Do you agree with this?

No!

Russ

Interval training doesn't target your waistline.

Where did you get this from?

I was doing high intensity cardio (Insanity dvd) 30-35 minutes a day (4 days/week) for 4 weeks and was steadily losing 1-2 pounds a week. I was burning about 300-450 calories per workout (hrm reading). So, no, I don't think you have to do an hour. Remember cardio is giving you a deficit so really its about what you're putting in your mouth. If you want to lower your body fat without sacrificing muscle you'll want to do strength training and eat enough.

"If you really want to melt away unwanted pounds, the kind of cardio you do matters. You must exercise for at least an hour a day, five times a week, doing heart-pumping, high-intensity cardio like running, biking, swimming, or dancing. Keep in mind that interval training targets your waistline, so mix up your pace for even faster results."

I have been doing 30 mins of cardio on the bike. One hour seems like a lot...how about 45 min?

I need to step up my workout plan. Maybe I can do 30 mins in the am and 30 mins in the pm. Has anyone noticed better results while doing cardio for one hour? Do you break it up into 2 workouts? I do not have one hour but can break it up into 2 half hour cardio sessions.

Thanks!


The amount of exercise you do is dependent on the pounds needed to loose, body type, metabolism etc etc etc. It is impossible to follow one general rule of thumb in order to loose weight. You will find that once you find something that works for you, you will need to chagne it up to break through that eventual plateau.

With all that being said. I do 30 minutes of walking 3-4 days a week and slim in 6 series about 4-5 days a week which are typically one hour long. I break it up just for time sense.
Also keep in mind your calorie intake with all of this encreased exercising, dont go below your bmr.

It's different for everyone. How is 30 minutes on the bike working for you? If it's working well for you, keep it up. If you are not seeing the results that you want to see, you may want to step it up and do some higher impact cardio. Add weight training and you'll really see results. If I did 30 minutes on a bike each day I would not see any results.

The thickness of the Saran Wrap around one's midsection makes all the difference.

I would add strength training before increasing the duration of your cardio workout.

I think there is some indirect truth to it.

I believe you can lose weight by diet alone.

I also believe that some stubborn fat needs to be attacked with a mix of diet and exercise.

I also believe you need to implement a plan that you can maintain.

More exercise isn't going to kill you and I would venture out to say it is still very good for you regardless of the intensity within reason. I am currently a little neutral on the whole "fat burning zone" concept. I am sure it is optimal but I have a hard time believing that working outside of those limits offer no results.

It has been proven you can not spot reduce fat but it is also a fairly common to hear that exercise can help get rid of visceral fat. Some will say calories is all that matters. I tend to lean towards diet and exercise because I believe it helps get your metabolism running better than just diet alone. For example when I exercise my eating is much more natural or urgent than when I am being "lazy" for a few days.

This is just my opinion and I am open to it being corrected with real life examples.....

I lost 40 pounds from hiking. Walking (yup, not walking or jogging or skipping or limping) up hill is an amazing way to get your cardio up and avoid the monotony of the treadmill. I would hike Mon, Wed, Fri for about an hour and a half and then go for a longer hike around 3 or 4 hours on Saturdays.

disagree.
[edit]
"If you really want to melt away unwanted pounds, the kind of cardio you do matters. You must exercise for at least an hour a day, five times a week, doing heart-pumping, high-intensity cardio like running, biking, swimming, or dancing. Keep in mind that interval training targets your waistline, so mix up your pace for even faster results."

Wait. I agree and i disagree.

The KIND of cardio does matter.
But I don't think you have to do an hour of it.

HIIT for 20 mins > 60 mins of steady state cardio

that's my official opinion.
I think this works your waistline in the sense that it burns more body fat overall....not a spot reduce, but a bigger reduction all around.

also, you can't do HIIT 5 x's a week. Every other day is about as good as I have been able to do it.

My plan:
HIIT 10-20 mins 3x's a week
heavy lifting 3x's a week
"off days" a steady state jog/bike ride/ long walks
and have as much fun as possible using my body (surf, rock climb, dance)

Also, to target stomach fat, one must eat right. The amount of calories is somehting I can't figure out (when you are lifting heavy everyone says to eat more than I do. I still net 1200-1400 cals a day).... But eating clean is imperative. I used to weigh 50 lbs more. Now I can't see a 6 pack, but i see some of my ab muscles (obliques and 2 upper ab muscles) when I flex and i can do pull ups (which I never coudl before). I don't eat clean though. I try sometimes, but I just don't have the discipline right now for it....

No exercise can target body fat on any part of your body. That part is pure BS. Your body stores fat and loses fat all over the body, with higher concentration areas that are based on that body.

As for the exercise part of that.....a sweeping generalization that means nothing. What works for one person may or may not work for another. Eating at a deficit you can lose weight without exercise. You can do excellent cardiovascular training in well under and hour. I have worked up to doing 30-45 minutes of cardio, 3-5 times per week and have seen great improvements in my cardiovascular fitness in addition to losing right about 40 lbs in just over 4 months.

Try different exercises and exercise routines. Find something you like doing that will push your heart rate and burn some calories, be it for 10 minutes or an hour. Do some weight training in addition to cardio workouts to tone and build lean muscle, since muscle burns a lot more calories at rest than fat does.

I don't think you need to do a whole hour. Just burn more than you eat and you will lose weight.

Also...

I think it depends where you are at. Steady state cardio helped me lose 50 lbs. I was alllll about the running. I was training for half marathons and would run 2-7 miles a couple times a week. I think if your BMI is over the "normal" range, then any combo of counting calories and steady state will do it fine....and I still don't think you have to do a full hour five times a week. Seriously.

But now that I'm in a healthy BMI and my goals are to see my ab muscles, steady state doesn't cut it anymore. That's why I do HIIT now. Also, my weight lifting takes an hour and I"m a single mom so I can't spend an hour on weights AND an hour on cardio, so that's why I use HIIt to max out as much as I can in as little time as I can.

I can't speak to how HIIT compares to steady state when you are "overweight" as I didn't discover HIIT until later. But I can't imagine it is bad! Running 7 miles steady state ruined my knees- so I'm a fan of HIIT. But I also still like to run 2 miles here and there because I think its' great for stress.

when i had my gazelle id go for at least an hour and i lost 39 lbs in 5 or 6 months time...

What happened to your gazelle? Did it run away?