How long is too long to exercise? HELP!

I am no expert, but I know that some of the really healthiest people alive are marathoners, cyclists, triathaloners, the athletes who do endurance sports are the most rock-solid low body fat athletes around.

I don't think you are hurting anything if you briskly walk for a two hour movie- I think that is awesome!

I'd use a heart rate monitor to accurately know what you're burning, so you can adjust your intake appropriately, and go for it!

if your joints get sore, reduce it, but why restrict yourself to an hour of exercise if you feel good doing it?

Well, people take 15 hours to complete an Ironman. And live to tell about it. :laugh:

What you should be doing depends on your goals. I'm working towards a Half Marathon and that means I need to get my mileage up to 13 mi at a time. There is no way I'm going to do that limiting myself to an hour at a time and my heart rate in a certain rage. I just got back from a 2 hour run, in fact.

But one thing I do know, any article that says not to go over a certain level is BUNK. The fastest way to make fitness gains is to do intervals where you alternate really short intense exercise with short periods of recovery.

The advice to not workout at higher intensities stems from some research that shows that when you exercise in a certain target heart rate zone, you burn a higher % of fat at the time compared to higher intensity levels. But what they don't understand is that, if you work at a higher intensity, you burn more calorie and so when your body rebalances your energy stores while you sleep, it will take the fat then. The more calories you burn, the more fat you burn overall in the long run and the higher your heart rate, the more calories you burn.

Now, there are good reasons to limit yourself, but they don't apply to everyone. Some people get burned out if they start out too intensely and/or do it for too long. Some people get injuries because they are always working at their top intensity for long periods of a time. You need to have recovery time because that's when all the fitness gains are made. (Exercise tears down your muscles; rest is when they get built back up.)

It sounds to me like you were doing something that worked for you. You might want to try throwing some other types and intensities of exercise into the mix, for variety and to make sure you are getting a balanced workout, but I wouldn't stop what you were doing completely if it's working for you.

Well, I power walk every morning with my dog for two hours, I really didn't check me but he went to the vet every month and the vet monitored him as we did more miles in the same time frame, build up to it slowly he said, and baby will be ok, we did it as his pace he laid down as he wanted, took 100's of breaks, now we are doing, non stop but for water breaks ( he noses the hose from my water pack when he thirsty)

I also do hour of stairs and no issues, so build it slowly I counted one round (up and down again) on knitting counter wrote down how many rounds I could do in that hour and just aimed for more as time went on, your breathing and knees will tell you stop and rest if you want to stay verical now.

Intervals are the smart way to go these days...they keep your heart rate up, and down a bit, mostly up...you're building strenghth and doing things to increase your resting metab...and you can do way shorter workouts. efficiency and balance.

Cindy

To accurately track your calories burned, the formula needs to know your heart rate as well as your weight.

Even then, these formulas are just estimates so I tend to knock off about 10% of the calories it says I've burned, just be safe.

I am working out with a trainer now and she told me that anything over 45min(for cardio) you start burning muscle instead of fat.

She's misinformed.

I'm pretty sure you can do as much as you feel up to it (listen to your body and stop when it tells you to, but if you feel great than keep going if you please), but after an hour or so you start to lose your electolites (sp?) so you need to drink a sports drink in addition to your water to help keep it balanced.

I've also heard that after two hours of cardio it starts to stress the body too much and can negatively impact your workout. Not sure if this is true or not, my body reaches its breaking point around 90-110 minutes so I've never pushed past that.

I, too, have been working with a personal trainer. While she hasn't ever really given limits to anything, she is of the opinion that it is better to get in several cardio/strength sessions a week, even if they are shorter in time (approx 30) minutes, rather than one or two at 60 or more minutes. Also, our workout sessions are always a full hour which exceeds someone else's trainers advice of limiting to 45 minutes.

