How Much Cardio Is Too Much?

Running, cycling and other aerobic exercises can help improve your health and fitness. Find out how much aerobic exercise is right for you and how much aerobic exercise you have too many.

Hello friend! How about in the morning? I hope you have a great week. For today’s post, I updated the old *beef* with lots of fitness tips. If you’re wondering how much cardio you’re going to do and need to help with your routine, I’d like to help with a customized plan.

I often receive variations of the same question. What is my weight loss goal? What kind of aerobic exercise should I do? To be precise, what aerobic exercise can be done without losing muscle? What is the minimum?

But what the core of each of these questions ultimately asks is: How much aerobic exercise is there too much?

Please drop my cardio queen badge and tell me a long story.

How much aerobic exercise is there too much?

Aerobic exercise story

long ago, I thought cardio was the “end of everything” for health, fitness, and to lose weight (what was my goal at the time).. I thought it would be even better when it comes to aerobic exercise. Little did I know, I was pounding the treadmill and walking around the oval, so I was burning precious muscles. Yes, I was experiencing real muscle loss.

It’s equally tragic and interesting to consider the time I spent doing cardio. I thought I was throwing myself firmly to know it was an overdone. I carried my little heart aerobic, and there was a time when I went almost every day, over an hour. I was doing too much cardio at high intensity. (This was also when I ruined my metabolism a few years ago.)

Thankfully, I started working in the fitness industry, taught group fitness, was certified to work as a personal trainer, and learned a lot about balancing cardio. It takes a little time to find the amount and type of fitness that will drive you towards your goals while providing endorphins, sweat and improved performance (including endurance, speed and agility).

It wasn’t until I counted my exercises that I noticed a difference in fitness benefits and overall health by shortening the duration of my aerobics session. I also felt a great boost from the gym’s mojo. Because I used this time to read books and gab with friends. (< - This is still fun, but I opened the door when it comes to new classes, HIIT methods, and fitness modalities!)

FAQs and tips for finding your personal cardio sweet spot

(As always, check with your doctor before making any fitness changes. If you have a medical condition or a sedentary lifestyle, it is especially important to start the program with guidance from your doctor. . As always, respect your body.)

What exactly is aerobic exercise? Will strength training be counted?

Cardiovascular fitness is an important aspect of health that involves the uptake, transport and use of oxygen during exercise. Your heart, lungs and muscles work harmoniously when jogging, sprinting, or vacuuming throughout the day.

We measure aerobic exercise via VO2max, the largest amount of oxygen consumption in the body. It’s not easy to measure, so you usually determine the intensity as a percentage of your maximum heart rate.

Example: I’m 36 so my estimated maximum heart rate is 220-36 = 184. If you want to press 80% of your maximum heart rate (for high-intensity training), it is 184 x .8 = 147.2. In that case, if you are wearing a heart rate monitor, you are aiming to hit around 147. This is in line with NASM Recommendationswhere I got Personal Training Certified.

As long as you count your strength training counts as conditioning, you can certainly do that. It depends on consistently increasing your heart rate. If you’re doing traditional hypertrophy training (3 sets of 10-12 reps, between sets), you may not be able to raise your heart rate and maintain it during your workout. If you’re training more circuit styles or supersetting multiple exercises, your heart rate may continue to rise! This can be counted as aerobic exercise. For circuit workouts, my heart rate is higher than if I had been in steady states, such as jogging or dancing on the treadmill.

What are your recommendations for aerobic exercise?

We do not recommend doing more than an hour of aerobic exercise unless you are training for a particular event. If you really love it, to restore your body, make sure you have some days off (yes, especially in this case) Please please. If you are consistently training the same muscles, especially if you do the same kind of aerobic exercise every day, you won’t give them a chance to go back stronger and recover. This also allows you to set it up for excessive injuries, not for picnics.

Make sure you are giving your body a chance to heal between sessions and make sure to alternate the intensity. I always want to throw a reminder there The heart is a muscleand something quite important. Just like your feet, shoulders, chest, and back, you need rest. Include a simple day as part of your plan.

