Hey everyone, heres a quick question for ya, can you do too much cardio??? The reason I ask is that when I began this transformation a few weeks ago I thought it was torture, but now I LOVE doing cardio!! I have been doing 30 min on the treadmill 4-5 days a week plus weight lifting 4 days a week. I know you can over train by lifting too much, but is there any harm in doing cardio 5, 6, or even 7 days a week???? What about multiple times a day?? like 30-45 min in the morning and then 30-45 min at night??? :d_confuse

Yes, you can do too much cardio, but it's a lot more than you think. The human body is very well designed for endurance exercises and can take a lot of punishment.

I know that opinions on cardio differ greatly and there is no consensus, blah blah blah. But even 45 minutes of cardio a day 6 days a week is definitely not even close to overtraining for anybody. Not even close. I would personally say that 30 minutes of cardio 5 days a week is way too little cardio if you're trying to lose fat, and you should, at the very least, bump those sessions up to 45 minutes.

Lots of people do two cardio sessions a day, espcially among the serious bodybuilding and fitness set. Nothing wrong with that.

It depends on a variety of factors, including your goals, bodyfat levels, rate of recovery, nutrition, training and how much muscle you are losing. Some people need lots of cardio to burn fat, while some do not need any and rely mostly on diet and weight training. Also, what bodytype you are will be important when figuring in amount and type of cardio.

You are more likely to lose muscle from not eating enough, than you are from doing too much cardio. Of course if you were doing 2 HIIT sessions per day 7 days a week, then that may cause a problem. 30min a day sounds fine.


Jason

You are more likely to lose muscle from not eating enough, than you are from doing too much cardio. Of course if you were doing 2 HIIT sessions per day 7 days a week, then that may cause a problem. 30min a day sounds fine.


Jason

Good to know...I was scared that I ran for over an hour today thinking i was going to burn all my muscle off. I was having fun (how I dont know hehe) but i ended up going for over another 30 minutes (My sessions are usually 45 min) before i checked my clock.

is there some way to know if one has the body type that cardio would be helpful for fat loss or vice versa? or is more about guessing and learning through trail and error?


im naturally an endomorph and cardio seems to have helped me.

Interesting comments by Tom Venturio

Dear Tom,

I just read an article in a bodybuilding magazine that said all you need to lose fat is three days a week on a cardio machine for twenty minutes. It said that low intensity, long duration cardio workouts are not the best way to lose fat and that a high intensity twenty-minute workout is more efficient. Is this true? I don't have a lot of time to work out so it would be great if I could get my cardio done in only twenty minutes.

Yes it's true that higher intensity cardio workouts burn more calories per unit of time AND increase metabolism more after the workout than low intensity workouts. High intensity cardio, including high intensity interval training (HIIT), is very effective and time efficient, although it's not for everyone.

It's well known that low intensity exercise utilizes primarily fat as fuel and high intensity exercise utilizes more carbohydrate as fuel. In the past, this was the basis for the idea that low intensity, long duration aerobic exercise was superior for fat loss. Some people were were afraid to exercise too intensely because they thought it would make them burn only "sugar" and not body fat. Today, research has proven that this belief was false.

A 1995 study conducted by Grediagin, et al, and published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association (95(6):661-5) compared fat loss in two groups over a 12 week period. One group performed exercise at 80% of VO2 max for a duration sufficient to burn 300 kcal, the other group performed exercise at 50% of VO2 max for a duration sufficient to burn 300 calories. Hydrostatic body composition testing revealed that each group lost an identical amount of fat. The authors concluded, "This study suggests that fat loss is a function of energy expended rather than exercise intensity. Therefore, if fat loss is the goal and time is limited, persons should exercise safely at as high an intensity as tolerable to expend as much energy as possible during their allotted time."

A 1990 study published by Ballard, et al in the same journal (51(2):142-6) had identical findings. High (80-90% VO2max) versus low (40-50% VO2max) intensity rates were compared in two groups with duration carefully controlled to ensure each group burned the same number of calories. The high intensity group exercised for only 25 minutes and the low intensity group for 50 minutes, yet both groups lost the same amount of body fat!

