Cardio...too much?
mslh84
Posts: 180
They had something at my gym posted saying that too much cardio can cause you to gain body fat...how is this possible? How much is too much?
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Replies
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I haven't heard this before! This is an outrage! I'm doing cardio almost every day so I hope not...0
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I've never heard of this. If that were true, then the Biggest Loser would have been a bust, don't you think?
I have been kickin' the cardio for months now, and I've lost a lot of body fat. I'm not giving it up...0 -
I don't believe it! Doesn't make any sense to me..you SURE that's what it said?? Haha jk0
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u should ask your gym what the sign means. maybe they r trying to deter cardio machine hogs.0
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Here was something I found on the net, i don't see that happening as long you continue healthy habits. I read in another forum where they thought the gym was trying to push personal trainers on people.
http://www.fitness-nutrition-weightloss.com/too-much-cardio-can-make-you-fat.html0 -
It sounds a little far fetched to me, but then again anything can be possible. Cardio is suppose to be great for the heart. I do cardo three times a week with my trainer and she is always concerned about my heart rate. I can ask my personal trainer if she has ever heard of this, since she is studying to be a health guru. I will add you as a friend and get back to you with her reply.
Otherwise I would ask one of the personal trainers at your gym this question and see what there response it.
Lori0 -
I am an ultra marathon runner and so are a lot of my friends. Most runners that put in the mileage that we put in do not have excess body fat. Look at the elite runners, the Kenyans. None of them have excess body fat. Just sayin'...... :bigsmile:0
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I could see it- in the situation where you are doing so much cardio that a) you are running out of available energy and your body is cannibalizing your muscles for energy and b) your daily deficit is extreme and throws you into starvation mode.0
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well too much cardio can be bad for you..
it can supposedly suppress your metabolism, plus the dangers on your heart (cardio megaly/congestive heart failure etc).
but what is too much cardio? anything more than an hour of cardio is not going to be condusive to a healthy lifestyle.
yes..too much cardio will cause muscle wasting0 -
it pertains to your body fat percentage. If you only do cardio exercises, you will lose WEIGHT, and the weight will be comprised partly of fat and partly of muscle tissue. edit: it is generally not desireable to lose muscle mass, because then your percentage of fat is higher. Fat takes up more room than muscle (it does not weigh less -- a pound is a pound -- but think of it as being fluffier than muscle).
So, theoretically, you might actually increase your body fat percentage even though your total weight is lower. If you do resistance training to build lean muscle mass you can decrease your body fat percentage, thereby reducing your overall size without necessarily reducing your weight (although the correct combination of cardio and strength training is preferred).
Same principle as to "skinny fat" people--those who don't work out, but stay small by dieting only--they are not toned. I have a friend like this. She has 23% body fat, and I have 18%, we are both 5'4 and both wear size 4 clothes. I weigh about 15 lbs. more than she does and that weight is lean muscle mass. It's why she's really squishy in the belly, legs and arms, while I am very toned.
Our "containers" so to speak, are the same size, but my "filling" is lean muscle mass while hers is fat.
So-- what the sign means, is that while cardio reduces the size of your "container", doing it solely will cause your container to be stuffed with fat only. If you compliment your cardio by adding weight training, you can instead fill your smaller container with lean muscle mass and it will look better and you will be physically stronger.
blessings.0 -
I posed this question to my personal trainer and she stated: "It makes no sense. It makes the heart stronger and where would the fat come from? Also look at marathon runners. They are tiny. And no fat!"0
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Too much cardio can raise your body fat percentage. Too much cardio without any strength training will cause your body to burn off muscle tissue instead of fat. While you technically won't gain fat pounds, your body fat percentage will go up because you will have less muscle tissue.
That's what that whole term "skinny-fat" is all about. People who have no muscle mass and a larger amount of relative body fat.0 -
i think it comes down to the core of a healthy diet and a healthy lifestyle - balance is key. too much of one food or one type of exercise isn't going to help you lose weight or maintain your ideal weight. everything has its own advantages and weaknesses. cardio's good for your heart, it's a stress reliever, and you'll increase your lifespan. what does strength training have over cardio? you continue to burn calories after lift (especially if you get a healthy snack RIGHT after you're finished) and it helps you to strengthen your joints and muscles so you can keep doing all the cardio you want.
you want to have balance and also some variety because fitness and weight loss is a mind game. if you're constantly running on the treadmill and doing little else, you might not get the results you want (i say might because everyone's body is different and responds differently to different stimuli). plus you can do work outs that mix strength training and cardio - like yoga and kick boxing.
for more on the benefits of strength training vs. cardio check out this women's health article http://www.womenshealthmag.com/fitness/cardio-vs-strength-training-workouts?page=10 -
well too much cardio can be bad for you..
