Is doing cardio 2x per day a bad idea?

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  • SassyCalyGirl
    SassyCalyGirl Posts: 1,932 Member
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    It seems a bit pointless to me. Just go for a walk. The most important thing is keeping moving as much as you can throughout the day. Doing 45 mins on a treadmill is pointless if you spend the rest of your day sitting down.

    This is ludicrous. For instance, how would you advise those of us who work at desks?

    I wouldn't take advise from anyone that says any amount of exercise is "pointless".....just sayin
  • ArroganceInStep
    ArroganceInStep Posts: 6,239 Member
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    It seems a bit pointless to me. Just go for a walk. The most important thing is keeping moving as much as you can throughout the day. Doing 45 mins on a treadmill is pointless if you spend the rest of your day sitting down.

    it seems even more pointless spending the day sitting including that 45 mins that you can run on treadmill.

    I'm not saying sit on your *kitten*. But most people would get more benefit from moving more every day than going to the gym for 45 mins. Seriously, watch the Horizon program, it explains it all much better than I can in a few sentences on here. If you have a desk job you can still move more. Get up and walk around the office and talk to people instead of sending them emails, use the stairs, in the evening, instead of plonking yourself down on the sofa, keep moving around. Things like that.

    I'm not preaching, I am not claiming anything new, this is all common knowledge.

    It's not that you have a bad point, it's just that your way of communicating it is really not going to jive with a lot of folks.

    Being more active in your day to day life is a very worthwhile endeavor I agree, but that certainly doesn't make dedicated gym time pointless. Additionally, there are levels of physical fitness that you may never be able to achieve without actively working towards those goals. My max squat isn't going to go up by getting up at work and walking over to my coworker, nor is my fastest time on a mile swim going to improve by walking to the supermarket instead of driving.

    The things you mention are good components of a healthy and active lifestyle, but the certainly don't make gym time worthless.
  • raven56706
    raven56706 Posts: 918 Member
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    just dont hold the handle bars... that isnt good for you.you are just cheating yourself
  • Grandysl
    Grandysl Posts: 189
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    It seems a bit pointless to me. Just go for a walk. The most important thing is keeping moving as much as you can throughout the day. Doing 45 mins on a treadmill is pointless if you spend the rest of your day sitting down.

    it seems even more pointless spending the day sitting including that 45 mins that you can run on treadmill.

    I'm not saying sit on your *kitten*. But most people would get more benefit from moving more every day than going to the gym for 45 mins. Seriously, watch the Horizon program, it explains it all much better than I can in a few sentences on here. If you have a desk job you can still move more. Get up and walk around the office and talk to people instead of sending them emails, use the stairs, in the evening, instead of plonking yourself down on the sofa, keep moving around. Things like that.

    I'm not preaching, I am not claiming anything new, this is all common knowledge.

    If it is "common knowledge" how come most of us here think that your statement is BS? Yes, one should always move as much as possible, including cardio training. I think the way you worded your initial post is what has most of us thinking that you dont really know what you are talking about.
  • tahoe5280
    tahoe5280 Posts: 4
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    Thanks to everyone for the input, I found it really insightful. I went ahead yesterday and did a second cardio session (part one was 45 min, part two, I took it easy and went 30 min at a slower pace).

    The good news is when I went for my morning walk, I felt stronger, more focused and I had more stamina than I have since I started. I did intervals of slow then quick for the first 15 min then spent the last 30 min at the higher pace. I've never had that much stamina before today.

    The bad news is I did my 2nd session yesterday waaaay too close to the time I went to bed and spent 3 hours tossing and turning trying to get my body to relax before I could actually fall asleep. The easy solution for me would be to just do my 2nd session at least 6 hours before my bedtime and I am pretty sure I'll be fine. Fortunately, I have a pretty relaxed schedule, so I won't have a problem doing this.

