Hi there, I was just wondering - I have read a lot about how 30 mins cardio about 4 times a week is enough to promote significant weight loss, it doesnt seem like a lot to me, but then again I suppose working out for about an hour doesnt seem like a lot for muscle gain!
Just wondered if somebody could clarify what the optimum amount of cardio generally is?
I assume 30 mins is for steady state cardio?
I am interested in HIIT also.
Cheers.
|
Thread: is 30 mins cardio really enough?
-
02-17-2010, 05:44 AM #1
is 30 mins cardio really enough?
-
02-17-2010, 05:51 AM #2
If you have never lost weight before, cardio a couple of days a week will do big changes.
But as time goes you have to do more cardio or cut more down on your food. I also recomend lifting weights, just to keep your muscle loss minimal.
I do 28min HIIT ATLEAST 2 times a week besides my lifting routine(5days aweek).
HIIT makes you sweat like a pig! No need for a 2 hour boring cardio if you can do a hard HIIT.
-
02-17-2010, 05:54 AM #3
-
02-17-2010, 07:11 AM #4
-
-
02-17-2010, 09:02 AM #5
- Join Date: Mar 2005
- Location: Michigan, United States
- Age: 39
- Posts: 359
- Rep Power: 292
Zero minutes of cardio is enough if you are in a calorie deficit, which can be achieved by just eating less. However, cardio can help increase the deficit, and it has many health benefits beyond just burning calories, which is why I do it. I only do 30-45 minutes three times a week, usually only 30. It is high intensity, however. That's because I want to burn more calories and increase my cardiovascular endurance/muscular stamina. A 30 minute walk wouldn't really cut it for my purposes.
-
02-17-2010, 09:03 AM #6
i recommend you hiit for at least 30 min. and if you dont like run (treadmill) use the elliptical it''s more easy to change the level... for example:
start 2 min: level 15
1.30 min: level 16
1 min: level 17
30 sec: level 18
then repeat until reach the 30 min.
just if you dont like the treadmill. this a very good option for a great cardio session.
-
02-17-2010, 09:04 AM #7
- Join Date: Nov 2009
- Location: Texas, United States
- Age: 47
- Posts: 832
- Rep Power: 222
Weight loss is driven my calories in vs. calories out. Cardio falls in the calories out category. Since you didn't mention anything about your calories in category (AKA diet) we can't really say anything about your possible weight loss.
If you have been maintaining your weight with your current diet and exercise, you were at an equilibrium point. Adding cardio to it will make you lose weight as you will no longer be in equilibrium, your calories out will exceed calories in at this point.
4x30 minutes of LISS cardio will burn around 1,000-1,200 calories a week. That is about .25 lbs of fat. So if you solely rely on this cardio exercise to help you lose weight it will be a long way to go. That is unless you're already lean and mean and need to drop the last couple of pounds....www.gregstransformation.com - follow my journey
-
02-17-2010, 10:51 AM #8
-
-
02-17-2010, 10:56 AM #9
-
02-17-2010, 11:59 AM #10
To lose weight you have to eat less than you burn, in terms of calories.
Cardio is just a tool to create the deficit, with a side-benefit of making your vascular system more healthy. I personally only do 10 min HIIT 4x/week. 30 min should be more than enough if you have your diet dialed in.MMMC/He-Man Crew
Misc Strength Crew
Bench: 295x4
Squat: 315x4
Dead: 370x4
-Raw-
◕‿◕
-
02-17-2010, 12:02 PM #11
-
02-17-2010, 12:29 PM #12
-
-
02-17-2010, 12:52 PM #13
- Join Date: Nov 2009
- Location: Texas, United States
- Age: 47
- Posts: 832
- Rep Power: 222
Not entirely. If you want to cut on 1,400 calories but still eat 200 grams of protein (I'm not saying it's the case but it's hypothetical) you'd need to eat 800 calories worth of protein which leaves 600 calories for carbs and fat. Hardly enough to not be hungry.
That is with no cardio. With cardio you can burn 500 calories a day and hence eat another 500 calories of carbs and fats which bumps it to 1,100 calories from carb and fat which is a lot more manageable for some.
I prefer higher caloric intake with cardio than lower caloric intake and no cardio for same net calorie result.www.gregstransformation.com - follow my journey
-
02-17-2010, 12:56 PM #14
-
02-17-2010, 01:03 PM #15
For those of you who say your doing HIIT for 30 MIN!?!??!! If thats the story your not puttin your all into it. 12-15 min HIIT if you can do any longer then 15 you arent pushing yourself. (Doesnt include 2 min cooldown/warmup) 30 second jogs 30 second sprints AS HARD AS YOU CAN and it well be just like doing 40-45 min of LISS...
-
02-17-2010, 01:17 PM #16
- Join Date: Jun 2009
- Location: Louisiana, United States
- Age: 35
- Posts: 4
- Rep Power: 0
The best way to lose weight and maximize your cardio is to do a 30 minute jog in the morning. The morning is the best time too burn fat. However, make sure you eat a little something like a banana before your jog. This will speed up your metabolism for the rest of the day. I tend to do a 30 minute jog five days a week and then in the afternoon HIT sprints three times a week. You don't want to train much longer than 45 minutes because you don't want to risk overtraining. If your workout is tough enough you can burn the desired amount in very little time.
