How much cardio is enough ?

[CodingCore]

I want to know , how much cardio someone should do ? how much Its enough and how bad is it If you do more cardio then you should ?
Something else I want to know is when to do cardio exactly ? should we do it in the same day we lift (If yes , after or before working out?) or in separate days ?

[SuffolkPunch]

If you don't have specific goals for cardiovascular conditioning then you don't have to do any. If you lift heavy a lot then you probably already get enough for general health purposes.

And yes, you can do too much if it means that you don't have enough energy in reserve for your weight training. Do it when you prefer - but if your primary goal is body recomposition, it should not be put somewhere where is would adversely affect lifting (e.g. immediately before)

[CodingCore]

If you don't have specific goals for cardiovascular conditioning then you don't have to do any. If you lift heavy a lot then you probably already get enough for general health purposes.

And yes, you can do too much if it means that you don't have enough energy in reserve for your weight training. Do it when you prefer - but if your primary goal is body recomposition, it should not be put somewhere where is would adversely affect lifting (e.g. immediately before)

Beside the heart which should be considered as a muscle , what other muscles cardio helps ? (while using a Treadmill or stationary bike for example) and do you mind giving examples for what you called "goals for cardiovascular conditioning" ?

[SuffolkPunch]

Beside the heart which should be considered as a muscle , what other muscles cardio helps ? (while using a Treadmill or stationary bike for example) and do you mind giving examples for what you called "goals for cardiovascular conditioning" ?

Like I mentioned, the amount that heavy weight lifting raises your heart rate is enough for some basic health benefits. You don't need to be a triathlete to have healthy blood markers.

The use of muscles during steady state cardio is usually too light to cause any kind of training effect like weight training would - if it does, it's pretty inefficient and plateaus fairly quickly. It can increase endurance of course.

Goals for cardiovascular conditioning could include increasing your V02 max or improving your 2k run time.

[kennycroxdale]

I want to know , how much cardio someone should do ?

Cardio Enhances Recovery

First of all, preforming some cardio along with your resistance training is shown to increase your recover time.

How Much?

The amount of cardio and type of cardio preformed is dependent on a variety of factors: the number of times you train per week, your training volume, intensity, diet, rest, etc.

how much Its enough and how bad is it If you do more cardio then you should ?

The Golidlocks Fable

The answer lies in the Goldilocks Fable. She had to experiment. One porridge was too hot, one too cold, one was just right.

Thus, you need to experiment to find the amount and type of cardio that is "Just Right" for you. More on that in a minute.

Something else I want to know is when to do cardio exactly ? should we do it in the same day we lift (If yes , after or before working out?) or in separate days ?

Cardio Guidelines

1) Twice A Week: Ease into your cardio program by preforming it twice a week.

2) When To Preform Cardio: It is best to preform it on separate days from your Resistance Training.

That means performing your Resistance Training on Monday-Wednesday-Friday and your Cardio on Tuesday-Thursday.

Another method is to perform your Cardio in the morning and your Resistance Training in the afternoon, or vise versa.

That because Resistance Training trigger a muscle building response via mTOR, Mammalian Target of Rapamycin.(an anabolic hormonal response).

Cardio shuts down muscle building, promoting fat burning though AMP-k, Activated Protein Kinase.

Training Example

Let say you preform your Resistance Training and then immediately follow it with Cardio Training.

Your Resistance Training Program "Sets fire to your anabolic muscle building". Immediately preforming Cardio Training after your Resistance Training amount to "Pouring water on your anabolic muscle building fire."

In other words, it negates the anabolic effect of your Resistance Training.

Exceptions To The Rule

One of the exceptions to the Guideline Rules is High Intensity Interval Training, HIIT.

HIIT is an anomaly. That meaning it both an Anaerobic Training Program (increasing muscle mass) and Aerobic Training Program (increasing your VO2 Max, Lactate Threshold, and Increasing Your Metabolic Rate-Fat Burning)

Type of Cardio

1) Low Intensity Steady State: This means low level activities such as walking, easy jogs, easy bike rides, etc. Your heart rate is kept low, around 50 to 60% of your Heart Rate Max for around 20 minutes or longer.

2) High Intensity Interval Training: This means preforming Sprint from 10 to 30 seconds, then resting by let's say walking for 1 to 2 minutes, then repeating the sequence.

A effective method is...

How To Get Fit With 3 Minutes Of Exercise A Week: BBC Doc Tries "HIT"
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/242498.php

This HIIT Program take a total of 7 minutes. It is a quick, easy program that get results.