it can supposedly suppress your metabolism, plus the dangers on your heart (cardio megaly/congestive heart failure etc).
but what is too much cardio? anything more than an hour of cardio is not going to be condusive to a healthy lifestyle.
yes..too much cardio will cause muscle wasting
No, it won't. Lack of eating causes muscle wasting, not excessive cardio.0 -
it pertains to your body fat percentage. If you only do cardio exercises, you will lose WEIGHT, and the weight will be comprised partly of fat and partly of muscle tissue. edit: it is generally not desireable to lose muscle mass, because then your percentage of fat is higher. Fat takes up more room than muscle (it does not weigh less -- a pound is a pound -- but think of it as being fluffier than muscle).
So, theoretically, you might actually increase your body fat percentage even though your total weight is lower. If you do resistance training to build lean muscle mass you can decrease your body fat percentage, thereby reducing your overall size without necessarily reducing your weight (although the correct combination of cardio and strength training is preferred).
Same principle as to "skinny fat" people--those who don't work out, but stay small by dieting only--they are not toned. I have a friend like this. She has 23% body fat, and I have 18%, we are both 5'4 and both wear size 4 clothes. I weigh about 15 lbs. more than she does and that weight is lean muscle mass. It's why she's really squishy in the belly, legs and arms, while I am very toned.
Our "containers" so to speak, are the same size, but my "filling" is lean muscle mass while hers is fat.
So-- what the sign means, is that while cardio reduces the size of your "container", doing it solely will cause your container to be stuffed with fat only. If you compliment your cardio by adding weight training, you can instead fill your smaller container with lean muscle mass and it will look better and you will be physically stronger.
blessings.
It seems in this discussion, people often equate "doing only cardio" with "dieting without doing any exercise at all", which is incorrect.
This concept that "cardio burns muscle" is so odd and bizarre that I actually did a little research the last few days to see if some how I had missed some huge new body of research.
What I found was what I expected--as long as one follows an eating plan appropriate to one's workout routine, one can do plenty of cardio--in one study 2.5 hrs per day--stay in positive nitrogen balance and suffer no loss of fat free mass, even with no resistance training.0 -
Too much cardio can raise your body fat percentage. Too much cardio without any strength training will cause your body to burn off muscle tissue instead of fat. While you technically won't gain fat pounds, your body fat percentage will go up because you will have less muscle tissue.
That's what that whole term "skinny-fat" is all about. People who have no muscle mass and a larger amount of relative body fat.
Losses in fat free mass are due to maintaining large calorie deficits with inadequate nutrition and no resistance training. From the standpoint that high volumes of cardio can contribute to a large calorie deficit, I suppose it is theoretically possible in extreme cases that excessive cardio could contribute to a loss of muscle--but not directly by itself.
With only a little time on PubMed, I came up with numerous studies that show positive nitrogen balance and no loss of FFM among subjects doing a LOT of cardio--as long as they followed an appropriate eating strategy.
Obviously, this is not to say that a cardio-only strategy is the best approach. There is no question that resistance training plays an important role not only for weight loss but for general health. But this movement to brand cardio exercise as somehow "evil" is much more about psychology than science IMO.0 -
I should've rephrased that as, "excessive cardio without properly fueling for the workout." What you said is pretty much what I meant, but I see I wasn't clear. It is a lack of fuel that leads to muscle burn over fat burn.0
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This is not true!!!! I'm doing cardio every day and my % fat has gone down!!! So I'm saying this is BULL CRAPPY!!!!!!!0
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Marathon runners also lack decent lean muscle tissue. Of course their goals are to be smaller anyway so they can run longer because of less weight, but when I've done BF testing (Lange calipers) many cardio only members have no muscle tone with the exception of their legs and end up having higher bodyfat % than they thought.I posed this question to my personal trainer and she stated: "It makes no sense. It makes the heart stronger and where would the fat come from? Also look at marathon runners. They are tiny. And no fat!"0 -
But to stay in positive nitrogen balance your protein intake would usually be higher, whereas the majority of marathon, and long distance runners will rely on carbs as their source for fuel nutrition. You don't see gel packs with protein contents. Most of them are potassium. sodium and carbs for ingredients. And before races people carb up.This concept that "cardio burns muscle" is so odd and bizarre that I actually did a little research the last few days to see if some how I had missed some huge new body of research.