-
-
02-17-2010, 01:45 PM #17
I only do 30 minutes or so of cardio, 4 days a week right after I lift. I jack up the incline all the way on the treadmill and walk around 4mph. Gets the heart rate around 140 for me which is my zone.
My advice is to find your fat burning zone and really target your heart rate during your cardio. Keep it in there. HIIT is also a good fat burning method, but 30 minutes of HIIT would be insane.
-
02-17-2010, 02:26 PM #18
-
02-17-2010, 02:55 PM #19
- Join Date: Jan 2009
- Location: Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States
- Age: 40
- Posts: 7,696
- Rep Power: 2469
I do like 15 mins of cardio and I lift, and iM losing weight. (out of martial arts right now so ya really only about 15-20 mins of cardio every other day)
~Barefooters Crew~
"There are no limits. There are plateaus, but you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you. A man must constantly exceed his level" - Bruce Lee
It's not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential.
― Bruce Lee
If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you'll never get it done.
- Bruce Lee
RIP Aziz "Zyzz" Sergeyevich Shavershian
-
02-17-2010, 05:13 PM #20
- Join Date: Nov 2009
- Location: Texas, United States
- Age: 47
- Posts: 832
- Rep Power: 222
30 second sprints do you absolutely no good. You need to stay up at or above lactate threshold for 2+ minutes to get the benefits of interval training. http://home.hia.no/~stephens/interval.htm
FWIW When I do speed work I do 10x400m at up to 98% of HRR (This is Heart Rate Reserve, not the same as HRMax%) then I do recovery jog until I recover below 75% of HRR (takes about a minute). It takes me over 30 minutes. Add in 10 minutes of warm up and 10 minutes of cooldown and you're talking about a real cardio workout.
The point of speed work intervals is to get to your VO2max. The mickey mouse HIIT that gym rats do is nothing.www.gregstransformation.com - follow my journey
-
-
02-17-2010, 05:16 PM #21
-
02-17-2010, 05:38 PM #22
- Join Date: Jul 2009
- Location: Youngstown, Ohio, United States
- Age: 47
- Posts: 1,510
- Rep Power: 269
For me I do it to build up me breathing as I got out of breath very quickly! I feel much better since I added cardio into my workout program.
That and to add more a deficit, lol!Current Stack
iForce fanatic!
Trutein fanatic!
Controlled Labs fanatic!
Trutein Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup
Gold Feast-Watermelon
Orange Triad
ON Fish oil
White Flood-Watermelon
iForce HemaVol-Lemon Drop
NOW Vit
NOW Green Extract
AllMax-Creatine
AllMax-Glutamine
Xtend-Sour Lemon-Lime
What I can't get in with Supp's, I get in with food....;)
Reds the new green.....
-
02-17-2010, 05:47 PM #23
-
02-17-2010, 06:04 PM #24
- Join Date: Jul 2009
- Location: Youngstown, Ohio, United States
- Age: 47
- Posts: 1,510
- Rep Power: 269
Current Stack
iForce fanatic!
Trutein fanatic!
Controlled Labs fanatic!
Trutein Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup
Gold Feast-Watermelon
Orange Triad
ON Fish oil
White Flood-Watermelon
iForce HemaVol-Lemon Drop
NOW Vit
NOW Green Extract
AllMax-Creatine
AllMax-Glutamine
Xtend-Sour Lemon-Lime
What I can't get in with Supp's, I get in with food....;)
Reds the new green.....
-
-
02-17-2010, 06:35 PM #25
-
02-18-2010, 07:10 AM #26
- Join Date: Jan 2009
- Location: Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States
- Age: 40
- Posts: 7,696
- Rep Power: 2469
~Barefooters Crew~
"There are no limits. There are plateaus, but you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you. A man must constantly exceed his level" - Bruce Lee
It's not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential.
― Bruce Lee
If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you'll never get it done.
- Bruce Lee
RIP Aziz "Zyzz" Sergeyevich Shavershian
-
02-18-2010, 08:07 AM #27
- Join Date: Nov 2009
- Location: Texas, United States
- Age: 47
- Posts: 832
- Rep Power: 222
-
02-18-2010, 08:49 AM #28
-
-
02-18-2010, 08:59 AM #29
-
02-18-2010, 09:01 AM #30
- Join Date: May 2008
- Location: California, United States
- Age: 40
- Posts: 898
- Rep Power: 267
Similar Threads
-
15 mins cardio per day enough?
By ol_ matey in forum Losing FatReplies: 4Last Post: 07-22-2005, 10:27 PM -
cardio really necessary for an endomorph?
By bigpaw2000 in forum Losing FatReplies: 9Last Post: 03-23-2004, 01:49 PM -
Is cardio really necessary for loosing fat?
By ToxicCorpse in forum Losing FatReplies: 2Last Post: 02-18-2004, 03:35 PM -
How much cardio is enough ?
By triso07 in forum Workout ProgramsReplies: 9Last Post: 01-29-2004, 03:21 PM -
Is cardio good enough for working out lower body?
By ws6ta in forum ExercisesReplies: 13Last Post: 01-07-2003, 03:51 PM
Bookmarks