Body for life

[lala1]

For those of you who use this. i just visited their site and was very impressed with the info. But it's hard to believe that with only 20 minuted of interval work 3X a week that that is enough cardio. So, my question is: does that work or do you usually do more cardio?

 

[Ciddy]

I've never done the Body For Life program, but one of my coworkers follows it religiously. He does tend to focus on more weight work, but I know he does more cardio than the program requires. Personally I don't think 20 minutes of cardio 3 times a week is enough. My body is very lean and sculpted when I am doing cardio at least 5 times a week. I don't follow that every week, but when I really want to slim down I up my cardio.

Ciddy

 

[lala1]

Thanks Ciddy. I guess that is pretty much my gut reaction, too.

 

[Kat2002]

I've never done BFL, but I'd give the program a try as written. If your diet is cleaned up, you can see results with minimal cardio. From what I've read, too much cardio can do away with any muscle gains that you're trying to make. I'd start with the program recommendations then add more if you stall to shake up your plateau.

Alot of serious weightlifters do something called HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) where you go as fast as you can on cardio equipment of choice (or outdoors) for 20 seconds, then recover for 40 seconds. Or 30 secs:60 seconds. For a total of only 20 mins including warm up and cool down. I've just started giving this a try, but most of them only do that twice a week.

 

[dogs2birds]

I think that if you follow the program exactly, it works. I eat the Body for Life way for the most part, but am not 100% good. So I do more cardio. Plus I ride and have to do more. But a lot of people have had fabulous results with BFL following it exactly as written.

The 20 minutes of cardio IS the HIIT (high intensity interval training). You warm up for 2 minutes at a level 5 (scale of 1-10) exertion. Then you go to level 6 for a minute, level 7 for a minute, level 8 for a minute and level 9 for a minute and come back down to 6 for a minute, 7 for a minute and so on until the last set of this and you go all out at 10 for a minute and then cool down for a minute (or two, I can't remember). When I do this I sweat for about an hour after! It's tough if you give it your all. Trust me!

Susan

"Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened." - Anatole France

http://www.picturetrail.com/dogs2birds

 

[shelia]

Yes 20 min is enough when following the program.I did it 5 years ago and was amazed at the results.my cardio was running interval style 2 times a week and taebo for only 20 min.my legs were the most defined they had ever been.