Program Example

1) Sprint for 20 seconds.

2) Walk for 2 minutes.

3) Sprint for 20 seconds.

4) Walk for 2 minutes.

5) Sprint for 20 seconds.

6) Walk for 2 minutes.

That's it.

Cardio Training Summary

1) Twice A Week: Ease into your Cardio Training Program by preforming it ONLY twice a week.

2) Low Intensity Steady State: If you use this Cardio Program...

a) Only perform it for 20 minutes.

b) Preform it on separate days from your Resistance Training or hours after or before your Resistance Training.

3) High Intensity Interval Training: This is Resistance Training. You could preform it on your Resistance Training Days.

However, due to the strenuous nature of HIIT it needs to be preformed under the following stipulations.

a) Prior To Resistance Training: If performed before your Resistance Training Program, you need to allow recover time of 10 to 20 minutes before you begin your Weight Training. It will impact your Weight Training Program a little.

b) After Resistance Training: If preformed after your Weight Training, rest about 10 to 20 minutes before your HIIT Program. Your Weight Training will impact you HIIT Program a little.

4) Monitor Your Results: In preforming your Cardio, IF your Weight/Resistance Training results decrease, IF you are chronically tired and unmotivated...Cut back on your Cardio in some way.

5) In the long run, preforming some type of Cardio will increase your recovery time.

Kenny Croxdale

[sooby]

Cardio Enhances Recovery

Your Resistance Training Program "Sets fire to your anabolic muscle building". Immediately preforming Cardio Training after your Resistance Training amount to "Pouring water on your anabolic muscle building fire."

In other words, it negates the anabolic effect of your Resistance Training.

do you have any links to that? and what if you do cardio after resistance training on a cut? would it matter because you generally aren't building muscle anyway?

[dubbel]

I have been including cardio in my workout routine since October when I began exercising again. I have lost 18 lbs of body fat so far. I do it 5x per week, usually for 30 minutes, sometimes 60 minutes. I switch between a recumbent bike and treadmill. On the bike I keep the resistance high so that I can stay around 80 RPMs. On treadmill I do speed intervals and mile sprints with breaks in between.

[christos_swc]

Cardio has too many health benefits to ignore.
It will help with your metabolism, it will slow your resting hert rate, it will increase your respiratory capacity, it will improve blood flow.
And equally importantly to all of the above it will relieve your stress and allow you to think straight.
It will make you feel calmer throughout the day and help tackle your problems with a cooler mind.
Three 20 min sessions throughout the week is your strating point and should be enough for someone who has different goals to becoming an endurance athlete.
Cardio is best programmed on different days to your weight training unless you have the time to do them both at different times throughout the day.
If you can't manage 3 times a week then settle with two and throw in a third one if given the opportunity.

[TheLazerOne]

Also, depends on your build type, if your a meso or endo, you can do quite a bit, if your a skinny ecto trying to bulk, as little as possible although once you reach goal weight, you should do moderate cardio.

[kennycroxdale]

do you have any links to that?

Points Given and Taken Away

You get points for requesting data on this but you get points taken away for not taking the time for do your own research.

Aerobic Training...

"Enhancing the speed at which muscles recover from high intensity exercise"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerobic_exercise

There is other research data on this. Make an investment in your education by looking it up.

...and what if you do cardio after resistance training on a cut? would it matter because you generally aren't building muscle anyway?

Absolutely!!!

You cut body fat as well as muscle mass!!! You will lose muscle mass and strength, dependent on the information that I presented in my previous post.

A brief synopsis of the information that I presented that back up my information is in...

Do Cardio Separate From Lifting
https://www.t-nation.com/training/ti...e-from-lifting

Separate Lifting From Cardio or HIIT

Why not put them together? If you do the energy systems work after the lifting workout you risk decreasing muscle growth by inhibiting mTOR via the increase in AMPK from the energy systems work.

Without going into too much complex science, mTOR is the trigger for protein synthesis (muscle growth) while AMPK is increased when you expend a lot of energy, and it can inhibit mTOR. So raising AMPK right after lifting might partially inhibit the muscle growth stimulated by lifting.

Kenny Croxdale

[kennycroxdale]

I have been including cardio in my workout routine since October when I began exercising again. I have lost 18 lbs of body fat so far. I do it 5x per week, usually for 30 minutes, sometimes 60 minutes. I switch between a recumbent bike and treadmill. On the bike I keep the resistance high so that I can stay around 80 RPMs. On treadmill I do speed intervals and mile sprints with breaks in between.

