Is 20 minutes cardio good enough?

[NoWeakness]

Right now I'm doing 20 minutes cardio every day since I don't have a gym membership yet (gotta pay some bills off first). I'm eating between 1800-2000 calories a day.

[mpi]

I'm sure every bit helps, but in terms of maximum efficiency, I remember reading that it takes a good 20+ minutes for your body to burn through its glycogen store. In order to burn fat, your body needs to use up most of the available glycogen before it can rely on fat for energy. I'm not sure if this is completely right but check here: http://www.sixpacknow.com/fatlosstips.html

I'm not going to touch on fasted cardio cause that's an argument waiting to happen but in general, try to run longer or walk longer if possible.

[GeneticFreak300]

cardio shud be atleast 45 min...

any less is **** all

[in10city]

Right now I'm doing 20 minutes cardio every day since I don't have a gym membership yet (gotta pay some bills off first). I'm eating between 1800-2000 calories a day.

Depends upon the intensity, but differences compared to not doing any at all will be small.

[legendaryMSN]

it takes atlest 20mins of exercies before your body starts using up its fat stores, so u should be doing a lil more.

[mpi]

If you lift first, you're using glycogen for energy so it's best to do some heavy lifting and then start your cardio. That way, you're feeding off fat stores and not glycogen (which previously went to good use w/ ur lifting).

[Wild_Weasel]

Nope, it has to be 21 minutes.

Just kidding. There is no magic number. If you are eating 1800-2000 cals a day, the fat loss shoudl take care of itself, but if you want the cal deficit to be even bigger, those 20 minutes should burn a couple hundred extra cals.

[Cape1]

cardio shud be atleast 45 min...

any less is **** all

45 minutes is an arbitrary number that people beleive marks the point at which you tap fat stores. I think it's a joke. Most over fat guys would take hours to deplete glycogen. Also, the morons that put this myth out there achieve nothing more than discouraging people trying to loose weight.

Start with 15-20 minutes of moderate cardio per day x 6 days. Increase by 5 minutes every other week until you hit 30 minutes. At that point, I would break it into two sessions - back to 15 minutes each. I used this approach to loose a boatload of weight and to get ready for a contest.

With the right eating plan, this approach will work.

[aussie86]

45 minutes is an arbitrary number that people beleive marks the point at which you tap fat stores. I think it's a joke. Most over fat guys would take hours to deplete glycogen. Also, the morons that put this myth out there achieve nothing more than discouraging people trying to loose weight.

Start with 15-20 minutes of moderate cardio per day x 6 days. Increase by 5 minutes every other week until you hit 30 minutes. At that point, I would break it into two sessions - back to 15 minutes each. I used this approach to loose a boatload of weight and to get ready for a contest.

With the right eating plan, this approach will work.

x 2.... seems very logical to me, only thing i would say is keep them intense..

[Tobey77]

Right now I'm doing 20 minutes cardio every day since I don't have a gym membership yet (gotta pay some bills off first). I'm eating between 1800-2000 calories a day.

When you think like this, its not enough. Try doin as much cardio as you can and are able and have time to do. The more you do, the better results youll get ofcourse

But as you might know, your diet is more important then your cardio but nothing you should avoid or do less of if you can manage that my friend

[MasterJedi]

Working your way up from 30 minutes to an hour would be good. Usually on workout days I do LI cardio on empty stomach or after lift for 45 minutes. On non workout days, LI cardio for an hour.

45 minutes is an arbitrary number that people beleive marks the point at which you tap fat stores. I think it's a joke. Most over fat guys would take hours to deplete glycogen. Also, the morons that put this myth out there achieve nothing more than discouraging people trying to loose weight.

Start with 15-20 minutes of moderate cardio per day x 6 days. Increase by 5 minutes every other week until you hit 30 minutes. At that point, I would break it into two sessions - back to 15 minutes each. I used this approach to loose a boatload of weight and to get ready for a contest.

With the right eating plan, this approach will work.

What kind of diet is OP on? If on keto style diet, 45 minutes at Low Intensity would be great for fatloss.