How much aerobic exercise is too much to build muscle?

here it is General cardio exercise recommendations:

A combination of moderately intense cardiopulmonary exercise for at least 150 minutes, active intensity for 75 minutes, or moderately and intensely intensity exercise per week. Weekly recommendations for resistance training are at least 2 days per week for exercises for all major muscle groups (at least 1 set of 8-12 repetitions for each muscle group). Flexibility and neuromotor movements (balance, agility, adjustment) are also recommended at least twice a week.

I think moderate aerobic exercise for 150 minutes a week is a great goal. If you exercise five times more than a week, it takes 30 minutes each day. To the minimum, I recommend a lively walk for 20 minutes every day. that’s it. Aerobic fitness sessions can be split into blocks if necessary. This leads you to the next question: Unless you train, further aerobic exercise can be more harmful than good.

There’s not much time to do solid aerobic exercise blocks. Should I skip completely?

Split it!! I thought it wouldn’t have been worth it if I hadn’t had time for more than 10 minutes. It is valuable and beneficial. After we exercise, our bodies must work hard to replenish the store and regulate tissue temperature. This is called EPOC (oxygen consumption after excessive exercise) and burns excess calories. Get bonus epoch sessions with multiple short trainings every day. Do what you can. If you only need 20 minutes to exercise, here are some ideas.

(Sculpt Society is one of my favorite aerobic exercises! This link is free for a month.)

Aerobic exercise tips

It starts slowly and accumulates from there.

It’s wiser to start with less and accumulate from there.

Focus on quality rather than quantity.

Count your time and focus on making the most of your training. It’s not about how many minutes you can add to your time, but about how you feel. Do you feel challenged, sweaty and energetic (not drained)?

Your aerobic exercise magic may differ from the recommendations above.

Depending on the type of aerobic exercise mode you do, the frequency of strength training, and your daily activity level, you need less “traditional aerobic exercise” and more strength. There may be. It’s all about experimenting and finding magic numbers, depending on your unique goals and circumstances. This number may change weekly depending on what is happening. Aerobic exercise is an important aspect of health, so if possible, try walking a little to get active every day.

Don’t overdo it.

Unnecessarily high aerobic exercise (no purpose such as event training) can lead to overuse injuries, increased cortisol levels, depleted immune system function, fear of training, increased resting heart rate, joint pain, extreme Muscle pain and fatigue. It can turn your hunger levels into hay and affect your hormones (so many women who do too many harsh aerobic exercises will have a manifestation cycle, hair loss, skin changes, anxiety , can suffer from depression, changes in sleep, and lack of irritability). If you do it too much with aerobic exercise, your body may start using that lean muscle as fuel, which can reduce overall strength and muscle mass. This means that you may lose muscle in addition to body fat. Your body composition changes and you need to find a sweet spot for aerobic exercise in your workout routine – what works for you and your unique goals. Make sure there are lots of “easy days”!

If you don’t like it, throw it away.

There are so many aerobic fish in the ocean, you are destined to find what you love. Don’t be afraid to try out different classes, modes and instructors until you find the perfect match. If you decide that traditional cardio isn’t for you, take a look at something else that will boost your heart rate, such as circuit training. Don’t forget about the unintended exercise bonus (also known as NEET: non-acting activity fever). Also, don’t forget that you burn calories and increase your heart rate through daily physical activities such as housework, gardening, errands and intimate activities. Lingering

It is also important to note that balanced routines include cardio, weight training, mobility and rest.

So, friends, how often do you do aerobic exercise in your routine now?

When I was teaching at the resort, I was doing a huge amount. My knees also hated me. Right now I’m not doing 2-3 days of aerobic exercise so I walk around Maisey every day.

xoxo

Gina

Some resources:

35 aerobic-based body weight exercises

What does aerobic fitness mean?

Hale Hit, Aerobic Exercise King