Thread: Too much cardio?!

In relation to what?

(and i'd hazard the answer "yes" to pretty much any possible scenario.)

Depends on your goals, and there is a limit on how much cardio is counter-active

Let me tell you, I know Adidas personally, and I've always told her she does too much cardio. I will let her post the specifics, but I know she runs 3x a week and does a spinning class 2x a week. I know she will come here and correct me, or say that two of her running days are just quick 20 minute sessions. But those 20 minutes sessions are (to my knowledge) very intense. Also, those three shorter cardio session are always prior to lifting.

I am eager to hear some others respond to her, as it is something her and I discuss a lot. And on a personal note, she is like me and most other women, entirely too hard on herself...she looks awesome and is extremely dedicated!

nutrition and rest has a lot do due with how much cardio a person can do before it is counter productive (loss of LBM)...

LAM (and everyone else), you can read more details of her nutrition and traning in her diary here:
Working hard...playing hard

Adidas, hope you don't mind that I'm totally butting in here!

Miss LeDix, thanks for the compliments. Right back at you. Here is a typical week of cardio...

Monday - 20-25 minutes - stairmaster interval program level 15 of 20...in other words I will burn 585 calories.

Tuesday - 45 minutes RPM (spin) class

Wednesday - 20 minutes of the eclipictal trainer -- manual program on level 14 out of 20

Thursday - 45 minutes RPM (spin) class

Friday - 20-25 minutes either stairmaster or ecliptical.

* Monday and Friday cardio flip flop between the stairmaster and the eccliptical trainer.

Saturday - run for 23 minutes (3 min. warm up)....this translates to about 3.15 miles.

Obviously, I don't want to be counterproductive. Miss LeDix has me thinking

I have two philosophies on cardio
1)If you have a great diet plan and you stick to it (no cheating whatsoever) and train your ass off, then cardio is unessary to drop body fat.
2)If you like to eat a moderate amount of carbs when cutting and cheat
then you will definitely need cardio to drop bodyfat but be prepared to lose some muscle along with the bodyfat, especially do to the fact that you will be in a calorie deficit.
I do cardio every morning for an hour on an empty stomach weither bulking or cutting because of the fact that I am a pig and I love food too much.
I have seen people get down to 6% bodyfat with no cardio whatso ever and I have also seen people get down to 6% bodyfat with crazy amounts of cardio(eg. wrestlers)
Basically it all comes down to the diet.
I should add the fact that if you are constantly doing cardio and not taking in enough calories than it will become counter productive.
Your metabolism and tyroid will shut down on you and your body will start to store fat like a mofo.
I always see the same people in the gym doing cardio day after day
and I have'nt seen their bodies change for the better one bit.
They rely too much on cardio to drop body fat and not enough on intense weight training and their diets.
I kinda feel bad for them.
They are so misinformed.
It's sad.

Originally posted by Chest Rockwell
I always see the same people in the gym doing cardio day after day
and I have'nt seen their bodies change for the better one bit.
They rely too much on cardio to drop body fat and not enough on intense weight training and their diets.
I kinda feel bad for them.
They are so misinformed.
It's sad.

I hear you. I see them too and I think the same thing.

So looks like Adidas is doing 3 HIITs / 3 moderate cardios a week. To me I don't think it's too much if she's close to her goal. I wouldn't do anymore than that though.

HI,
From my understanding(i am no pro) but too much cardio cuts into the best fat burners we have MUSCLE.
Diet and training help change the body far more long term than high amounts of cardio...
My exp has been one of trying to find a balance of all 3 diet, cardio, training.
I know when I was doing 6 days a week heavy cardio, I was really lean, but as soon as you
Burn out on 20 hours a week in the gym you gain it back rapidly. One has to find a nice balance between training and diet, something that they can do for life or the results will be null and void as soon as you are no longer able to maintain such a high degree of activity.
Can you live with this much cardio for good? Are you training for a show, and are you looking for it to be a short term bodyfat loss?

Take Care
danilee

Thanks for all the feedback! You guys are great

One obvious goal is to lose body fat....and thanks to Miss LeDix I will be having my bf% taken soon. Back in November when I started training on a regular basis I had all of my measurements taken. I had them recorderd at the gym but never knew what those numbers were. I didn't want to become fixated on those numbers.

Obviously, I don't want to lose muscle.

Originally posted by danilee
HI,
From my understanding(i am no pro) but too much cardio cuts into the best fat burners we have MUSCLE.
Diet and training help change the body far more long term than high amounts of cardio...
My exp has been one of trying to find a balance of all 3 diet, cardio, training.
I know when I was doing 6 days a week heavy cardio, I was really lean, but as soon as you
Burn out on 20 hours a week in the gym you gain it back rapidly. One has to find a nice balance between training and diet, something that they can do for life or the results will be null and void as soon as you are no longer able to maintain such a high degree of activity.
Can you live with this much cardio for good? Are you training for a show, and are you looking for it to be a short term bodyfat loss?

Take Care
danilee

Great advice! Best advice I've heard in a while!