Is too much cardio bad for you?
Replies
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@KellyPoetryKellyPoetry wrote: »How much is too much?
For you? For me? For everyone?
In what way bad for you?
BTW I did over 300 hours of cycling last year, it certainly wasn't bad for me - but I'm not you....
20 minutes of (genuine) HIIT every day would be an awful routine by the way - true HIIT should be done at an intensity that requires proper recovery.
But my guess is you are just doing a variety of interval training and unlikely to be HIIT, certainly hope it isn't your routine as that would be a shortcut to injury.
How many times per week do you do HIIT? I love my elliptical but started incorporating HIIT, it's a great workout for my body tone and cardio/burning fat. Apparently it's better than hours of elliptical .. I like to switch it up
I never do HIIT - it's completely inappropriate for my already high fitness levels, exercise goals and overall program. There's also a good chance you are doing interval training not HIIT too as it seems to be applied to any old kind of interval training.
But I do a lot of interval work, especially in the winter - for example six (or more) minute intervals either side of my FTP and repeat for an hour or more. Yesterday's session was specifically tailored to boost recovery to Zone 3 to mimic a fast outdoor ride with bursts of speed, 12 and 2 minute intervals for 80 minutes.
Define "better"? For whom? For what?
If you are training for an endurance event then it's far less useful than "hours of elliptical".
In reality it's different not better.
The phrase "switch it up" makes me shudder I'm afraid. A well designed program has progression built in.2 -
@KellyPoetryKellyPoetry wrote: »How much is too much?
For you? For me? For everyone?
In what way bad for you?
BTW I did over 300 hours of cycling last year, it certainly wasn't bad for me - but I'm not you....
20 minutes of (genuine) HIIT every day would be an awful routine by the way - true HIIT should be done at an intensity that requires proper recovery.
But my guess is you are just doing a variety of interval training and unlikely to be HIIT, certainly hope it isn't your routine as that would be a shortcut to injury.
How many times per week do you do HIIT? I love my elliptical but started incorporating HIIT, it's a great workout for my body tone and cardio/burning fat. Apparently it's better than hours of elliptical .. I like to switch it up
I never do HIIT - it's completely inappropriate for my already high fitness levels, exercise goals and overall program. There's also a good chance you are doing interval training not HIIT too as it seems to be applied to any old kind of interval training.
But I do a lot of interval work, especially in the winter - for example six (or more) minute intervals either side of my FTP and repeat for an hour or more. Yesterday's session was specifically tailored to boost recovery to Zone 3 to mimic a fast outdoor ride with bursts of speed, 12 and 2 minute intervals for 80 minutes.
Define "better"? For whom? For what?
If you are training for an endurance event then it's far less useful than "hours of elliptical".
In reality it's different not better.
The phrase "switch it up" makes me shudder I'm afraid. A well designed program has progression built in.
Indeed. A well designed program also has "switching it up" built in. Long days, fast days, cadence days, pace days, call it what you will variation should be programmed in.
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My source is a weight training site called LiveLeanTV, and a functional medicine doctor named Chris Kresser. LiveLeanTV says that some cardio is better than nothing, but if you want to lose weight it's better to do weight lifting. Hours and hours of cardio won't get you very far in calorie burn because you are only losing calories WHILE you are working out. When you weight lift, you burn calories all day and the next day AFTER you workout.
I'm learning a lot from the athlete's posts here and I am very inspired by their ability and stamina to do so much exercise. But doesn't it produce too much cortisol and stress and that adds to your physical and mental diseases?
20 mins, true, is not a lot. However, 2 hours of running can be very stressful and you eat more. I'm not saying you shouldn't be an athlete. I'm saying stress management is a part of weight loss and overall health.
It depends on what your purpose for working out is. If it is to train for a marathon, then you would have to manage your stress pre and post workouts. A detox bath with epsom salts and essential oils would help.
If you are overweight and fatigued, or have a stress related disorder, then I why not try ten minutes a day of intervals?
mywell.blog19 -
My source is a weight training site called LiveLeanTV, and a functional medicine doctor named Chris Kresser. LiveLeanTV says that some cardio is better than nothing, but if you want to lose weight it's better to do weight lifting. Hours and hours of cardio won't get you very far in calorie burn because you are only losing calories WHILE you are working out. When you weight lift, you burn calories all day and the next day AFTER you workout.
