I have an off and on relationship with exercise... currently it's on and I'm trying to keep it that way.
I just joined a gym that is about a half mile from house. I also just cut back drastically on work hours and am a student at the local university. I have so much spare time now as compared to a couple of months ago and sometimes I get bored out of mind. Lately I have been going to the gym and jumping on a treadmill or elliptical in the gyms "cardio theatre" (it's basically a small movie theatre with cardio equipment in it).
The thing is I always go to the gym in the morning before classes for a hour. I do cardio every day and strength train 3 times a week. On the days when I get bored in the evenings and go to the gym I do cardio. Sometimes (maybe twice or thrice a week) I get 2-3 hours of cardio a day. I alternate days for HIIC and LIC.
Anyway, question is... can you do too much cardio? I am trying to lose weight, but I don't want to seriously screw up metabolism by doing too much.
so long as your fuelling yourself (eating) to do that much exercise there's not a problem but your probably aren't
if i was you i would out spare time to use and thoroughly work out a solid nutrition plan, pre planning meals, pre cooking meals etc to compliment out exercise
also i would go for a 4 day a week wts plan alternating lower and upper body workouts with 2 hiit sessions and maybe a 3rd easier type cardio session
cardio theatre??? i bet most of the people who go in there are still overwt
swanso5 wrote:so long as your fuelling yourself (eating) to do that much exercise there's not a problem but your probably aren't
if i was you i would out spare time to use and thoroughly work out a solid nutrition plan, pre planning meals, pre cooking meals etc to compliment out exercise
also i would go for a 4 day a week wts plan alternating lower and upper body workouts with 2 hiit sessions and maybe a 3rd easier type cardio session
cardio theatre??? i bet most of the people who go in there are still overwt
I'm eating about 1800-2000 calories a day. I was eating 1500, but bumped it up when I bumped up cardio. As for the cardio theatre, actually, you're wrong. Most of the people that go in there are quite fit. They show really good movies and most people end up working out longer so they can see the end of the movie. They also have 5 different types of cardio equipment in the theatre, so you're able to alternate throughout your workout.
swanso5 wrote:you can't exercise and watch tv at the same time...not properly anyway
If your just running on a cardio machine in steady state, why not?
Although personally, I am not able to even listen to music while doing cardio, it bugs me. But I see a lot of people plugged into I-pods for movies or music, and they seem to be doing fine.
Steady state (60 mins max), intervals and fast paced (20 mins each) each done once a week (3 cardio sessions total) will burn fat. Steady state only is no good I agree, but it does have it's place. Switching it up is key. And while you are doing steady state, if you can watch a movie, all the better.
BTW, steady state does not mean strolling about. I usually try for about a 6-7 percieved difficulty, fast enough to make a in depth conversation annoying, but possible without gasping for air. Fast paced makes it pretty much impossible to have the same conversation.
EDIT: I don't recommend this for anyone who loses muscle off the legs quickly, but during fat loss I found it worked like a charm. At this point I stick to hill climbs and interavals.
EDIT EDIT: C'mon, we both know that cardio isn't going to make anyone ripped, in itself.
I agree with Diana. I believe that if you can get into a good rhthym, then watching TV doesnt hurt. For me, I find that it helps. I alternate days between doing a steady state (I can't run due to past injuries, so I walk very quickly (treadmill) or workout (other machines) hard enough and quickly enough to where I can't easily hold a conversation, and between doing intervals or random. On the days where I do intervals, I am much more focused on the actual exercise than I am the movie that is playing. The movie just helps to distract me a little when I start getting really tired and discouraged. Matter of fact, there have been several times when I have gone back later at the night (after doing a HIIC session in the morning) to do slow cardio so I can actually see the movie (the play the same movie all day, but change the movies every day) Hense the question, "How much is too much?"
goal here is to get healthy and be more active, not be super buff or ripped, while losing some pounds in the process. I would like to build some muscle, but frankly, I think that when you can see every muscle on a woman it looks disgusting. I know women bodybuilders work really hard for what they have, so I commend them and I'm not knocking them. It's just not something I want for myself.
Don't worry about looking like a female BBer, that takes specialized training and years of it. 3/week of cardio is enough for most people. But if you want to lose weight, you need to add muscle, which cardio will not give you. The more lean mass you have, the more energy your body needs at rest. A cardio session does kick things up a notch for about an hour PWO, but strength training kicks things up for upwards of 12 hours, depending on the intensity. A nice way to burn fat while watching TV, I think.
The other thing to remember about muscle growth: the BBer with 18" biceps once had 12" biceps. It's a gradual process, and you can stop heavy training on any given muscle group if you do not like the results. No one wakes up one day huge or super ripped.
Best of luck on your journey
d.
here's rational based on an alwyn cosgrove article which i'll summarise very quickly:
the hrs of training you do each dictates what type of training you should be doing
0 - 3hrs/week - wts only
3 - 5hrs - wts and HIIT only
5 - 6hrs - wts, HIIT and aerobic interval training
6 - 7hrs - wts, HIIT, aerobic interval training and steady state training
7 - 8hrs - wts, HIIT, aerobic interval training, steady state training, walking
8hrs + - don't add exercise, address diet
point is, is that for optimal results you need to do what you NEED to do...obviuosly conditioning issues aside, this format should be followed i think...so don't waste time do doing state cardio and watching movies, if your doing 2 wt sessions a week with 4 cardio sessions a week when you could do half the time exercising using the 3 - 5hrs option and watch movies from the comfort of your own home
To your original post, you CAN do that much exercise if you are fueling properly. 1800-2500 cals is not enough for that. As an endurance athlete myself, I will tell you that at the peak of training I need around 3000 cals a day.
You WILL not look like a female bodybuilder. The pics you have seen where you see every muscle. those women only look that way for one day because they have dehydrated the water out of their bodies. Plus, they trained extremely hard for years while eating a huge surplus of calories and have taken supplements you have probably not heard of, often including growth hormones. Women do not have the genetic make up to look like that.
Strength training is something that is important for every person's body. We lose strength and muscle mass as we age and it's important to take steps to prevent that.
It's really up to you how much cardio you do, you just need to fuel it. If you are doing hours and not fueling you will not lose body fat very well.
a week) I get 2-3 hours of cardio a day. I alternate days for HIIC and LIC.