Is cardio necessary?

[rashdon]

Quick question everybody. Is cardio necessary when weight training? I do cardio maybe 1-3x a week and weight train 5x a week. Am I not doin enuff cardio or am I good wit what Im doin? Peace

[Packard]

Cardio, upper body and lower body, will allow your muscles to recover faster from set to set. You will get more done in less time.

The cardio will help develope your vascular system and it will supply blood to the muscles faster and you will be able to do more before you burn.

Cardio will also give you rather prominent veins which, when you cut up will look impressive.

And finally, your gestalt requires it. You should treat your body as an entirety and you would work all muscles equally (and your heart is a muscle), and while you are at it you should make an effort to work your brain too. It does a lot to the image of weight lifters if they sound educated.

[swanso5]

tradiational cardio - no (running and shit like that)

prolonged exercise using circuits and stuff - yes

muscle movement detirmines heart use so anytime you move, the heart needs to work harder from the increased demands

http://www.uponlinetraining.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Packard]

tradiational cardio - no (running and shit like that)

prolonged exercise using circuits and stuff - yes

muscle movement detirmines heart use so anytime you move, the heart needs to work harder from the increased demands

http://www.uponlinetraining.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

When I was in college "circuit training" was called "PHA" traing (peripheral heart action). I did it for 4 years in college primarily because you could get a 2 hour workout done in about 30 to 45 minutes--just enough time between classes for a full body workout.

I continued this workout despite a scholarly study that showed that there was no cardiovascular fitness gained with PHA over conventional training.

PHA required that there was no (zero) rest between sets. I worked on a Universal Gym Machine and went from bench to situps to triceps to leg press to pull down to curl to seated press and then repeated. Often times I would black out during seated press as I got oxygen deprived from working so fast. This is a very efficient way to train, but don't expect any cardiovascular benefits beyond conventional training.

For cardio I do running, stair climbing, rowing and speed bag training.

[rashdon]

Yo, thanx y'all 4 the info. Im am going 2 start incorporating more cardio in routine. Im all about the stationary bike baby!!

[TaylorRyan]

its also important to look at your goal... are you trying to gain muscle? or trying to lose weight? with gaining you want to keep cardio to a min, and for losing weight cardio post workouts or on off days is a must. I love doing hiit... interval cardio workouts because you get a killer fat blasting workout and your done in 20 minutes. Plus studies proof that you burn more fat and increase metabolism with interval over steady state. 10 hrs of steady state is equal to just 2.5 (in a 2 wk period) of intervals!

Here's more on interval cardio workouts- http://www.liftingrevolution.com/gym-wo ... one-right/

[Felix]

its also important to look at your goal... are you trying to gain muscle? or trying to lose weight? with gaining you want to keep cardio to a min, and for losing weight cardio post workouts or on off days is a must.

This.

Either way, cardio is never a bad idea.

[Packard]

I like to hula hoop and unicycle.

Though to be totally honest Unicycling doesn't get HR up. Well, that moment of fear when face is headed straight for the pavement will do it. Think that counts as HIIT? (:

I would think that the unicycle would be difficult enough by itself, but adding the hula hoop while unicycling sounds more like a circus act than cardio.