I'm learning a lot from the athlete's posts here and I am very inspired by their ability and stamina to do so much exercise. But doesn't it produce too much cortisol and stress and that adds to your physical and mental diseases?
20 mins, true, is not a lot. However, 2 hours of running can be very stressful and you eat more. I'm not saying you shouldn't be an athlete. I'm saying stress management is a part of weight loss and overall health.
It depends on what your purpose for working out is. If it is to train for a marathon, then you would have to manage your stress pre and post workouts. A detox bath with epsom salts and essential oils would help.
If you are overweight and fatigued, or have a stress related disorder, then I why not try ten minutes a day of intervals?
mywell.blog
I do lots of races, including marathons, and I don't find that I need any particular stress relief as a result. In fact, I consider running itself to be a stress reliever (my experience, this may not apply to everyone). I just need to use common sense for recovery -- adequate food, sufficient hydration, focus on appropriate sleep/recovery. My successful races are among the high points of my year and I'm grateful for the time that I can spend training for them.
A "detox bath" with essential oils might be pleasant for some people, but it's not required.
These points seemed to be based in a slightly weird understanding of endurance exercise, not one that matches my experience at all. I don't run to lose weight (although running, when done in sufficient quantities, burns *a lot* of calories, so I'm not sure what Kresser is talking about). It's an important part of my physical and mental health.3 -
My source is a weight training site called LiveLeanTV, and a functional medicine doctor named Chris Kresser. LiveLeanTV says that some cardio is better than nothing, but if you want to lose weight it's better to do weight lifting. Hours and hours of cardio won't get you very far in calorie burn because you are only losing calories WHILE you are working out. When you weight lift, you burn calories all day and the next day AFTER you workout.
I'm learning a lot from the athlete's posts here and I am very inspired by their ability and stamina to do so much exercise. But doesn't it produce too much cortisol and stress and that adds to your physical and mental diseases?
20 mins, true, is not a lot. However, 2 hours of running can be very stressful and you eat more. I'm not saying you shouldn't be an athlete. I'm saying stress management is a part of weight loss and overall health.
It depends on what your purpose for working out is. If it is to train for a marathon, then you would have to manage your stress pre and post workouts. A detox bath with epsom salts and essential oils would help.
If you are overweight and fatigued, or have a stress related disorder, then I why not try ten minutes a day of intervals?
mywell.blog
Ref the bold - how stressful would you find cycling in countryside like this?
I must say your sources are truly woeful. Most of what you are repeating from those sources is inaccurate at best, mostly simply dumb, or just pseudo scientific twaddle.
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My source is a weight training site called LiveLeanTV, and a functional medicine doctor named Chris Kresser. LiveLeanTV says that some cardio is better than nothing, but if you want to lose weight it's better to do weight lifting. Hours and hours of cardio won't get you very far in calorie burn because you are only losing calories WHILE you are working out. When you weight lift, you burn calories all day and the next day AFTER you workout.
I'm learning a lot from the athlete's posts here and I am very inspired by their ability and stamina to do so much exercise. But doesn't it produce too much cortisol and stress and that adds to your physical and mental diseases?
20 mins, true, is not a lot. However, 2 hours of running can be very stressful and you eat more. I'm not saying you shouldn't be an athlete. I'm saying stress management is a part of weight loss and overall health.
It depends on what your purpose for working out is. If it is to train for a marathon, then you would have to manage your stress pre and post workouts. A detox bath with epsom salts and essential oils would help.
If you are overweight and fatigued, or have a stress related disorder, then I why not try ten minutes a day of intervals?
mywell.blog
Because trying to time an interval is much more stressful than "I'm going to go run until I'm tired or until I hit my mileage goal." My type 1 diabetes certainly hasn't suffered from training for halfs.
You seem to think that endurance fitness is far more mentally taxing than it actually is. Or you just don't understand what goes into endurance training (I certainly don't eat back two hours worth of running calories). Or perhaps you're just shilling content for other sites.3 -
MeanderingMammal wrote: »stanmann571 wrote: »KellyPoetry wrote: »How much is too much?
For you? For me? For everyone?
In what way bad for you?
