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Pure cardio over the long term is a waste of energy and time.
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well from all the doctors i seen (( a lot)) my highest weight was 400 now im 257 they said cardio improves your heart and strenght trainig retains muscle mass wich being almost 50 is important so i do both ok is that good for you op or your medical degree tell me diffrent3
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MissusMoon wrote: »Right now because I have had surgery, pure cardio is all I can do until a lifting restriction is gone. I'm killing it with pure cardio.
I agree that strength training is essential, but I hesitate to tell the general public that ANY exercise routine they love is a waste.
Same. Because I have a hiatal hernia I can't do a lot of exercises, especially anything with lifting or bending. My options are walking or elliptical. I have tried, thinking maybe if I was careful enough it would be, oh man was I wrong.4 -
Lastly, pure cardio sucks and you should quit it
. Pick up some weights. Go buy yourself a yoga mat. Add some plyo. Life will improve 
I'm going to have to take issue with the bolded statement. For those of us who are endurance athletes such as a cyclist, 10-12 hours on the bike per week is the norm. More in base building phase January - March, less in the off season (maybe only 6-8 hours).
I agree weight lifting is good as well (1 - 2x's per week is my norm).
And yes - that is the "average Joe" who works a full time job, has a family, and disagrees that cardio sucks.
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The only cardio I'm doing right now is mowing the lawn, and I'm dropping fat like crazy hitting the weights hard 3 times a weeks in a PPL regime.1
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This thread was a waste of time.7
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Pure cardio is my favourite insanity workout though....
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Truthfully, it's always kinda made me tilt my head like a confused puppy when people talk about "doing cardio". WhatTheHeck?!?
Sure, I row multiple times a week, take spin classes, do some cycling, and more. But I think of it more as "having fun" (or occasionally as "training" if there's a race coming up) vs. "doing cardio".
OP, if P90X works for you, more power to you - enjoy.
But for me . . . turn over my activity and eating to some kind of video "coach"? No thank you, please - I've never been very good at other people's religions.9 -
I don't think this was the point the OP was trying to make, but the reality is, do what you enjoy. Some of us love our long walks and swimming, but if this does not blow your skirt up, then lift or do stairs, but really what is important is moving and more than likely you will continue with activities that you enjoy.
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I tend to think about old people - what sort of exercise do old fit people do, what have they done, what is sustainable over the long term. I do know quite a few old aerobics people, and old runners, and old walkers, roller skaters, old yogis, old dancers. When I did jazzercise, there were two ladies in there over 80!
I wanna do what will keep me fit in a sustainable way, stuff that can be maintained over the long term. I don't want to be heroically fit, I want to be lifelong healthy.
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I tend to think about old people - what sort of exercise do old fit people do, what have they done, what is sustainable over the long term. I do know quite a few old aerobics people, and old runners, and old walkers, roller skaters, old yogis, old dancers. When I did jazzercise, there were two ladies in there over 80!
I wanna do what will keep me fit in a sustainable way, stuff that can be maintained over the long term. I don't want to be heroically fit, I want to be lifelong healthy.
I'm sure you know this, but there are old weight trainers, too. Just this morning I was watching my rowing buddy Jeanie learning to carry her new racing single (rowing shell) down to the river. The boat only weighs 30-odd pounds, but it's awkward as heck, especially in the wind: it's 26 feet long. She was unhesitating. Then she hopped in and rowed for 6-7K.
She's been weight training consistently (and heavy) since her thirties, among other things. Appearance-wise, you'd take her for mid-50s, probably, except she's stronger than most women two decades younger than that, even. She's 71.
(I did the same thing, but heck, I'm only 60. I wanna be like Jeanie in 10 years.There may be a payoff in something closer to heroically fit . . . .)4 -
@robininflI tend to think about old people - what sort of exercise do old fit people do, what have they done, what is sustainable over the long term. I do know quite a few old aerobics people, and old runners, and old walkers, roller skaters, old yogis, old dancers. When I did jazzercise, there were two ladies in there over 80!
