The Dreaded Cardio Question

[Cupcake]

Hey!

Just wondering If I could get some advice on cardio...

As of right now I am doing 3 days a week 40 min cardio.
usually the 40 min is broken up into 10-30 min bouts and mixed in with weight training as I am lacking an attention span...lol...

I want to lose fat, I have about 25 Lbs to shed (SW: 155 GW:130 (or 125 , whatever looks best)

I just feel like I am doing it wrong somehow... I have the type of body that gains muscle quickly with not too much effort but certainly does not lose fat nearly as quick... weird...
I also have a lowish heart rate about 64 bpm (used to be 54 when I was in better shape) and I find it hard to really get my heart rate up to a good beat. the only two things I have found to do it are the Stairmaster and Running.

Any advice on what I can do to improve and make my cardio workouts more effective (more?, less? Faster? harder? lol) or anything else I should be doing would be awesome!

Cheers!
Montana

 

[Steve]

Build muscle easily?

I doubt it.

There's nothing magical about cardio and how it's done. You can do steady state training or you can do interval training. You can do both. Work at a high intensity and your heart rate will be higher and you'll expend more energy per unit of time.

The name of the game is establishing, through exercise AND diet, an energy deficit, thus requiring your body to tap into it's fat stores.

Are there ways to optimize this? I certainly believe so. Generally speaking 2-3 sessions of full body strength training coupled with 3-5 days of cardio (maybe one or two of these days being HIIT) is what's required for fat loss and muscle maintenance.

If fat is not being loss with the above in mind, something is off nutritionally.

 

[Cupcake]

Build muscle easily?

I doubt it.

Sorry I had to laugh at this! I've read several of your other posts and you are so blunt! I like it

Anyway... I read both of the links you posted... Fantastic!! They cleared up several questions I had. I swear every person has a different take on what you "need" to be doing and this just put it in black and white for me. Thank you!!!

I have one more question though... In the thread about resistance training Concept 12: Lifting until muscular Failure. It said "If you're interested in hearing why training to failure isn't appropriate given the context, just ask"
So I'm asking... Why??
I am one of those people that feels If I don't do something until I can't do it anymore I haven't worked hard enough.. So If I am wrong please correct me immediately!!
My initial guess is that when you get to the point of muscular failure that I would
a) be doing it in shitty bad and possibly hurt myself and
b) end up not really effectively be working the muscle due to the shitty execution....

Thats my guess but I really have no clue.
Knowledge is Gold... especially when it comes to this stuff.

 

[Steve]

Why not sign up over there and discuss it in that thread. That's why I wrote it there and the thread could use some good discussion like this.

 

[beachdoc]

Hi cupcake.
There are a few adjustments that need to be made to your program, so I'll just pick the cardio and adress that. You should be able to lose that 25 pounds in a maximum of 2 and a half months, maybe faster depending on your starting weight and other factors. I would increase the cardio to 40 minutes 6 days a week. I would also include a mixture of straight forward cardio, like 40 minutes straight on the treadmill, and aerobics classes like kickboxing. At this point you need to switch it up and keep your body guessing.If you make adjustments to your diet along with this, there's no reason why you can't see weight loss of 4 or 5 pounds in the first week alone. This is not maintenance cardio by the way. What you're doing now is maintenance cardio. This is cardio that is going to shock your metabolism and get pounds falling off of you. PM me if you have more questions.

 

[Steve]

Just so we're clear... I don't agree with the above advice. In my experience your size do better with less cardio when dieting opposed to more.

