Too much cardio??

Hello. I am new to the forum, but have been reading many of the posts and would love some advice! I have finally accepted that I need to get past the mis-conception of "more is more" in terms of cardio and that I'm most likely doing too much cardio and might even be hindering my progress by burning off lean muscle mass. I have pretty much reached my fitness goals, but have about another 5 lbs. and 2% body fat to lose (Goal: 125lbs, 15% body fat). I think my body may have reached a plateau on these last 5 lbs. My gym routine is as follows:

Mon: 15 min. cardio, 30 min. of weights (arms), 55 min. of cardio
Tues: 15 min. cardio, 30 min. of weights (legs), 55 min. of cardio
Wed: 15 min. cardio, 30 min. of weights (abs & back), 55 min. of cardio
Thurs: 15 min. cardio, 30 min. of weights (arms), 55 min. of cardio
Fri: 15 min. cardio, 30 min. of weights (legs), 55 min. of cardio
Sat: 70 min. of cardio

Any advice is much appreciated! Thanks

Keep cardio under 45 minutes. That really is the max you should do.

The last 5 are always pretty tough to get. But at 5'6'' that seems a little low. I could be wrong.

Also, what about chest? Shoulders? When do you work those?

you newed a lot more wts and a lot less cardio for mine

I incorporate the chest and shoulders into my arm days...so really it's upper body. I'm thinking that I'll switch things up the the following:

15 min. cardio warmup
45 min. weights
40 min. cardio

Hopefully this change will challenge my body again and get me out of the routine! Does this sound about right? Also, am I better off having cardio only days like on Sat or continuing w/ weights every day that I'm in the gym as long as I train different muscle groups?

You are fine the way you are but you really should cut that cardio back. Don't wanna burn out.

wts - mon/wed/fri x 45mins

interval training cardio - tue/sat x 20mins

no need to warm up with cardio for wts, doesn;t make any sense...instead go through lighter vriations of your exercises

www.uponlinetraining.com

Do you do extra cardio if you've gone off your diet for a day?

Yes, I definitely push myself to do a little bit more and usually a bit longer if I've had a splurge. Why do you ask?

I always do extra cardio after a weekend of beer and some food I shouldn't eat especially during football season. It works out great because by the end ofthe week I am back where I want to be.

I always do extra cardio after a weekend of beer and some food I shouldn't eat especially during football season. It works out great because by the end ofthe week I am back where I want to be.

I think this is risky behavior. It is the same mind-set as bulimia (I over-ate so now I must make it right by this behavior).

It only works for as long as you are injury free. Less dangerous than bulimia, exercise bulimia is still a problem and not an appropriate way to work out. Before you know it you are putting in 2 hour sessions on the stair master to get back in a suit for your niece's wedding.

It works until you are hurt.

I don't do 2 hours of Cardio maybe 35-45 minutes plus I do weight training as well. To be honest I don't need to loose more weight and probably could put a few back on but I like where I am at and i love drinking beer on the weekends as well

I see your point Semi, but I can see the logic in Packards comments too. It's like someone acting as if they have sinned with the food and heavy drinks, so the added Cardio is a form of punishment for sinning.

Either that or the exercise equivalent of several hail marys .

Plus the extra Cardio could result in overtraining. Altough you're not doing masses as you state, this compensatory behaviour could change how you think about what you do. At the moment the controlled indulgence is fine, but if you suddenly get moments where it can happen off schedule, like Weddings, Funerals, social engagements with family, etc etc, that means you may indulge in the week and suddenly the same thinking will occur. I must compensate for this with extra Cardio.

Before you know it you could alter your mindset to, "I can indulge a bit, becasue the extra Cardio I do, corrects the issue", then because you're not getting residual after effects to weight, the Cardio can't shift, leading to slow weight gain, it could make you feel confident that any time you indulge, you have a get out clause, that allows for it to happen, with no repercussions.

You're in control of it now, by keeping indulgence for weekends, but how long before one or two other occasions to indulge, coupled with added Cardio, knock your mindset, because the indulgences become a tad more frequent, and you suddenly develop a want for them more frequently, knowing you have a way out from the side effects.

It wouldn't necessarily take much, to get you to fall off your perch, then you're in a potential cycle of indulge, Cardio punish, indulge, Cardio punish.