Although many factors are involved in exercise-induced fat loss, the most important factor appears to be the total number of calories burned, NOT whether the calories burned are fat or carbohydrate.

When discussing the effects of exercise intensity on fat loss, it's also important to consider energy expenditure after the workout, not just the calories burned during the workout. Higher intensities not only burn more calories per unit of time, but they also elevate your metabolism more at rest after the workout is over. This post workout increase in metabolic rate is known as "excess post exercise oxygen consumption" or EPOC for short.

It has been proposed, based on the results of several studies comparing the amount of calories burned at rest after low intensity versus high intensity exercise, that HIIT is a superior method of fat loss due to its effect on post workout metabolic rate.

Clearly, HIIT is the logical protocol of choice if you are already highly fit and pressed for time. However, it's also logical that time permitting, more frequent and longer duration exercise might cause even greater overall fat loss if intensity is sufficient, simply because more total calories can be burned over the course of a week.

For example, if you do 20 minutes of very intense cardio, you might burn about 400 calories. That's a lot of calories for such a brief workout. But it only adds up to 1200 total calories in one week if your frequency is only three days per week. If you double your frequency to six days per week, you double your caloric expenditure to 2400 calories per week. If you also increase your duration, your intensity will decrease (so you'll burn fewer calories per minute), but the calorie expenditure for the entire workout goes up, which increases your total weekly calorie burn even further.

Duration and intensity are inversely related, so the longer the workout, the lower the intensity. But that doesnt mean a 30 or 45 minute workout necessarily has to be "low" in intensity. A 30 or 45 minute steady state workout can be "moderate" or "moderately-high" in intensity, and the combination of the highest intensity you can muster with a 30-45 minute duration can create an enormous calorie burn. Some of that calorie burn will occur after the workout as well, because studies have shown that EPOC is influenced not just by intensity, but also by duration.

In order to achieve optimal rates of fat loss, it's important to consider the total number of calories you burn both during and after exercise over the course of each week. You must also consider the interplay between different combinations of intensity, frequency and duration because total calorie expenditure is not just a function of intensity, but of intensity times duration and frequency. Although infrequent and very brief (15-20 minutes or less) HIIT workouts have recently gained great popularity (and deservedly so), more research needs to be done to identify the effects of various combinations of intensity, duration and frequency on body composition for various populations.

Organizations such as The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommend longer duration exercise when an individual's goal is fat loss. The ACSM position stand titled, "The recommended quantity and quality of exercise" states, "A threshold level for total body mass and fat mass loss generally would require at least 30-45 min of exercise per session for a person of average fitness. If the primary purpose of the training program is for weight loss, then regimens of greater frequency and duration of training and moderate intensity are recommended. Shorter duration, higher intensity programs may be recommended for healthy individuals at low risk for cardiovascular disease and orthopedic injury."

To avoid overtraining or injury, which become risks with higher frequency, duration and intensity, build up slowly, and also alter your volume and intensity in a "seasonal" fashion, based on your goals at the moment. If your goal is to maintain your current level of body fat and stay healthy, I'd recommend at least 20 minutes of aerobic activity 3 days per week. If your goal is maximum fat loss, then I would sometimes recommend as much as 30-60 minutes 5-6 days per week, if necessary. You can also consider the option of combining long, moderate intensity sessions with brief, high intensity sessions. Once you reach your desired percentage of body fat, then you can gradually shift back into a "maintenance" program of lesser frequency, duration and intensity.

Genetics also play a role in the ideal volume of cardio for fat loss. If you're one of the few people who are genetically blessed with the fast metabolism and physical attributes to burn fat easily, then three days a week for twenty minutes often provides sufficient stimulus for results. In fact, I know a few people with hyperactive metabolisms who stay ripped all year round without doing any cardio at all. Not many people are that fortunate. I've seen very few people who can lose fat at the maximum rate with a cardio frequency of three days per week. On the other hand, I have never seen anyone do six days a week of cardio for 30-45 minutes or more per session and NOT lose a lot of body fat (assuming their nutrition was satisfactory).