BTW I did over 300 hours of cycling last year, it certainly wasn't bad for me - but I'm not you....
20 minutes of (genuine) HIIT every day would be an awful routine by the way - true HIIT should be done at an intensity that requires proper recovery.
But my guess is you are just doing a variety of interval training and unlikely to be HIIT, certainly hope it isn't your routine as that would be a shortcut to injury.
How many times per week do you do HIIT? I love my elliptical but started incorporating HIIT, it's a great workout for my body tone and cardio/burning fat. Apparently it's better than hours of elliptical .. I like to switch it up
IT's not. Unless you're working to improve your VO2Max.
If your focus is on caloric burn, 20 minutes is less than hours. in fact, 20 minutes is less than 45.
To be fair, I'd rather dig my eyes out with a spoon than spend hours on the elliptical.
Oh I love my hours on the elliptical, I get to watch the shows my husband doesn't want to. I got so into Dark that I think some people at the gym thought I was having some kind of mid workout breakdown (episode 8, Ulrich, Anyone who's watched Dark will know what I mean)
And OP, you really don't know what you're talking about. So many people, myself included, use endurance cardio (in my case running) as part of anxiety management. In my case it has kept me off medication while dealing with generalised and social anxiety as well as post partum depression.
The 'afterburn' of hiit and weight lifting is often greatly overstated, and 20 minutes of hiit (which as others have stated would be an incredibly intense workout only done a couple times a week, if done properly) would have nothing on the calorie burn of my long runs.
Detox baths are not a thing. Epsom salts can possibly help with muscle repair after a long run but aren't necessary and are mostly a comfort/relaxing thing. You really really don't need to 'detox' after a run as runs aren't ingested toxins (the only thing real detoxes are needed for)3 -
My source is a weight training site called LiveLeanTV, and a functional medicine doctor named Chris Kresser. LiveLeanTV says that some cardio is better than nothing, but if you want to lose weight it's better to do weight lifting. Hours and hours of cardio won't get you very far in calorie burn because you are only losing calories WHILE you are working out. When you weight lift, you burn calories all day and the next day AFTER you workout.
I'm learning a lot from the athlete's posts here and I am very inspired by their ability and stamina to do so much exercise. But doesn't it produce too much cortisol and stress and that adds to your physical and mental diseases?
20 mins, true, is not a lot. However, 2 hours of running can be very stressful and you eat more. I'm not saying you shouldn't be an athlete. I'm saying stress management is a part of weight loss and overall health.
It depends on what your purpose for working out is. If it is to train for a marathon, then you would have to manage your stress pre and post workouts. A detox bath with epsom salts and essential oils would help.
If you are overweight and fatigued, or have a stress related disorder, then I why not try ten minutes a day of intervals?
mywell.blog
I think you need a better source.
Speaking as a long-term long distance cyclist who often puts in 6 to 10 hours a day on a bicycle with occasional ventures up into the 12-24 hour range ...
Cycling IS my stress management.
Tough day or week at work or university ... and a good, long ride can be just the thing. It gets me away from my computer, TV, people, noise etc., and gives me a chance to think. Me, my bicycle, fresh air, scenery, and my thoughts. Whatever the situation is, I can think it through and come up with options for a solution ... then release it because I have a plan ... and for the rest of the ride, I can think about other things and enjoy. When I finish a long ride, I have a sense of accomplishment. If I haven't been able to accomplish much else lately, at least I've accomplished that. It's encouraging.
And when it comes to running, which I've only recently started doing ... I've discovered that it too gives me that opportunity to think but also, by the end of a run, I get the "runner's high": the endorphin rush. I don't get that while cycling most of the time. Occasionally I will but not often. However when running, I get it after even a 5 km run. I feel great and I'm filled with energy!! So much so that after a run, I'd often go for a bicycle ride and then clean the house.
Sure, I eat more when I do a long ride or decent run than when I spend a day sitting in the office ... but I burn more too and need the fuel. There's a balance.
And sure a hot bath, or more often a hot shower combined with a bit of stretching, is a good way to end the day after a long ride ... but I don't need to "detox" and I don't need those "essential oils" and things. Hot water and some zinc oxide soap does it for me. 2 -
I don't stress when I go for a walk. I stress when I am cooped up and un-moving.