    PS: To answer those who are asking why I'm not doing weight lifting, I'm on a keto diet. I've read that while you're doing keto (unless you've been doing it for several months), your body may burn lean muscle instead of using fat as fuel, and they recommend carb cycling (periods of eating carbs for lifting weights, then dropping back into ketosis, or something). I've heard conflicting opinions from people about this, so I would rather just keep things simple and stick with just doing a beastly amount of cardio until I get down to about 195lbs. At that point, I'll focus on sculpting my body through weight lifting and see what diet modifications I need to do at that point.
  • Huffdogg
    Huffdogg Posts: 1,934 Member
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    PS: To answer those who are asking why I'm not doing weight lifting, I'm on a keto diet. I've read that while you're doing keto (unless you've been doing it for several months), your body may burn lean muscle instead of using fat as fuel, and they recommend carb cycling (periods of eating carbs for lifting weights, then dropping back into ketosis, or something). I've heard conflicting opinions from people about this, so I would rather just keep things simple and stick with just doing a beastly amount of cardio until I get down to about 195lbs.

    A keto diet is only going to catabolize muscle if you are already very lean. And if muscle loss is your fear, the best way to avoid it is to lift. Doing vast quantities of cardio is certainly not going to encourage your body to hold onto that muscle.
  • penroseg
    penroseg Posts: 53 Member
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    bump
  • dad106
    dad106 Posts: 4,868 Member
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    PS: To answer those who are asking why I'm not doing weight lifting, I'm on a keto diet. I've read that while you're doing keto (unless you've been doing it for several months), your body may burn lean muscle instead of using fat as fuel, and they recommend carb cycling (periods of eating carbs for lifting weights, then dropping back into ketosis, or something). I've heard conflicting opinions from people about this, so I would rather just keep things simple and stick with just doing a beastly amount of cardio until I get down to about 195lbs.

    A keto diet is only going to catabolize muscle if you are already very lean. And if muscle loss is your fear, the best way to avoid it is to lift. Doing vast quantities of cardio is certainly not going to encourage your body to hold onto that muscle.

    What he said.

    When you do cardio, you are burning both fat and muscle.. and since you wondering about upping your metabolism, having muscle is the way to do it.

    So do cardio, lift and see the weight start to drop.
  • ArroganceInStep
    ArroganceInStep Posts: 6,239 Member
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    Thanks to everyone for the input, I found it really insightful. I went ahead yesterday and did a second cardio session (part one was 45 min, part two, I took it easy and went 30 min at a slower pace).

    The good news is when I went for my morning walk, I felt stronger, more focused and I had more stamina than I have since I started. I did intervals of slow then quick for the first 15 min then spent the last 30 min at the higher pace. I've never had that much stamina before today.

    The bad news is I did my 2nd session yesterday waaaay too close to the time I went to bed and spent 3 hours tossing and turning trying to get my body to relax before I could actually fall asleep. The easy solution for me would be to just do my 2nd session at least 6 hours before my bedtime and I am pretty sure I'll be fine. Fortunately, I have a pretty relaxed schedule, so I won't have a problem doing this.

    PS: To answer those who are asking why I'm not doing weight lifting, I'm on a keto diet. I've read that while you're doing keto (unless you've been doing it for several months), your body may burn lean muscle instead of using fat as fuel, and they recommend carb cycling (periods of eating carbs for lifting weights, then dropping back into ketosis, or something). I've heard conflicting opinions from people about this, so I would rather just keep things simple and stick with just doing a beastly amount of cardio until I get down to about 195lbs. At that point, I'll focus on sculpting my body through weight lifting and see what diet modifications I need to do at that point.

    Here's the thing (and I'm speaking in generalizations here based mostly from stuff I've read from bodyrecomposition.com. That site says it much better than I ever could). If you are very overweight, and have a high ratio of fat to lean body mass, when you lose weight your body will tend to burn more fat than it otherwise would. Additionally pure cardio will burn more calories, and thus lead to greater direct weight loss, than weight lifting will. These two facts might make it seem like heavy cardio upfront to burn weight and holding off on lifting until later is a good idea. And don't get me wrong, if you're happy with what you're doing, by all means stick with what works for you. I do think that you'll experience greater frustration down the road though if you stick with this plan.

    Very obese people have the benefit of being able to build small quantities of lean body mass from lifting while eating at a caloric deficit. This is extremely important because when you get down to a lower weight and that's no longer possible, you'll have to eat at a calorie surplus (and end up gaining some fat in the process) to get that muscle that you would've picked up for 'free' already. In the long run it ends up being much more efficient to start earlier.

