In your opinion, whats better??
Getting 20-30 mins of moderate intensity cardio (60-70% max HR) 5-6 days/week or getting 30-45 mins higher intensity cardio (70-80% max HR) 3 days/week?
I'm currently weight training 3 days per week for about 35-40 mins each session and doing fine but for some reason I'm suffering to get through my cardio. My mentality tells me its better to at least get some in everyday so I do. But my a*s is literally dragging to get through it!! Should I switch my focus? But is 3 days of cardio a week too little?
I would love to hear thoughts on this.....

I hear that doing cardio at a max heart rate is better because you cont to burn calories even after you stop doing cardio. but im sure you knew that. i understand that three to four days is plenty enough cardio-as long as your lifting weights and eating healthy. I would try this out for a few weeks and see how you feel. youll still definetly be getting enough cardio, just whatever works for you. hope that helped!

tex

In my opinion, the 3 days/week, higher intensity would be quite sufficient. By doing your weight training you are getting a workout as well, no need to kill yourself to get in even more cardio!

When was the last time you took a few days off?

thanks guys!
dave - i CAN'T take a day off....that's my problem. those little voices in my head attack me
seriously though, i do take one day off a week. anymore than that i have tremendous feelings of guilt. so that's why i just struggle through 30 mins on the elliptical cuz i feel its better than nothing. and i KNOW time off can help! i know you're muscles build not in the gym but while you're resting, unfortunately i can't get that through my thick skull

Perhaps you could take a vacation somewhere w/out a gym??? You need a break!

elicia-if the gym is ruling your life, you need to speak to a professional. it really isnt healthy for your mind or body. just concerned for you.

i do need a vaca!!!

thanks for your concern jen. but here's my thing- i don't think an hour a day is too much (only 40 mins when its just a cardio day). i mean, you're walking 13 miles!! that's incredible, i could never do that!!
and i'm going out of town for the holiday weekend so i'll have 3 days off in a row which is why i'm pushing myself to get in as much as i can this week.

what do you guys do to quiet those guilty thoughts??

I wish I had those guilty thoughts sometimes...

I think it's great you're so motivated, but please consider lowering your training a bit to give your body time to properly appreciate the hard work you're putting in. You don't want those little guilty voices that haunt you for not going to the gym to turn into voices that berate you for injuring yourself because you worked out too hard...

Just my two cents

Even professional athletes take a week off here and there. It's not just your muscles that need to recover, but your bones, ligaments, and tendons can use a rest once in a while. If you're really struggling to work out, your body is speaking to you. Listen to it!

As for higher intensity for shorter time, that's the way to go!

Well said Cindy!

Believe me, a week off is not bad and do it before injury. I now have the small voices yelling at me because I ran through pain and have a hard time walking... I was up to 5 weeks straight of working out 5 days a week. Hopefully, rest will cure, but seeing the sports doctor this week just to make sure.

elicia- im walking 13 miles 1x a week for a purpose-to train for a walking marathon and i had to build up to it. if you could do the workouts you are doing you could work up to it as well. however that has nothing to do with what i was trying to help you with. an hour a day is not too much if you dont have guilty feelings about it and you have a reason for doing it (need to lose weight ect). if you have guilty feelings about it, there are other factors/issues involved and maybe an hour a day is too much. that is why i said maybe you should speak to someone which i dont think means anything is wrong with you but it would just be a good idea to get a professional persons opinion. just trying to help. not trying to be controversial.

I definitely agree that you should talk to a personal trainer or other professional for what to do next.

On a more practical note, cardio is supposedly cumulative, so instead of trying to do all your cardio on one machine all at once, try spreading it out amongst several different machines and break things up a bit.

Also, rest and breaks are all good things. You muscles, mind, and spirit need time to heal sometimes so taking a week off (or a week of low intensity cardio) is a good thing.

Not to mention your mind... if your mental intensity is amped up for your workouts (which it should be!) then eventually it gets harder and harder to maintain your focus and drive; taking a week off is as much a break for your brain as the rest of your body.

There are so many different schools of thought as to how much cardio is "right" but in the end it comes down to what works for you. I personally only do one day of cardio/weights, other than that my weight training days and cardio days are completely separated.

If your goals are to lose fat/weight, which I assume it is from your profil, and not necessarily to train for a marathon (walking or otherwise) then you probably don't need more than 3 or so sessions of cardio a week, and I'd focus more on high intensity for shorter durations (HIIT or other intervals especially).