In the beginning I would go to the gym and catch my Life Time movie :laugh: and workout n the treadmill for 2 hours. it was so easy when I was watching tv and id burn 1200 calories if not more each workout. Recently iv heard moderation and that anything over an hour is not good. Has anyone talked to a trainer or a nutritionist that has clarified this? I did the 6 week body makeover a long time ago by Michael Thermond and i know it said no more than an hour and keep your heart rate at a certain level......any thoughts knowledge or advice appreciated GREATLY! :drinker:

I have been told the same thing when I was working with a trainer..............

Cardio - you can do more than an hour to build endurance

Strength Training - weight lifting, your body gets no more out of it than 45 minutes to an hour...after that, it is potential to hurt yourself more than help it.

With this much exercise, I think the biggest thing to consider is the possibility of an overuse injury. It could happen anywhere: the ball of your foot, your ankle, your knee or your hip flexor/hip. If you overtrain and get an overuse injury (think the stress fracture that this last season's Biggest Loser constestant sustained), you will be down for the count WITHOUT the ability to do any exercise.

Make sure you're warmed up before you start any intervals, make sure you stretch after you exercise, and only gradually increase your time/distance. If you DO feel pain in a joint, get to a physical therapist and make sure you rest so it gets better! I think overuse injuries present as initial pain that goes away when you're exercising.

The most recent research I've read indicates that your body only burns fat when you're at rest. I've also read that it's important to eat high quality food soon after eating to restore your muscle stores.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Exercise-Myths---Spot-Reduction-and-the-Fat-Burning-Zone&id=2528084

Make sure you're eating enough NET calories, too.

Good luck!

There's no need to do more than 60 minutes of cardio per day, but if you feel like doing more, just make sure you eat enough to support the rebuilding of muscle (muscle is constantly being broken down and rebuilt- it's normal). It's highly unlikely that the average person is going to over-exercise. Our biggest mistake is thinking we can exercise like crazy, and not feed our bodies enough.

http://www.weightlossforall.com/aerobic exercise.htm

This kind of brings up my question

According to the calorie counter I need to stay at 1200 calories a day in order to reach a goal of 2 lbs. weight loss per week.

When I do cardio (30 mins on the elliptical) I burn about 425 calories and I add that to the exercise tracker. The Calorie Counter then adds the calories I burned into my total calories for the day. Does that mean I have to consume 1625 calories on the days I work out in order to lose weight?

Sorry, I got off topic.

There are no hard, fast rules. Your exercise plan should be one that works for you and works towards your ultimate goal. How long you can safely exercise depends on how intensely you are working and on your fitness level. In general, if you are doing high intensity cardio you will burn fat less efficiently after one hour and begin to burn a higher percentage of muscle. But you burn a percentage of muscle, no matter how long you exercise. You body will burn available glycogen stores first, then a percentage of fat and muscle. The percentages depend on your intensity level and on the length of time you exercise. Unless you're a body builder, it's the details are really not that important.

You will notice that marathon runners are very lean. They have very low percentages of fat, but they also don't carry a lot of muscle. What they have is strong and toned, but they aren't going to build bulk. That's what long, intense cardio can do for you. Body builders do enough cardio to burn fat, but no more than that. They want large muscle mass so they limit their cardio.

for the rest of us, it's really a matter of personal choice and how many calories you want to burn. You will burn the same number (or close to) calories by running for a solid hour or by walking briskly for two hours. I personally hate to run and don't really enjoy high intensity cardio, I prefer to work at a lower intensity for a longer time.

It's more important to listen to what your mind and body are telling you. If you become too fatigued, do less or if you begin to feel that your body is overworked and in danger of injury, do less.

I don't think it is a problem to work out more than 2 hours a day. Like it was mentioned before, athletes, marathon runners, dancers all workout more than 2 hours a day. Also the contestants on the Biggest Loser workout for 5-6 hours a day for 3 months! And you see how intense those workouts are! So I don't think 2 hours on a treadmill is hurting anything. You just have to make sure your body can handle it. If you aren't hurting the keep going.