After all most people who get into emotional cycles, have to start somewhere with whatever they end up being controlled by. That first thing, or time, then steady progression to harder things, or more frequent instances, without necessarily realising it becomes more frequent, or more of an issue, even when brought up by those on the outside looking in, denial or words like "I can handle it, I'm in control", lead to an extensive problem, coupled with more denial, even anger at people showing negativity to your actions. Miscontrewing care for lamabasting, or haranguing.

It can become a slippery slope, some don't know how to avoid.

I'm not trying to use shock tactics here, to proclaim you to have some sort of problem, but by the looks of things, right now you seem to have control of when you indulge, but how long can that last, or would you keeping control, even be destined to be a constant thing?

Only you can truly know, if you're able to conscience your actions in life as a person. Whatever others think, you must like we all must, try to do likewise, (sometimes only hindsight helps us).

So I'm not lecturing you, just being honest with you. You deserve that honesty, and I wouldn't ever come here and B.S. people, because that's not my bag.

If you believe you can maintain this situation, and stay completely 100% on top of it, then who am I to say no, or force you to do otherwise, when I can't. All I can do like now, is give you potential insights or considerations about a given situation, that maybe you hadn't considered before or factored into the equation .

Boss Man,

Great reply thanks it is much appreciated. I guess maybe I wasn't very clear on what I do on weekends. I stilleat very clean except for maybe a Saturday night pizza and on Sunday's we have a party each week to watch football and is the only day I get to cook so dinner on Sunday's may not always be as clean as I would like but I excersise portion control. I also want to clarify my beer drinking. I usually have a few beersa and maybe a couple of more than I should watching football during the weekend it is something I have done now for over 30 years it is just something I do. I went on this change of lifestyle thing on the 1st week of May this year and have had tremedous success I am now off my cholestrol pills along with my blood pressure pills and have dropped 37 LBS in the process. I eat clean all week long except for the 2 meals I described above I have 0 fear that I will ever go back to my old ways of eating but I guess one can never say never but as of this writing I just don't see it happening I have worked to hard to get where I am at. I have cut way back on my cardio now that the weight is off and do more free weights to tone up. I hate doing weights I fiond them very boring but understand I have to do them and I do 3 times a week along with a couple of AB workouts as well and yes cardio. I have come to the point my day is incomplete if I don't hit the gym after work each day not only for the workout but also a social thing and everyone helping each other out and keeping motivated.

I owe a lot of my success to this site I have learned a ton on here and thank everybody for their thoughts and idea's it made this transition a lot easier for me.

I hope this clears up where I am coming from.

Thanks agian to everyone

Yes, that was very self explanatory, and you've done the right thing as well.

The problem with people on pills, like the ones you took, is they probably get a bit bothered by it, for the first few days, but compared to working out or eating better, it's cheaper and less time consuming, to take 40-60 seconds chugging a Pill every day, for stuff like Cholesterol and Blood Pressure, then get some more on a repeat prescription once every month.

Especially in Britain, as over 60's don't pay anything for Prescriptions, or some other select social groups. The last time I was aware of a charge, for those who had to pay it, was about £8.50, which is hardly break the bank money.

The only way to get people off those things properly, would be if someone was told they had to take 4 Cholesterol / Blood Pressure pills a day, and heat them up in Orange Juice for 15 minutes, so the heat and Fruit sugars could alter the medicine into a digestible form.

Then people would be at their doctors, complaing the medicines were too fiddly and annoying, but nobody would make medicines that need preparing in that way, so it wouldn't alter the problem.

Boss Man

Glad I was able to clear that up. The cholesterol is a inherited problem for me my body produces it and there isn't much you can do about it other than diet and excersise. I tried this before but my cholesterol actually went up so that was when I was put on the pills. I think this time the excersise has really helped I have pushed myself very hard and it seems to be paying off. I just had the blood checked last week and everything is down again except my to total cholesterol that went up 3 points to 192 so I am still under the magic 200 #. Pills are an easy way out for people and also dangerous in that your mind believes that you can still eat what you want and the pill will take care of it when in fact that is not true there are lots of other bad things that can happen and for some reason I woke one day and said that is it. There was a new gym built a mile from my house and I had no excuse not to join and get going. This truly has been a life changing experience for me.

I also quit smoking for the 7th time but I think this time I really have it beat so with everything my body has been turned upside down LOL

Again thanks for all the great information on here I may not post a lot but I sure read a lot.