Need help with cardio...how long?

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pannellkat
pannellkat Posts: 709 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
My immediate goal for the next 5 weeks is to lose weight, lose fat, lose inches all together. I have been doing cardio 5 times a week about 50 minutes each gym visit burning average of 500 calories pushing harder and harder each time. I am on week 3 of cardio and I was thinking about adding in strength training this week but a friend of mine said DONT DO IT. He said if I am trying to lose fat to just keep doing the cardio for about 4 more weeks and then introduce weight lifting.

Does that sound right? How long do you stay doing cardio before you work on toning and building muscle ? Is there a magic number? My ultimate goal is to lose 30-35 lbs all together. Do I lose 20 and then say okay start weight training? How do you know when?

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  • karlira
    karlira Posts: 100
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    Im no expert but i've read that if you want to lose weight it is EXTREMELY important to do cardio AND strenght training.. The reason: muscle burns more fat, so having good muscles will raise your metabolism, that way you'll be burning more calories even at rest...

    Im doing both things....

    Hope this helps:drinker:
  • shalinik78
    shalinik78 Posts: 82
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    Im no expert but i've read that if you want to lose weight it is EXTREMELY important to do cardio AND strenght training.. The reason: muscle burns more fat, so having good muscles will raise your metabolism, that way you'll be burning more calories even at rest...

    Im doing both things....

    Hope this helps:drinker:

    I would totally agree with that ..... also I would like to add that its good as it would get you rid of the unwanted stored fat - if you get rid of that then you would stay healthier and lighter for long :D

    Cheers!
  • shalinik78
    shalinik78 Posts: 82
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    My immediate goal for the next 5 weeks is to lose weight, lose fat, lose inches all together. I have been doing cardio 5 times a week about 50 minutes each gym visit burning average of 500 calories pushing harder and harder each time. I am on week 3 of cardio and I was thinking about adding in strength training this week but a friend of mine said DONT DO IT. He said if I am trying to lose fat to just keep doing the cardio for about 4 more weeks and then introduce weight lifting.

    Does that sound right? How long do you stay doing cardio before you work on toning and building muscle ? Is there a magic number? My ultimate goal is to lose 30-35 lbs all together. Do I lose 20 and then say okay start weight training? How do you know when?
    [/quote
  • shalinik78
    shalinik78 Posts: 82
    Options
    My immediate goal for the next 5 weeks is to lose weight, lose fat, lose inches all together. I have been doing cardio 5 times a week about 50 minutes each gym visit burning average of 500 calories pushing harder and harder each time. I am on week 3 of cardio and I was thinking about adding in strength training this week but a friend of mine said DONT DO IT. He said if I am trying to lose fat to just keep doing the cardio for about 4 more weeks and then introduce weight lifting.

    Does that sound right? How long do you stay doing cardio before you work on toning and building muscle ? Is there a magic number? My ultimate goal is to lose 30-35 lbs all together. Do I lose 20 and then say okay start weight training? How do you know when?


    Oops forgot to add

    here's what I am doing and I am doing fine as per my fitness instructor - whom I keep posted on my schedules

    I work out 3 times a week for 1.5 hrs a day in total
    In that 1.5 hrs of time --- I first stretch for 10 mins then I do strength / resistance for 30 mins and
    then 45 mins of non stop Cardio but each time I use different machine ......

    I hope this shows you good results for me
    Lost 15 lb
    Lost 3 inches
    Lost 3 % Body Fat

    Gained - Lost Confidence :laugh:

    149532.png
    Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Calorie Counter
  • visiologist
    visiologist Posts: 45
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    "When" is NOW.

    Honestly you are unlikely to be able to BUILD muscle while you are losing weight, but your goal should be to NOT LOSE ANY. Strength training is essential no matter where you are in the process. Now, while you probably won't gain muscle, you will certainly gain STRENGTH.

    I would also recommend that you start working on increasing the intensity of your cardio, by alternating high and low intensities as you exercise, maybe 30 seconds at high intensity and 1 minute to 90 seconds low intensity. 50 minutes 5 times per week is an awful lot of time spent. Your metabolism will rev faster and burn more fat if you start pushing the energy level UP and the total time spent DOWN. The more you push your body into the ANaerobic (high intensity) mode while you work out, the faster your calorie burn throughout the rest of the day while you're working, sleeping and just going about your day.

    Mike
  • benw
    benw Posts: 211 Member
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    No better time than now. It will help keep muscle . When you do 50 minutes are you getting sweaty? 50 minutes is a good amount of time increase the intensitity. You may want to do upper body weight training one day and then lower body the next. Listen to your body though if you are sore give it a day off.
  • cntyboi
    cntyboi Posts: 5 Member
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    I would say that for the most part carido and weight training should go hand and hand. You know that you want to lose weight and everyone has given you some great advice but the biggest key to losing weight is not dieting but changing your lifestyle. I can see that you have started to do that already but I will offer up three things I feel are important, like watching what you eat (small meals about 6 plus), cardio and weight training(light weight and lots of rep. I hope that this helps and good luck to you with your goal.
  • pannellkat
    pannellkat Posts: 709 Member
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    No better time than now. It will help keep muscle . When you do 50 minutes are you getting sweaty? 50 minutes is a good amount of time increase the intensitity. You may want to do upper body weight training one day and then lower body the next. Listen to your body though if you are sore give it a day off.

    Sweaty yes after the first 25 minutes. When I first started at the gym, I would do 40 minutes cardio and never broke a sweat - I was more about time than burn. After I figured out how many calories I had to burn during exercise to lose 1/2 lb a week, I vowed to burn 500 cals per gym visit and that usually takes me about 45-50 minutes with lots of sweat in between.

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