into what would be deemed excessive cardio. Primarily your training state (did you jump into doing that much right away, or did you build up to it) and diet, do you eat enough to support that activity level. This things are very individual and having a hard line in the sand is very hard to do.

Over training is real but I highly doubt that it would happen without outward signs (fatigue, long recovery times, lack of progress) so listen to your body.

As for the why I think it is because of excess cortisol that causes water retention that masks weight loss. The other possibility is that if you over train you will stop training because you just feel like crap.

We did not become the top predator on this planet by sitting on our *kitten* all day like we do now. 1 hour cardio everyday is a cake walk for your bodies potential. Just don't go run a ultramarathon every day of the week and you will be fine.

On these boards "too much cardio" relates to loss of muscle mass with the end result of your body looking like some Olympic marathon runner.

Unless your goal is running marathons you likely won't ever morph into that.

:huh:

Alrighty then. I'll be sure to let all my awesome marathon friends know how awful their bodies look. :indifferent:

If you like doing it, why stop?

Just remember you may end up having to do it 6 days a week or more to maintain/proceed. Start slow. I do 3 days a week, lift 4, and eat my macros! New veins each week and just hit another bench PR

No reason not to do cardio. Cardio workouts help improve my endurance and energy levels. Would never do without them.

The problem with people that lift and also do cardio is they just don't eat enough calories, or don't eat back the right kind of calories. You need to consume calories in excess of your daily calorie needs (300+ extra calories for men, 150+ extra calories for women). This assumes you actually have an accurate reading of your daily calorie needs. MFP's formula is not the best for people who are in the healthy to fit body fat % ratings. You might want to check out this forum to figure out best formula to use for your body: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=121703981

You also need to be supplying your body with the correct amount of protein. Example: a 200lb guy eats 200g of protein a day, he is trying to build muscle. He hits the gym, does cardio and burns 500 calories, and does some weights and burns maybe another 250. Some people will say "HEY! I have 750 extra calories now! Splurge time!" and they end up filling up those calories with "dead food" (breads, sugars, or other foods with a high glycemic index). This is where their plan falls apart. Sure they are eating back the calories, but that is like saying to a team of masons "Well I want you to build this house, but I don't have enough bricks. We have plenty of mortar though!". It just doesn't work.

You body burns up protein for calories too, not just fat and carbs. Protein and carbs actually produce the same amount of calories. You need to eat back ALL the calories you burn at the same ratio you were the rest of the day in order to build muscle at the fastest rate (0.5lbs/week), which should be about 35%/30%/35% (fats/carbs/protein), favoring protein and then fat intake over carbs whenever possible. So having a whey shake, or a nice big 8 oz piece of chicken or steak after a workout is how you should be reclaiming those calories.

I don't think 30-60 mins of cardio, 6 days a week is excessive at all. I've done that much myself. Just make sure you are eating back exercise calories so you don't lose the lean muscle mass from your resistance training. Listen to your body too, if you feel fatigued dial back the workout and up your carbs.

Agreed. I'll add that if running is part of the program make sure to do some weightlifting as well, as running alone can cause some muscle imbalances that you'll want to correct. Runner's World is a good site to find a few easy programs.

It seems that building some strength is key to losing weight and keeping it off.

No - the key to losing weight and keeping it off is finding the right calorie balance when losing weight and when at maintenance.

As long as you are fuelling yourself appropriately then it's very hard to do "excessive cardio".
The problem comes when people try to do too much with too big a deficit and that applies to both cardio and strength training.

Everyone's mix of cardio and strength training will be different depending on goals and capabilities plus what they enjoy. I enjoy both so I do both, even cycling up to a 100 miles in a day didn't stop me making good strength gains and VO2 max improvements at the same time.

Whoops! Inconvenient truth Alert!