I **USED** to stress about going for a walk. That's because I was unable to do so without severe physical distress.
Don't make things too difficult for you: push to make improvements little by little and doing things you mostly enjoy... without killing yourself in the process.
"having" to do HIIT for 20 minutes (or even for 5) WOULD stress me out... just saying.2 -
I think endurance is definitely a wonderful thing if you can manage it.0
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My source is a weight training site called LiveLeanTV, and a functional medicine doctor named Chris Kresser. LiveLeanTV says that some cardio is better than nothing, but if you want to lose weight it's better to do weight lifting. Hours and hours of cardio won't get you very far in calorie burn because you are only losing calories WHILE you are working out. When you weight lift, you burn calories all day and the next day AFTER you workout.
I'm learning a lot from the athlete's posts here and I am very inspired by their ability and stamina to do so much exercise. But doesn't it produce too much cortisol and stress and that adds to your physical and mental diseases?
20 mins, true, is not a lot. However, 2 hours of running can be very stressful and you eat more. I'm not saying you shouldn't be an athlete. I'm saying stress management is a part of weight loss and overall health.
It depends on what your purpose for working out is. If it is to train for a marathon, then you would have to manage your stress pre and post workouts. A detox bath with epsom salts and essential oils would help.
If you are overweight and fatigued, or have a stress related disorder, then I why not try ten minutes a day of intervals?
mywell.blog
1) "Functional medicine doctors" are often crackpots who dispense woo as their primary prescription. And that definitely seems to be the case here.
2) EPOC is highly exaggerated and overrated, both from weight lifting and HIIT.
3) There's no such thing as a "detox bath" - that's more woo. As are "essential oils". Your body is perfectly equipped to "detox" itself and soaking in pretty-smelling water doesn't do anything to enhance that process. And stress is not a "toxin".
4) HIIT puts far more stress on the CNS than LISS cardio does. Most people who actually know what they're talking about recommend that HIIT not be done more than 1-2 times/week as part of a workout routine because it impairs recovery for other exercise.
5) For overweight and untrained individuals, HIIT is probably the worst possible exercise modality to recommend. Those people have not developed the aerobic capacity, muscle, strength in connective tissues or work capacity to handle an actual HIIT routine. Not only that, but HIIT, when done properly, is highly unpleasant - as in, you should be completely exhausted and near puking when you're finished. The most likely result of an overweight, out of shape person doing HIIT is crippling DOMS, with a side order of a high chance of injury. IF they complete the routine at all without giving up on exercise entirely.6 -
I think endurance is definitely a wonderful thing if you can manage it.
You've got to build up to it. You aren't going to go from couch to 100-mile ride or couch to half-marathon in a week.
For some, perhaps a 20 minute brisk walk is where they are right now, and that's a great start ... but then build from there. Next week, include a couple 30 min walks. Keep gradually increasing so that by the end of the month, there's been a 60 min walk. And so on.
I've been involved in cycling for 44 years, but I did have about 5 years between 17 and 23 where I didn't do much of it at all. However, I was still walking just about every day and figured I was in reasonable shape. Then at 23, I decided to get back into cycling again, and on April 29th that year, I dusted off my bicycle and set out for a ride. I cycled 2 miles and had to stop for a break at the 1 mile point.
That was a bit of a wake-up call!
By August I had built up so that I was cycling 50 mile rides. 2 -
I think endurance is definitely a wonderful thing if you can manage it.
You work up to being able to train for longer endurance sessions. Interval training (not true HIIT) has it place so if you want an effective method but shorter bouts of cardio (which also saves a person on time) certainly is a form of cardio that one can do or add to their workout regime. True HIIT training is so taxing on your body, recovery from this takes longer and can be done depending on fitness 1-2-3 times per week. Energy balance is crucial as it is for all forms of exercise.
So there is not wrong/right/best way to do your cardio, it depends on your overall fitness goals and/or what you are using the cardio for.
I went to your blog, particularly the Weight Training section and some of the information is not accurate. I highly suggest that you do some additional some research if you wish to produce a helpful article for those looking into exercise/cardio/strength training advice from your blog. You can gain some very helpful and factual insights right here searching in MFP for your content as well.
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Thanks for fitness tips.1
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