The bottom line is that a single prescription, such as "three days a week for 20 minutes" will not work for everyone and protocols such as HIIT are also not for everyone. Exercise programs must be prescribed on an individual basis and they are not static - frequency, duration and intensity need to be adjusted based on results. Three twenty-minute cardio sessions may or may not be sufficient, depending on your goals, your current level of fitness and your actual results, but longer and/or more frequent cardio sessions are sometimes a necessary evil.

There is a thing as doing too much of anything without the proper amount of nutrition and rest.

You can do cardio if everyday, if you want, but i would definitely do other things than a treadmill/run outside. i would use the ski machine/elliptical/bike/stairmaster.swim/rowing machine 2-3x a week to mix it up. that way, you use other muscles, give the other ones a rest, and generally, promote injury prevention (granted you do it properly).

think about it like this: you can scratch the back of your hand pretty lightly, and you won't be bothered. you can scratch it pretty hard, and it might hurt, but you probably will recover.

now, scratch it lightly, 200x in a row, and you will probably start to see some serious damage.

that's how i view cardio everyday, using the same device/method. you might not see damage now, but do you really want to suffer injuries that would damage you for weeks or possibly months?

I've been reading the above with unflinching focus.....but here's a question maybe you could shed some light on.....I do a full-body workout Mon,Wed,Fri., with free weights including ab ex's and weighted squats....at the end of these sessions I do a HIT-type cardio workout that lasts 10 minutes but is fairly ferocious........I was thinking of upping the cardio to a total of 6 days a week.....this would include my "rest" days tho'......I would only do HIT cardio on the workout days and the others would be good ol' low intensity for 25 minutes....seeing as how I'm squatting in the workouts would extra cardio on the off days mess up my muscle growth?.......... :eek:

ABSOLUTELY. This is exactly how I felt for a long time. (I added my opinions in parentheses throughtout Tom's post below) I'm glad someone respected as Tom Venuto agrees with me! I've been looking for studies to bear this out. Leave it to Tom, to find them. It only makes sense. Higher intensity cardio may use carbs as an IMMEDIATE energy source. But if you're in a caloric deficit, your body will ultimately tap into the same fat stores. I think intervals are the best of both worlds in combining intensity and duration to allow a great metabolic stimulus and a long enough workout to burn lots of calories. See my other post in the other cardio thread for the cardio I did during my cut and what I'd recommend.

Interesting comments by Tom Venturio:


It's well known that low intensity exercise utilizes primarily fat as fuel and high intensity exercise utilizes more carbohydrate as fuel. In the past, this was the basis for the idea that low intensity, long duration aerobic exercise was superior for fat loss. Some people were were afraid to exercise too intensely because they thought it would make them burn only "sugar" and not body fat. Today, research has proven that this belief was false. (AGREED)

A 1995 study conducted by Grediagin, et al, and published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association (95(6):661-5) compared fat loss in two groups over a 12 week period. One group performed exercise at 80% of VO2 max for a duration sufficient to burn 300 kcal, the other group performed exercise at 50% of VO2 max for a duration sufficient to burn 300 calories. Hydrostatic body composition testing revealed that each group lost an identical amount of fat. (not surprising to me) The authors concluded, "This study suggests that fat loss is a function of energy expended rather than exercise intensity. Therefore, if fat loss is the goal and time is limited, persons should exercise safely at as high an intensity as tolerable to expend as much energy as possible during their allotted time."

A 1990 study published by Ballard, et al in the same journal (51(2):142-6) had identical findings. High (80-90% VO2max) versus low (40-50% VO2max) intensity rates were compared in two groups with duration carefully controlled to ensure each group burned the same number of calories. The high intensity group exercised for only 25 minutes and the low intensity group for 50 minutes, yet both groups lost the same amount of body fat!

Although many factors are involved in exercise-induced fat loss, the most important factor appears to be the total number of calories burned, NOT whether the calories burned are fat or carbohydrate.

