I decided to only do cardio for 1 month

darine

darine

Cathlete
I am so tired of not seeing results. I am not liking my body. I want to completely shock it. I can't fit in my cloths... it never happened to me.

So I am going to watch my diet (my problem is portions) and do 5 days a week of intense cardio for only 1 month. And then slowly incorporate circuit and weights.

is that a bad idea.

i feel that if i do intense 1 hour with abs and sometimes 20 min leg workout when i have time, i will see results. my butt and leg are stuck on that size. they are shape nicer with lots of weight but i want them to get smaller

i know someone who lost LOTS of weight only by running... oh and i will add walking / running 30 min twice a week (always raining here, when weather is nice)

i know i will get a lot of you saying i have to have weight. but i have been doing so since January.

i need support... is that a bad idea?
 
I am in the same boat as you are. I went from STS to CLX since January (currently in phase 2 of CLX). I am thinking of stopping CLX and focusing on more cardio and maybe some endurance strength workouts. My weight has not budged and my clothes either aren't any looser or even worse they are tighter. I will be interested in other's reactions/suggestions.
 
may be after 1 month of ONLY cardio, I will post results

my muscles are tight now so that might help to loose weight faster

after one month, I will start full body workouts (start with Ripped for high rep / low weight) and circuits for 3 weeks and then go to a 3 week of S & H with off course cardio / abs

I am actually excited about that

i mean... it have to give results!

with my 30 min walking / running... that's 7 days of cardio
 
You know I did that too. I did a whole month of just HITT and running. No lifting, . . . BUT I did do push ups and pull up training. It was mostly hill, trail, and road running and mountain biking. It did wonders for me. My heart felt stronger, my legs were leaner, and it did change my body. Of course because I like the muscle deffinition I came back to lifting but only circut style. I lift 2 days a week now. You know you have to do what feels right for you and works for you. Good luck let us all know how it goes.
 
oh wow

thx

that's very motivating

i am excited about this

it just hit me.... cardio is the answer

and now i feel good about it

i will add some leg and ab exercises and some push ups

i can't wait to see results
 
i could have posted this myself. You sound a lot like how i'm feeling. My body does not do well with less cardio. For a while i have been doing what many recommend: less cardio more weights. Well, i really hate how my body responded to it. Not to mention, my body feels so tight and unbalanced even though i stretch daily. I just read an article by John Berardi in which he states that he doesn't understand why women are lifting heavy in a bodybuilding split when they want to look like popular actresses. He's not stating don't life heavy if your a women, but hes saying lift and train the way you want your results to be. I have been lifting heavy but yet i don't want to look like a fitness competitor. I think they look great but i don't want to have that body but yet i continued to lift this way. As a result, i'm more blocky/thick then i would have liked. There is no one way to train and its common for fitness mags and fitness forums to make statements that makes one think they have to train a certain way b/c its the only way that produces results. When i look back and when i had my best results and when i like the way i looked it was when i was doing intense cardio for 45 minutes 3-4 days per week with a full body circuit training workout (my own design) in which it provides a metabolic effect. Even though the above program is what got me to my best condition, i have kept with heavy weights and body part splits with no avail. Its time to go back to what works for me and stop thinking that i should be doing something else.
 
i think after a long cardio month, to shock your body with heavy weight would be good but then get back to cardio. and once in a while shock with heavy. but never stay too long at heavy

i am talking based on what i think, not experience. i will try that

i will post results end of july!
 
another here that will be adding more cardio to the fitness diet. i was doing a lot of weight lifting with splits and maybe 2 days of cardio. even when i watched what and how much i ate i still got pudgier that a "lovely" co-worker was so nice to point out at least a few days a week. i kept telling blah blah blah more muscle=less fat but i think its not for ME personally i need a good balance of everything. plus as i get older my body seems to respond to different activities differently so maybe in my 20s weight lifting more would have been the answer but now in my 30s maybe a balance of weights and cardio are going to cut it. i don't have a strict discipline with diet but i have been pretty good lately. watching how much and what i choose to eat.

i am not completely cutting out weights so i came up with something for this month. my upper/lower body/total body work will be done in the gym and possibly some of my cardio as well. mixing up the intensity and length of the workouts also will probably split up some of the workouts so abs and pilates will be in the evening.

sun-cardio/abs
mon-circuit
tues-cardio/kettlebells/abs
weds-cardio/pilates
thurs-circuit
fri-cardio/kettlebells
sat-yoga

sun-cardio/abs
mon-upper body/kettlebells
tues-cardio/abs
weds-lower body/cardio
thurs-cardio/pilates
fri-total body weights(short workout)/kettlebelss
sat-yoga

repeat the first week

sun-kettlebells/cardio
mon-upper body/abs
tues-cardio
weds-lower body/cardio
thurs-cardio/pilates
fri-total body weights or circuit/kettlebells
sat-yoga

sun-cardio/abs
mon-circuit
tues-cardio/kettlebells
weds-cardio/pilates
thurs-circuit
fri-kettlebells
sat-yoga

kassia
 
one more thing, i did cardio only for about 2 weeks about a month ago. I got great results instantly and loved how i was looking and feeling. But i went back to less cardio and more weights and now i'm back to square one. I think that lifting heavy for one week per month is worth a shot. Please keep us posted. Mabe we can start a cardio check-in
 
i did not do enough cardio during sts and have gained weight.i have started running on the treadmill at my apartments weight room and find it to be the best calorie burner. i lost weight from it fast. i am also doing alot of powerstrike 1,2,5,kpc,amybento kb and amy bento h/l.