What I found was what I expected--as long as one follows an eating plan appropriate to one's workout routine, one can do plenty of cardio--in one study 2.5 hrs per day--stay in positive nitrogen balance and suffer no loss of fat free mass, even with no resistance training.0 -
Thanks for all of the great replies. I thought this sounded a bit odd myself...I do 1 hour of cardio M-F each day...so a total of 5 days a week! That doesn't seem excessive to me!0
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But to stay in positive nitrogen balance your protein intake would usually be higher, whereas the majority of marathon, and long distance runners will rely on carbs as their source for fuel nutrition. You don't see gel packs with protein contents. Most of them are potassium. sodium and carbs for ingredients. And before races people carb up.This concept that "cardio burns muscle" is so odd and bizarre that I actually did a little research the last few days to see if some how I had missed some huge new body of research.
What I found was what I expected--as long as one follows an eating plan appropriate to one's workout routine, one can do plenty of cardio--in one study 2.5 hrs per day--stay in positive nitrogen balance and suffer no loss of fat free mass, even with no resistance training.
That has nothing to do with the issue.
The statement being made (cardio burns muscle) implicitly if not explicitly states that it is some inherent mechanism of the cardiovascular exercise itself that results in "muscle burn". Or that "cardio is useless for fat loss". Or that "cardio kills metabolism". It is disingenuous to suggest otherwise--that these "trainers" REALLY mean "excessive cardio without adequate protein intake could lead to losses in fat free mass."
Inadequate protein intake, regardless of one's activity level or regardless of type of activity will bead to negative nitrogen balance. To selectively apply this to cardiovascular exercise suggests that one is trying to defend an ideological position rather than a scientific one.0 -
well too much cardio can be bad for you..
it can supposedly suppress your metabolism, plus the dangers on your heart (cardio megaly/congestive heart failure etc).
but what is too much cardio? anything more than an hour of cardio is not going to be condusive to a healthy lifestyle.
yes..too much cardio will cause muscle wasting
umm, had it not been for cardio, ie, the treadmill, I would still be 80 lbs heavier than I am now, at a total of 150 lbs lost
I was so big, there was no way I could get down on all 4s and do pushups, or crunches. I had to start out just walking on a treadmill then after 8 months or so, for me, I started lifting weights and using the weight machines....
I took the most of my weight off because of cardio........and that lowered my bad cholesterols and raised my good cholesterols, and cardio helped me get to 130 total cholesterol, no more elevated liver functions, no more belly fat, no more high triglicerides and I have been taken off of high blood pressure medicine because of a cardio machine I also am free of exercise induced asthma, because of using the cardio equipment as well..........
I dont know why youd say this, but youre wrong.......consult a physician, I did and have 2 in the family..........they swear by cardio to help the heart...................Good luck, Lloyd0 -
I think the issue here are that people are ignoring the word "excessive." Not fueling your body enough for the amount of cardio exercise you are doing can be detrimental to your health. Eating a bare minimum of 1200 calories a day, and then running off and burning 1000 calories doing cardio, without eating those calories back, is harmful to overall health, by causing you to retain body fat and lose muscle mass.
If you are fueling yourself properly, you can do as much cardio as you want.0 -
it pertains to your body fat percentage. If you only do cardio exercises, you will lose WEIGHT, and the weight will be comprised partly of fat and partly of muscle tissue. edit: it is generally not desireable to lose muscle mass, because then your percentage of fat is higher. Fat takes up more room than muscle (it does not weigh less -- a pound is a pound -- but think of it as being fluffier than muscle).
So, theoretically, you might actually increase your body fat percentage even though your total weight is lower. If you do resistance training to build lean muscle mass you can decrease your body fat percentage, thereby reducing your overall size without necessarily reducing your weight (although the correct combination of cardio and strength training is preferred).
Same principle as to "skinny fat" people--those who don't work out, but stay small by dieting only--they are not toned. I have a friend like this. She has 23% body fat, and I have 18%, we are both 5'4 and both wear size 4 clothes. I weigh about 15 lbs. more than she does and that weight is lean muscle mass. It's why she's really squishy in the belly, legs and arms, while I am very toned.
Our "containers" so to speak, are the same size, but my "filling" is lean muscle mass while hers is fat.
So-- what the sign means, is that while cardio reduces the size of your "container", doing it solely will cause your container to be stuffed with fat only. If you compliment your cardio by adding weight training, you can instead fill your smaller container with lean muscle mass and it will look better and you will be physically stronger.
blessings.
It seems in this discussion, people often equate "doing only cardio" with "dieting without doing any exercise at all", which is incorrect.
This concept that "cardio burns muscle" is so odd and bizarre that I actually did a little research the last few days to see if some how I had missed some huge new body of research.