Cardio Workout Longer Than 30 Minutes

Preforming cardio for more than 30 minutes generally ensure that you lose fat and muscle mass.

Walking (extremely low level cardio activities) safeguard against muscle mass loss.

The Irony of Exercise

It does little in the way of burning body fat/calories, especially Low Intensity Slow Steady State Cardio.

As The Sayings Go...

You can't out train a bad diet."

"Abs are made at the table."

Take Home Message

1) Diet is the KEY to Weight/Fat Loss.

2) Exercise provide a synergistic effect slightly increasing your Metabolic Rate, Insulin Sensitivity, etc.

3) Over 30 minutes of Cardio is Catabolic...the body burning not only fat but muscle mass.

Kenny Croxdale

[k9pit]

Beside the heart which should be considered as a muscle , what other muscles cardio helps ? (while using a Treadmill or stationary bike for example) and do you mind giving examples for what you called "goals for cardiovascular conditioning" ?

Personally cardio is a double edge sword for me.

On the back end doing cardio exercise helps me ALOT with the conditioning to become able to do more reps per set of strength training exercises (squat, pullups, bench, etc) on the front end.
When I'm gaining or maintaining weight it actually helps me preserve or gain muscle mass. I can do steady state bike, etc, and I make gains and feel great.

However when I'm in a fat loss stage, my legs are usually the first place I seem to lose muscle mass, I have the opposite issue from most people as my upper body lifts typically stay the same when i'm cutting but lower body lifts fall off bad. If I do a lot of running, biking, as my sole cardio exercise (leg related) my legs go fast.
I've found that doing NO cardio de-conditions me, while doing leg cardio zaps my legs when I'm in a cal deficit. However, doing cardio and conditioning work (Battle ropes, light weight strength training exercises for high reps with timed intervals (e.g., pendlay rows + bench, power cleans, etc) helps me better preserve leg mass.

If you naturally have big and/or strong legs, you likely won't run into the above issues. If you have naturally skinny weak legs and had to fight tooth and nail for your lower body strength and mass you may have the above issues. Upper body comes relatively simple to me by comparison.

[TheShadowMan]

Personally I shoot for 30-45 min a day. I stretch prior, and it helps me keep the jog up the whole time. I don't want to become a treadmill monkey because there's still a lot of lifting and abs to get to. If you spend too much time on cardio, you get burned out and have trouble lifting, so you end up lifting less and then losing muscle eventually. Not a good thing to have happen. So don't overdo it, find your happy medium and that balance will serve you well for the future.

[kennycroxdale]

Personally I shoot for 30-45 min a day. I stretch prior, and it helps me keep the jog up the whole time. I don't want to become a treadmill monkey because there's still a lot of lifting and abs to get to. If you spend too much time on cardio, you get burned out and have trouble lifting, so you end up lifting less and then losing muscle eventually. Not a good thing to have happen. So don't overdo it, find your happy medium and that balance will serve you well for the future.

30 Minutes

That is MORE than enough time for cardio.

45 Minutes

...senseless unless you are an Endurance Athlete.

Cardio Session LONGER Than 25 Minutes

Review studies have shown that cardio training only reduces strength athletes' progression if the sessions are longer than 25 minutes and done more than three times a week. [J Strength Cond Res. 2012 Aug;26(8):2293-307.]

Kenny Croxdale

[TJP33]

typically, I start with my minimal amount what I do year round- so 4 days of a balance of HIIT and LISS at my Lows LISS could be as little as 30 minutes and HIIT 8-10 minutes.
I prefer LISS on my non lifting days, more about time management.
as I progress through macro changes and start removing calories I gradually increase my cardio..
only thing I do that isn't discussed much is work my cardio with what is best with my nutritional approach, more HIIT when carbs are higher, if my carbs are getting lower I start to gradually lean more heavily on LISS. I typically end up going Keto for the final stretch or contest prep- at this point even if my cardio is at 7 days a week, my only HIIT is done around carb refeeds.

Ive done both forms of cardio and varied which I lean on more heavily, Ive also used cardio fasted/post workout- in my experience it doesn't make a huge difference- yea HIIT may be more beneficial post workout and LISS may be better in a separate session- but Ive never seen a noticeable difference. Do what you will be able to be consistent with, and really what works best with your schedule. Durations, start with less and add in as needed
don't compensate with cardio for slacking nutrition, I also wouldn't punish myself with higher than normal cardio for cheat meals