When discussing the effects of exercise intensity on fat loss, it's also important to consider energy expenditure after the workout, not just the calories burned during the workout. Higher intensities not only burn more calories per unit of time, but they also elevate your metabolism more at rest after the workout is over. This post workout increase in metabolic rate is known as "excess post exercise oxygen consumption" or EPOC for short.

Clearly, HIIT is the logical protocol of choice if you are already highly fit and pressed for time. However, it's also logical that time permitting, more frequent and longer duration exercise might cause even greater overall fat loss if intensity is sufficient, simply because more total calories can be burned over the course of a week. (YES-or find a way to combine the two)

For example, if you do 20 minutes of very intense cardio, you might burn about 400 calories. That's a lot of calories for such a brief workout. But it only adds up to 1200 total calories in one week if your frequency is only three days per week. If you double your frequency to six days per week, you double your caloric expenditure to 2400 calories per week. If you also increase your duration, your intensity will decrease (so you'll burn fewer calories per minute), but the calorie expenditure for the entire workout goes up, which increases your total weekly calorie burn even further.

Duration and intensity are inversely related, so the longer the workout, the lower the intensity. But that doesnt mean a 30 or 45 minute workout necessarily has to be "low" in intensity. A 30 or 45 minute steady state workout can be "moderate" or "moderately-high" in intensity, and the combination of the highest intensity you can muster with a 30-45 minute duration can create an enormous calorie burn. (Yes! intervals) Some of that calorie burn will occur after the workout as well, because studies have shown that EPOC is influenced not just by intensity, but also by duration.

In order to achieve optimal rates of fat loss, it's important to consider the total number of calories you burn both during and after exercise over the course of each week. You must also consider the interplay between different combinations of intensity, frequency and duration because total calorie expenditure is not just a function of intensity, but of intensity times duration and frequency. Although infrequent and very brief (15-20 minutes or less) HIIT workouts have recently gained great popularity (and deservedly so), more research needs to be done to identify the effects of various combinations of intensity, duration and frequency on body composition for various populations.

Organizations such as The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommend longer duration exercise when an individual's goal is fat loss. The ACSM position stand titled, "The recommended quantity and quality of exercise" states, "A threshold level for total body mass and fat mass loss generally would require at least 30-45 min of exercise per session for a person of average fitness. If the primary purpose of the training program is for weight loss, then regimens of greater frequency and duration of training and moderate intensity are recommended. Shorter duration, higher intensity programs may be recommended for healthy individuals at low risk for cardiovascular disease and orthopedic injury."

To avoid overtraining or injury, which become risks with higher frequency, duration and intensity, build up slowly, and also alter your volume and intensity in a "seasonal" fashion, based on your goals at the moment. If your goal is to maintain your current level of body fat and stay healthy, I'd recommend at least 20 minutes of aerobic activity 3 days per week. If your goal is maximum fat loss, then I would sometimes recommend as much as 30-60 minutes 5-6 days per week, if necessary. You can also consider the option of combining long, moderate intensity sessions with brief, high intensity sessions. Once you reach your desired percentage of body fat, then you can gradually shift back into a "maintenance" program of lesser frequency, duration and intensity.

Genetics also play a role in the ideal volume of cardio for fat loss. If you're one of the few people who are genetically blessed with the fast metabolism and physical attributes to burn fat easily, then three days a week for twenty minutes often provides sufficient stimulus for results. In fact, I know a few people with hyperactive metabolisms who stay ripped all year round without doing any cardio at all. Not many people are that fortunate. I've seen very few people who can lose fat at the maximum rate with a cardio frequency of three days per week. On the other hand, I have never seen anyone do six days a week of cardio for 30-45 minutes or more per session and NOT lose a lot of body fat (assuming their nutrition was satisfactory).

The bottom line is that a single prescription, such as "three days a week for 20 minutes" will not work for everyone and protocols such as HIIT are also not for everyone. Exercise programs must be prescribed on an individual basis and they are not static - frequency, duration and intensity need to be adjusted based on results. Three twenty-minute cardio sessions may or may not be sufficient, depending on your goals, your current level of fitness and your actual results, but longer and/or more frequent cardio sessions are sometimes a necessary evil.