What I found was what I expected--as long as one follows an eating plan appropriate to one's workout routine, one can do plenty of cardio--in one study 2.5 hrs per day--stay in positive nitrogen balance and suffer no loss of fat free mass, even with no resistance training.
no, that's not what I said at all. I am a cardio NUT; I ride miles and miles on my bike, teach spin, dance, etc. I also do core and upper body resistance training by paddleboarding 3x/week. I said that my friend diets and without any exercise at all as an example of someone who has more body fat than I do even though we are exactly the same size.0 -
This is not true!!!! I'm doing cardio every day and my % fat has gone down!!! So I'm saying this is BULL CRAPPY!!!!!!!
The more fat you have to lose, the more fat you will lose. This really applies to people who are already within a healthy or athletic body composition state.
The point is you can't lose ONLY fat with cardio only, some of the weight will come from muscle loss. Therefore it is possible that the overall RATIO of body fat could be larger.
Once the body doesn't have much fat left, it will pull from everywhere, not just fat, for energy if it does not have enough fuel. It does not say "wait, let me find the fat first".
If I lost 10 lbs, and 4 of it was fat while 6 of it was muscle, my overall bodyfat percentage would be higher.
edit: BTW, this is why it's important to eat your exercise calories back, especially once you are fit. If you fail to fuel your workouts properly, your metabolism will slow and you will become weaker, fatigued and you will eat up your muscle causing the overall body fat percentage to increase.
Overweight, unfit people who start their weightloss doing cardio only and not eating back exercise calories have success for a while until their body starts to reach the normal range. It's because they have such a large bodyfat %. Suddenly, as they approach "those last 10 lbs", they plateau. If they don't understand about FUEL for muscle mass, they will often try to eat even less and exercise even more. Vicious circle. Then their body will be used to so few calories the metabolism slows down. They have some special occasion and gain 5 lbs. from 1 dang piece of cake. they get frustrated, binge, gain and quit.
Worth the time to educate yourself, because what works for your body now will NOT work for it when you reach a normal healthy range.
blessings.0 -
I've noticed over the last 3 or 4 days my weight has stayed about the same...with the same amount of exercise and what I've been eating...I've been going to the gym about 3 weeks now and lost 8 lbs...but it seems to have slowed down...I only do strength/weight training like 3 times a week, at about 30 minutes a session...the Personal trainer I met with today said I shouldn't be doing more than 30 minutes of cardio a day, other than one day a week I can do 1 hour. He said that it uses your body fat and slows down your metabolism, one reason because your body gets use to the routine. Its all new to me, but I don't want the progress to stop...I want it to continue. I don't expect to lose a lb a day or even a lb every 2 days...but it was just falling off, and now seems to be staying the same...0
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maybe they mean excessive cardio with no weight training? Excessive cardio can start to take away from muscle mass and less muscle means more of something else!0
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cardio will never burn muscle unless you use up the body's store of glycogen AND fat. Only people in the last stages of starvation mode will burn muscle off.0
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I've noticed over the last 3 or 4 days my weight has stayed about the same...with the same amount of exercise and what I've been eating...I've been going to the gym about 3 weeks now and lost 8 lbs...but it seems to have slowed down...I only do strength/weight training like 3 times a week, at about 30 minutes a session...the Personal trainer I met with today said I shouldn't be doing more than 30 minutes of cardio a day, other than one day a week I can do 1 hour. He said that it uses your body fat and slows down your metabolism, one reason because your body gets use to the routine. Its all new to me, but I don't want the progress to stop...I want it to continue. I don't expect to lose a lb a day or even a lb every 2 days...but it was just falling off, and now seems to be staying the same...
And that's just not true. Unfortunately, a lot of personal trainers seem susceptible to chasing whatever buzzword or fad is in vogue that particular week.
Cardiovascular exercise does not "slow your metabolism". That's such utter nonsense that the only way someone can say that with a straight face is if they are just blindly repeating something they heard or read without even thinking about it.
Weight loss plateaus can be frustrating and weight loss success is uneven. Everyone wants to find a simple reason why they are not seeing the success they want.
The single biggest reason why weight loss plateaus is because people go back into energy balance. They either decrease their casual activity, subtly increase their caloric intake, or both. That's not the only reason, but it is so prevalent that it is always the first place you should look. In addition, many people here overestimate their exercise calories and eat back too much.
Weight loss can also stall when people go into the opposite direction--they combine a high volume of high intensity exercise with a low calorie intake. This can lead to chronically elevated levels of stress hormones. If you have been trying to maintain 1200 calories a day for a while, you might want to consider a "diet break" of 7 days, eating at maintenance.
Since you are already putting in the time, I would look at the quality of your workouts. If you are not doing so, I would do a couple of days of harder intervals/circuit workouts, and make sure you are pushing hard on the weights.0
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