I wanna do what will keep me fit in a sustainable way, stuff that can be maintained over the long term. I don't want to be heroically fit, I want to be lifelong healthy.
I do long distance non-competitive cycle events and there are loads of "old people" (even older than me!) who take part and have remarkable fitness and endurance. Often they have been cycling for many decades but have gravitated to the more social / scenic rides - they are typically 100 mile events so by no means easy.
Most extreme example I've personally come across was competitor I chatted to before the start of a 24hr event - thought he was probably early sixties but turned out to be in his mid-seventies.
But what is also striking is their mental acuity and pure joie de vivre along with the physical fitness and physiques of people much younger. Legs carved from teak and a big smile seems a winning old age to me.
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I enjoy the best of both worlds. Getting in the gym and weightlifting 3 days a week, and walk / running several miles outside every day enjoying the great summer weather.0
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@robininflI tend to think about old people - what sort of exercise do old fit people do, what have they done, what is sustainable over the long term. I do know quite a few old aerobics people, and old runners, and old walkers, roller skaters, old yogis, old dancers. When I did jazzercise, there were two ladies in there over 80!
I wanna do what will keep me fit in a sustainable way, stuff that can be maintained over the long term. I don't want to be heroically fit, I want to be lifelong healthy.
I do long distance non-competitive cycle events and there are loads of "old people" (even older than me!) who take part and have remarkable fitness and endurance. Often they have been cycling for many decades but have gravitated to the more social / scenic rides - they are typically 100 mile events so by no means easy.
Most extreme example I've personally come across was competitor I chatted to before the start of a 24hr event - thought he was probably early sixties but turned out to be in his mid-seventies.
But what is also striking is their mental acuity and pure joie de vivre along with the physical fitness and physiques of people much younger. Legs carved from teak and a big smile seems a winning old age to me.
Yes. My "oldest fit person story" is also the story of the moment I started thinking about sustainable exercise. This old guy ran past me as I was waiting for a daughter to come out of gymnastics class - he showed me his new driver's license and I mistook his birthday (2 digit year format) for the renewal date. He was 95 years old and RUNNING past me to get to aerobics class on time. It was an amazing moment and made me think about how much exercise, or at least moving around a lot, is important to a healthy life. It also made me think about how there is masters' swimming, running, diving etc. but no "Masters' Gymnastics", gymnastics doesn't seem sustainable over the long term.
And yes of course I know some people lift till they are old - Jack f'ing Lalanne! Amazing man. The Fiance can't seem to sustain anything except weightlifting, he doesn't like much else, has a stack of notebooks spanning years documenting his workouts...He's 51 and I would predict will do that ongoing, he says he may step down to lighter weight though.
For me I don't think a marathon is in the cards, though if I do them, it will take me until I am old to train for it so I guess I will be doing those as an old lady if at all. I work in endurance sports and know a lot of older people go from running triathlon to just swim-bike, the running does wear out joints for some.
Anyway, I don't think pure cardio over the long term is a waste of energy and time, it seems to work fine for some people.
And yeah I mean 70-and-up when I say OLD, not sure how I will feel when I get there, but that's when people start seeming old to me usually, so I am guessing that's when I will feel like an old lady.2 -
Fred Beckey is still climbing at 93.
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I love how this has turned from a debate into a loooooong term exercise thread! I am going to start one in the Fitness board.1
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I started my fitness journey at 216lbs back in 2010. At 5'9", that put me in an uncomfortable where I was really not happy with my health or my appearance. It was one of many sources of depression so I decided to start working out and eating better. I've went through many trials and tried just about everything to test for myself which would work best. I've tried something like the South Beach diet, vegetarian diet, organic only diet, balanced diet, low cal diet, intermittent fasting, etc... I've tried workout videos, running, weight training, martial arts and so on. I actually started out running. I remember getting on that treadmill and only being able to run for an 1/8 of a mile before my body seemed to die of exhaustion and my lungs bursting for air. At the start, a quarter of a mile seemed like a mountain. I stuck with it though and was able to build up to running 6 miles pretty regularly at a 8 minute mile. My longest run was 12.9 miles just to see what I could do. That was done at a 10 minute mile.