 

[beachdoc]

Hey Steve,

You say that you don't agree with the advice that she should increase cardio. You have to create a deficit between the calories you take in and the calories you burn. You have to cut the amount of calories that you take in on a daily basis. You can create even more of a deficit by working out. A great way to do that is through cardio. Also cardio oxidizes fat to keep you going through the workout. Lifting weights is definitely a necessity, but uses glycogen stored in your muscles while you workout. It doesn't use your fat stores. You need weight lifting to keep your metabolism high, and to maintain the fat loss that you achieve. So that has to be part of the program. But if you really want to up your calorie expenditure, increasing cardio is a must. For example, if you can alternate one day on the Stairmaster for 40 to 60 min, then the next day running for 40 to 60 min, and do that for 5 or 6 days during the week, there's no way you won't be burning a ton of calories. You say you don't agree with more cardio because of her size??? It doesn't matter what size you are, if you can handle that kind of workout you will burn calories. Not only will she lose the 25 pounds, but she'll get herself into extremely good cardiovascular condition which is a great bonus. So to be clear 1). cardio is going to burn more overall calories during the workout. 2). cardio is going to burn the right type of calories. (fat stores as opposed to glycogen stores) and 3).you'll end up in better cardiovascular shape which is a bonus. And cardio, unlike anything else you can do while you’re dieting, allows you to pull large amounts of energy directly from the fat. You go straight to your fat stores and burn it for energy. So if you’re going straight to your fat stores to burn fat on Mon, Wed., and Fri., what’s wrong with adding 2 more days to burn fat even faster? So Steve, what's wrong with more cardio to increase fat loss????

 

[Cupcake]

Thanks for the replies guys.. keep em coming

 

[Steve]

Hey Steve,

You say that you don't agree with the advice that she should increase cardio. You have to create a deficit between the calories you take in and the calories you burn.

Thanks for this information. I'm not sure how it pertains to what I said.

You have to cut the amount of calories that you take in on a daily basis. You can create even more of a deficit by working out. A great way to do that is through cardio.

You're missing the reasoning behind my statement.

Relatively smaller women tend to not fair well on a caloric deficit coupled with high amounts of cardio. Simply making a bigger and bigger deficit by doing more and more cardio tends not to work so well. For some, sure, it's fine. For many though, it's not the case.

Add a bunch of stress to a woman while eating hypocalorically and things tend to go haywire.

Also cardio oxidizes fat to keep you going through the workout.

It uses glucose too.

What is your point exactly?

Lifting weights is definitely a necessity, but uses glycogen stored in your muscles while you workout.

This is inaccurate.

The degree to which lifting weights uses glycogen will depend entirely on how you're going about weight training. Sure, high rep, low rest, very high volume work is glycogen expensive.

Unfortunately for the point you are trying to make, most people are doing these sort of workouts. Traditional weight training is not very glycogen demanding.

If you have data suggesting otherwise, I'll certainly be all ears. However, I'm well versed in the research out there and unless something earth shatteringly new has slipped under my radar, I think you're missing something.

It doesn't use your fat stores.

You're missing the simple fact that

a) fuel used during cardio is heavily dependent on intensity. The intensity that most people are training at tends to preferentially use glucose. Not fat.

b) fat oxidation is effected primarily by net caloric state. Not the exercise you are doing. What fuel you use during an exercise bout matters little compared to net caloric state.

Low intensity cardio uses more fat as a fuel substrate. But if you're not eating hypocalorically, net fat balance is going to be positive regardless of how much fat you expend during the bout... thus you gain fat. Like I said, net energetic state is the be all end all.

You need weight lifting to keep your metabolism high, and to maintain the fat loss that you achieve.

Can you explain to me how weight lifting maintains fat loss please?

Curious of your thoughts, is all.

So that has to be part of the program. But if you really want to up your calorie expenditure, increasing cardio is a must.

That's suggesting that increasing expenditure is desired. As noted above, especially in the context of not-so-fat women.... trying to expend more and more energy is usually a great way of setting yourself up for failure.

You say you don't agree with more cardio because of her size??? It doesn't matter what size you are, if you can handle that kind of workout you will burn calories.

lol @ this

When did I say she wouldn't burn calories?

I think you are severely under-informed with regards to chronic, systemic stress placed on the bodies of unfat women and it's effect.

The oversimplification you've presented in this thread is gross relative to what we know about the human body.