[scoopersc]

20 min of HIIT is all you need and is all you should be able to do. I'm dead after just 20 min and you should be whipped as well.

[Budzsta]

Depends on a whole bunch of things..

If you have JUST woken up and get to a gym before eating, and get your heart rate close to your max then yes you will be chewing into fat..

Be sure to go home and eat some fast metabolising carbs to tell your body NOT to go into starvation mode so you wont put ALL your weight back on at your next meal.

If you think you're up to it, try limiting your carbs to 100g a day (thats a bout 2 bread rolls and a cup of rice) and dont eat ANY after 4pm.

If you find it easy cut to 50.. I've always had cravings for ice cream and stuff like that, but im into about 1 week of 50 grams or less and now i crave bread :|

[rhizome]

If you lift first, you're using glycogen for energy so it's best to do some heavy lifting and then start your cardio. That way, you're feeding off fat stores and not glycogen (which previously went to good use w/ ur lifting).

There are no studies showing that people who use this exercise sequence lose more weight or fat after weeks and months of training.

This is typical forumite broscience at its worst.

[Lezgetitdone]

cardio shud be atleast 45 min...

any less is **** all

lol dont know what your talking about but i use to jog for like 20m and went from fat to musclar one summer... it was probably because it was my first time in my life every exercising everyday like that... you know what the funny part is guys? I ate around 4k calories a day.. i seriously never changed my diet.. i thought i wasnt gonna lose any weight but when school comes around everyone is like is that you???

[thekwon47]

Try alternating days of HIIT if you only have 20 minutes. It will help you burn more calories around the clock.

You could also try doing bodyweight exercises in circuits. Crossfit has some incredible 20 minute workouts that will help you cut fat quickly.

[BananaBoy]

Personally, I do 1+ hour a day.

[Changing.]

The PE teacher at the school I work at says, When you do cardio, you need to keep you heart rate over 120 for 20 minutes

[ponshoe]

Any amount of cardio is beneficial, but it will be x2 beneficial double it to 40 mins if its Low intensity cardio. If its high intensity, i would keep it like that or add a few minutes more per day in order to progress and avoid get used to it.

[MasterJedi]

The PE teacher at the school I work at says, When you do cardio, you need to keep you heart rate over 120 for 20 minutes

Add twenty-five more minutes and you got it.

[unsoberx]

you have to do about 60 to 70 minutes of cardio exercise, at least 5 days a week. 20 minutes of cardio is too little

Right now I'm doing 20 minutes cardio every day since I don't have a gym membership yet (gotta pay some bills off first). I'm eating between 1800-2000 calories a day.

[rusrious]

no less then 12 minutes, your body takes 12 minutes to open up the lipids, then anything after that is productive, so try to double it, like 25-30 minutes is great..

[malcontent]

cardio shud be atleast 45 min...

any less is **** all

absolute statement is absolutely wrong.

It depends on the type of cardio and what your goal is.

[powerstripe89]

lmao at all of the conflicting views in this thread...it just confirms to me that any cardio is good, 30 minutes works for me, you just have to find what works for you OP

[cheeery21]

They said that after 20 min of doing cardio your body will start to burn the fat so I have to do more than 20 min cardio daily is that reall

[Bvb09fan]

almost hit that legendary 10 year bump achievement...

[lifechange99]

You can get cut on NO CARDIO

[Watsonm5]

20 min of HIIT is all you need and is all you should be able to do. I'm dead after just 20 min and you should be whipped as well.

^^^^ do this once your able. This is much more effective than doing 30-45 min or more of LISS (steady state cardio). All I see in the gym now is the easy slow poo-poo cardio. HIIT is intense but works much better afterwards as it burns more calories because of your higher metabolism boost.

[stingray72]

When you think like this, its not enough. Try doin as much cardio as you can and are able and have time to do. The more you do, the better results youll get ofcourse

But as you might know, your diet is more important then your cardio but nothing you should avoid or do less of if you can manage that my friend

The remark about diet is spot on...it takes first place. On the cardio question I know I feel a kick into high gear about the 10- 15 minute mark and go longer from there depending how I feel. Your bodies que's are what matters listen to them but dont just coast and wimp out either.