If you aren't giving yourself adequate rest then the odds are that you're doing more damage than good, and "adequate rest" is not necessarily one day a week... some people need more, some people need less... I'm averaging about one day every 10 days or so, but that's just me listening to my body, and I also take an entire week off every 6ish weeks... and while I do end up CRAVING the gym during that week off, it's not because of guilty voices, I'll WANT to hit the iron. Guilty voices is actually kind of a concerning issue... but that's a discussion for another day... for now you've got to get past them so you can enjoy your days off.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy! If your body never gets to recover you're going to go into overtraining and your body will start storing fat and burning off muscle and if you don't break that cycle, those abs you're so proud of (for good reason) might start fading. Rest days are possibly MORE important than work days and I don't question your motivation... you seem to have that in abundance, but if you go to the gym and REALLY don't feel like hitting the elliptical on one particular day, just don't. You sound like you're a lot like me, and taking that day off will fire me up for the next days workout and I'll push that much harder tomorrow.



Actually it's not max heart rate you want to aim for, in fact that'd be dangerous, your heart isn't made to work THAT hard THAT long. Interval training with work intervals no longer than two minutes (so heart rate spikes if you REALLY need to watch your heart rate, which I largely ignore) is what tells your body to build muscles after cardio as your body never adjusts to a pace, it basically combines the benefits of anaerobic activity with aerobic, so you work your heart and get your body to build muscle, which is what the "afterburn" is.

A lot of good advice here with regards to making sure you are not overtraining.



Great point here also.

In response to the original question the answer is the annoying 'it depends'. Training is a bit like food, in that nothing is good for you and nothing is bad for you. Every single choice contains a bit of both so the real question is always 'what choice suits your goals the best?' Also, it is really important to cycle your training so you are constantly experiencing gains. Though of course, the cycles have to be thought about and aligned with your goals and not just randomly changing your routine every now and again.

We recently had some T-Shirts made up for my warrior coaching website with the slogan:

'Obsession is a word used by the weak to describe the dedicated'

The point I'm making here is that, I for one understand the desire to push yourself in the gym and regularly train. I have fallen foul of overtraining in the past though now I am wise enough to understand my own body. At that point you are the only person who really knows how hard you can go, however it is important to be mindful of what is required to recover from your workouts. My tactic is normally to get my 8 hours every night and eat a lot. From experience, most people are not prepared to eat as much as me, as the majority of peoples goals evolve purely around aesthetics and they fear fat gain. If that is true of your goals then it is much harder to recover from exercise when you are deliberately putting your body into calorie deficit. So take that into consideration.

Wow, such great advice here! Thank you guys so much. I was out of town for 3 days this weekend and didn't get to exercise more than 1 45min walk. I couldn't wait to get back to the gym but when I got there, again no energy, and i came home with a headache. So frustrating! It's definitely not a lack of motivation or want, its completely physical and I know I need to take some time off. You're right Clifford, I don't want to lose those abs, or any other progress I've made in muscle gains.
And Dean, you're right, everyone is different. I tend to compare myself to others thinking "If they can do it, I should be able to as well." But my body may need more rest than others so I'm going to start listening to it. And I LOVE your t-shirt quote, can I get myself one of those tee's??!!

elicia- keep us posted on how you feel and your progress!!

Dean, may I have a T-shirt?


Elicia, I once was just like you, feeling guilty if I did not work out enough. At those days, I was obsessive at weight lose. I did whatever to lose weight. Over training, under eating ...etc. Not until I discover running, I never see exercising as a joy thing to do. A lot of intelligent advises provided by traineo pals already. I only thing I want to say is that if you find exercise as a joy thing to do instead of obligation, you would naturally take care of your body so that you can exercise again. And, you won't feel guilty of not doing enough.

Wow!!??? I wasn't expecting this??

Maybe I should look into this and see what I can do. Hold that thought

Thanks Glovia. The thing is I LOVE working out. It is a passion for me. I'm always excited to hit the gym for a spin class or weights, I look forward to it every day. I think that's why I'm having a hard time taking a break. I truly enjoy a good workout, which I don't feel i'm getting anymore due to exhaustion, so I guess that should be enough to tell me to take a rest. I really think its due to this crazy internship that I'm in, that's over in 3 weeks, so I just gotta get through that and I think I'll be back to my "normal" self.
I am so thankful for all your help and input everyone! I don't know what I'd do without my traineo community

And Dean, seriously try to get us some t-shirts!!!

elicia-good luck with the rest of your internship and try to enjoy your rest and hopefully you will be back to your normal self very soon!

you're not just humoring us and sneaking off to the gym, are you???

Good for you, glad to hear you're listening to your body - you'll come back a lot more focused and a lot more effective.