    You also mention being unable to sleep with doing cardio right before bed. One of the things that I love about lifting is that I can do it as late as I like and it doesn't hurt my ability to sleep any. I recognize your schedule is flexible, but I think it would be 'easier' if you did cardio in the morning and lifting in the evening.

    Although at high weights the calories burned from cardio really starts to add up. It definitely helps with weight loss, but it certainly isn't the biggest thing. A healthy deficit in your diet is REALLY what matters. You can do cardio for days, but it's always easier to out-eat your workouts. That being said, the burn from the extra cardio session, while nice, won't make or break your diet. Wouldn't you rather get a jump start on building strength, so that when you do get to 195 you're already strong?

    Once again this is my opinion, and since we all know opinions from the interweb are NEVER wrong, take it with a grain of salt. I'm starting from a pretty high weight myself, and I've lost comparable to you and I think have comparable end weight goals. Light cardio and a heavy lifting regime coupled with a smart diet (I'm doing a slightly moderated Rapid Fat Loss diet, which is a PSMF, if that matters) is what's working for me. I think it might help you achieve your ultimate goals faster as well. Good luck either way.


    PS: Read everything on bodyrecomposition.com, you won't regret it.
  • maxonehiphop
    maxonehiphop Posts: 139 Member
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    It seems a bit pointless to me. Just go for a walk. The most important thing is keeping moving as much as you can throughout the day. Doing 45 mins on a treadmill is pointless if you spend the rest of your day sitting down.

    What?

    Ditto on the "what?"
    so people that have jobs where they sit for the majority of 8 - 12 hours a day shouldn't do any cardio? That is the whole reason I started doing cardio.
  • Riyam
    Riyam Posts: 25
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    You should only do it if you've hit a plateau, as a last resort!
  • nrsymom
    nrsymom Posts: 65 Member
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    Go for it!! Moving as much and as often as you can will only help your progress!
  • Erinslove
    Erinslove Posts: 139
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    It seems a bit pointless to me. Just go for a walk. The most important thing is keeping moving as much as you can throughout the day. Doing 45 mins on a treadmill is pointless if you spend the rest of your day sitting down.

    What?

    EXTRA WHAT???
  • stephengray52035
    stephengray52035 Posts: 1
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    Hey, I know this is a little old but I know people still google this subject and look for answers. I have wrestled for a very long time and I do not follow the weight cutting of my dad's era. I am in o the belief that you start 3 months out and do it right. This means good food intake, drink lots of water and work out 2 times a day, yes! 2 times a day 6 days a week is amazing for you and with the right calorie intake you will shed weight off in no time. Listen people, this is so basic it frustrates me! Especially when I see all these fat pills and liposuction crap on TV and the internet. All you have to do it burn more calories then you eat and make sure to cut out carbohydrates after 5pm. You need carbs when doing work outs 2 times a day and you need that energy to work hard in the gym. At night for dinner I eat fish and chicken and a lot of salad and veggies. For desert I eat lots of fruits such as bananas, apples, and greek yogurt that is plain and sugar free. I put honey and vanilla extract in it and it is natural and amazing. I cut out alcohol and any soda. All I drink is water. The cardio I do is incline at a 15% grade on level 4.3 for 60 min. That usually gives me 1,300 calories and 3 miles. I do that 2 times a day that equals 2,600 calories plus my 2,400 calories of basic life. That is 5,000 calories burned in a 24 hour period. I eat 1500-1800 calories a day so my calorie deficit is 3,200 calories. I burn roughly 2 pounds every 2 days and my weight loss has totaled 30 pounds in 30 days. I am not fat either, I was 6'2'' 240 pounds and am now 210 pounds 12.3% body fat. I am still going and this has worked for me. It took me 2 weeks to get up to the 2 of days and was worth every blister and every shin splint! Go hard or go Home. Hope this helps and if anyone needs help, look me up!
  • agentnolo
    agentnolo Posts: 1
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    DO IT, IS GOOD TO SHOCK YOUR BODY ONCE AN A WHILE IN ORDER TO PASS A PLATEAU.

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