Too much cardio?

[SkinnyPupp]

Currently my cardio consists of 30 KM bike rides (takes about 70 mins) on my non-weight days (and Sunday, which is a rest day). This makes for over 3 hours of cardio per week.

Is this too much? I've been told that any cardio over abour 40 mins will be just training for endurance, and not burning fat very effectively.

Would I be better off just to shorten my rides to about 40 minutes?

Anyone have a lot of info on this?

[UCDFuBoO]

if your looking to burn fat u should do a high intensity cardio... in which u go about 80-95% your max hr for maybe 30 seconds then u go 20 seconds at maybe 50-60% your max hr... basically mixing it up...

if u do a bike machine, put the setting on random and do that for maybe 20-40 min a day, 4-5 days a week... anything else would be endurance training...

[SkinnyPupp]

I'm definitely not on a bike machine. If it weren't for my bike I don't think I'd be able to do any cardio. I just can't stand the idea of training like a hamster on a wheel.

But endurance is beneficial to me anyway, since I do ride cross country. It would come in handy in real life, so I think I'll stick to my routine.

At least when I am too damn tired I can do a 40 minute routine and not feel too guilty

[LAM]

if you want to burn fat do low to moderate-intensity cardio.

during high-intensity cardio less free fatty acids are delievered to the mitochondria for use as energy...there are only 3 energy sources, proteins, carbs and fats. If fats are not getting used that means a higher amount of proteins and carbs are being oxidized. So when glycogen stores are depleted you can see why high-intensity cardio can be VERY catabolic...

If you want to get super-technical for optimum fat burning during cardio sessions it should be performed at 50% of your Vo2Max for 60 minutes...

[Shao-LiN]

I thought high intensity interval training was the best for fat loss.

[UCDFuBoO]

yeah I agree with shao-lin... i have heard from numerous sources that high-intensity cardio is best for fat loss... at short intervals ofcoarse....

high intensity is catabolic when glycogen stores are low only when it is overdone... when glycogen stores are low, the body uses fat stores initially... so if we over-due it then yes it would get it's energy from another source... but for the first 20-30 minutes or so.. fat is being used...

[Holto]

Originally posted by Shao-LiN
I thought high intensity interval training was the best for fat loss.

with this form of cardio 3/4 of cals are burned after exercise

and during exercise only a small portion of cals are burned from fat

to use a large % of cals from fat your intensity needs to be reduced

both methods have merit though

[SkinnyPupp]

Originally posted by LAM
if you want to burn fat do low to moderate-intensity cardio.

during high-intensity cardio less free fatty acids are delievered to the mitochondria for use as energy...there are only 3 energy sources, proteins, carbs and fats. If fats are not getting used that means a higher amount of proteins and carbs are being oxidized. So when glycogen stores are depleted you can see why high-intensity cardio can be VERY catabolic...

If you want to get super-technical for optimum fat burning during cardio sessions it should be performed at 50% of your Vo2Max for 60 minutes...

OK for my ~1 hour ride, I am not full our sprinting. I am going pretty fast, but there are some short breaks (the occasional red light). I don't have a heart monitor, so I can't be sure of my heart rate

[LAM]

just keep track of your bf% and LBM you will know soon how your bike riding is effecting either one...

[zwarrior99]

:withstupi

[BCC]

LAM is correct, low intensity cardio is best for fat loss. You don't see professional bodybuilders running their asses off on treadmills come contest time. They walk slow on an incline for an hour usually.

[SkinnyPupp]

Thanks for the tips guys. Zwarrior was especially eloquant with his response

[UCDFuBoO]

zwarrior did have a pretty good response

[paco_36832]

Originally posted by SkinnyPupp
I've been told that any cardio over abour 40 mins will be just training for endurance, and not burning fat very effectively.

Rule #1 when getting training advice from others--Listen only to people who know what the hell they are talking about. First of all, how your body rersponds to exercise has to do with intensity, not time. Second of all, wtf does that have to do with anything?

People who worry about whether they're "burning fat" during exercise are missing the point. You can burn fat all you want, but if you eat too much or picked the wrong parents, you're still sentenced to being a bucket of lard. All of the weightlifting and cardio in the world isn't going to change that.