As I continued that journey, I noticed my knees started aching quite a bit and I really thinned out. I got down to 159lbs and lost a lot of fat and muscle mass in the process. I liked being lean, but not weak. I started to feel the wear and tear on my body and the consequences to a one-dimensional fitness. Sure, my cardio was good but add resistance to that and I was done for too quickly. Additionally, I wasn't really doing anything to maintain a good agility and flexibility.
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I tend to think about old people - what sort of exercise do old fit people do, what have they done, what is sustainable over the long term. I do know quite a few old aerobics people, and old runners, and old walkers, roller skaters, old yogis, old dancers. When I did jazzercise, there were two ladies in there over 80!
I wanna do what will keep me fit in a sustainable way, stuff that can be maintained over the long term. I don't want to be heroically fit, I want to be lifelong healthy.
I do long distance non-competitive cycle events and there are loads of "old people" (even older than me!) who take part and have remarkable fitness and endurance. Often they have been cycling for many decades but have gravitated to the more social / scenic rides - they are typically 100 mile events so by no means easy.
Most extreme example I've personally come across was competitor I chatted to before the start of a 24hr event - thought he was probably early sixties but turned out to be in his mid-seventies.
But what is also striking is their mental acuity and pure joie de vivre along with the physical fitness and physiques of people much younger. Legs carved from teak and a big smile seems a winning old age to me.
Yes. My "oldest fit person story" is also the story of the moment I started thinking about sustainable exercise. This old guy ran past me as I was waiting for a daughter to come out of gymnastics class - he showed me his new driver's license and I mistook his birthday (2 digit year format) for the renewal date. He was 95 years old and RUNNING past me to get to aerobics class on time. It was an amazing moment and made me think about how much exercise, or at least moving around a lot, is important to a healthy life. It also made me think about how there is masters' swimming, running, diving etc. but no "Masters' Gymnastics", gymnastics doesn't seem sustainable over the long term.
And yes of course I know some people lift till they are old - Jack f'ing Lalanne! Amazing man. The Fiance can't seem to sustain anything except weightlifting, he doesn't like much else, has a stack of notebooks spanning years documenting his workouts...He's 51 and I would predict will do that ongoing, he says he may step down to lighter weight though.
For me I don't think a marathon is in the cards, though if I do them, it will take me until I am old to train for it so I guess I will be doing those as an old lady if at all. I work in endurance sports and know a lot of older people go from running triathlon to just swim-bike, the running does wear out joints for some.
Anyway, I don't think pure cardio over the long term is a waste of energy and time, it seems to work fine for some people.
And yeah I mean 70-and-up when I say OLD, not sure how I will feel when I get there, but that's when people start seeming old to me usually, so I am guessing that's when I will feel like an old lady.
Gymnastics at 70? 80? How about 92?
https://youtu.be/luBWRYJRTNg
He's a street performer in Frankfurt. Does bottle planks for 5 minutes or more.3 -
I think you should reword your title. I don't like Cardio, and I think you should stop doing it because I don't enjoy it.
Why would I want to be outside in the outdoors, smelling that fresh air, seeing the country side as well fast paced life of the inner city when I can be lifting weights with ever other Weight Hamster out there.
Why would I rather feel the splash of water on my leg in stead of reaching for a barbell and my hand sliding around on the sweat soaked bar in front of me?
Now I will the first to admit you need a mix of both, but to exclude cardio from your workout routine is pure rubbish. And encouraging people to quit cardio based exercises is and utter rubbish.
If I had to rely on the weight room to lose my weight.... Well I'd still be 326 pounds instead of 217 pounds.
You can keep the weight room, I'll keep the bike and running shoes.2 -
EvgeniZyntx wrote: »
Gymnastics at 70? 80? How about 92?https://youtu.be/luBWRYJRTNg
He's a street performer in Frankfurt. Does bottle planks for 5 minutes or more.
My goodness, that is AWESOME!
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http://youtu.be/RMBb-VvJShY
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