laura
 
I did a lot of cardio, than I started weight training and no results. I love cardio and did 90 min every day like terminator, Hardcore extreme, Imax 1,2,3, bootcamp, kickbox, running 7-10 miles a day plus walk every night 3 miles but didn't work. Than I started STS. I used really heavy weights and did hard, really hard cardio on my cardio days and worked. ;):D
I also started to do a lot of stretching and yoga.
My legs are leaner, my body totally changed. :cool:
I think the heavy weight was the key. I don't know. :eek: I usually used 50 lb for legs now in meso 3 I used 30-35 pound dumbbells. Those plyo jumps and than heavy weights really helped. Same for the upper body I used 8 lb dumbbells now I use 15-20 lb dumbbells. And just like I mentioned I kicked my butt on cardio days.
I think change is good, don't do the same workout over and over again. Do one day kickbox, than a killer bootcamp, run, walk, step aerobic, high int. aerobic, a few weight training days and don't forget your day off.
Stretch a lot, do just cardio for one week than just heavy weight training and light cardio for the next week. Don't forget to shock your body. Don't be nice to yourself of course stop if you need to. ;)
And yes, eat CLEAN. I eat really clean. If you have problem with the portion size try to eat small I mean small meals 4-5 times a day. 1 cup oat, 1 cup yogurt, 3oz meat or fish with a half cup brown rice, a medium fruit, steamed vegetables and don't forget the ice cream. :p just a small cup. I had the same problem and this helped. When you are hungry drink some water and wait 10 minutes if you are still hungry eat.
Hope this helps.

Timea
 
timea3 said:
Those plyo jumps and than heavy weights really helped. Same for the upper body I used 8 lb dumbbells now I use 15-20 lb dumbbells. And just like I mentioned I kicked my butt on cardio days.

Timea
Click to expand...

i love my advanced workouts for this reason. most of them have intervals that have pylos(some of amy's and of course cathe) but at the gym i bang out 20-30 min of legs with leg presses and squats on smith machine(just to name a few exercises) so i go really heavy(225 leg press :D ) so i don't have to go as long for my lower body focused workouts but many of my cardio workouts will have a focus on legs like kickboxing or stepping with pylometrics so its one heavy leg day and the rest get worked with kettlebells and cardio.

upper body i am rockin' in the gym with rows and lat pulls and started to focus at least 2-3 sets on assisted pull ups. i do lots of chest/back/shoulder work but use push ups and dips for my arms and maybe a couple sets for bi/tri with weights.

my main cardio is elliptical and kickboxing but i try at least 2-3 day of something different like treadmill and stepping mixing it up with steady state or intervals.

also trying to throw in some sort of ab workout in the evenings whether be pilates or traditional stuff but i always try to throw in 2-3 ab exercises at the end of cardio.

kassia
 
I am more of a cardio junkie. I don't love it while I'm doing it, but it seems to be the most effective. Also, the yoga is really critical as are getting enough essential fats in your diet. You need the lipids to stay flexible. I only do one week of lifting heavy per month (during my period sorry for the TMI). Here is my monthly rotation, I don't always get all of this in, I aim for 6 days per week and if I only get 5 it is ok. I allow myself to take days off when I'm not well because the body seems to repond most to diet and that my mind is what responds to exercise :D My thighs are getting slimmer and so are my calves (I'm way too big down there.) Watching the carb intake and eating super clean makes a major difference. I also cycle my calories. I avoid soy and protein powders because I was gaining weight with those foods.

Wk 1
Day 1 Jog intervals
2 LIC
3 Jog intervals
4 Step Fit or Step Max
5 Jog Steady State
6 Low Max
7

Wk 2
Day 1 Jog intervals
2 CW
3 Jog intervals
4 RS or SB
5 Jog Steady State
6 IMAX original
7

Wk 3
Day 1 Jog Steady State
2 Imax 2
3 Jog Steady State
4 Power Max or MIC
5 Jog intervals
6 SJP
7

Wk 4
Day 1 Jog
2 Yoga
3 4-DS
4 4-DS
5 4-DS
6 4-DS
7 off

The intervals seemed to make the most difference to my lower body. I do the steady state for my heart. If I don't feel well I only do about 30 min. in my THR on my jog days, if I feel good I aim for 60 min. in my THR. I do my best to work at the top end of my heart range. Eating a snack prior to working out helps.
 
As I'm training for a 100 mile bike ride, I've been lowering the weight work and increasing cardio. I've been doing hard hill work on the spin bike a few days a week and sprinting as well. My endurance is amazing - rode 78.55 miles on Saturday and I feel great - and like others have said, my legs are really slimming down. I've lost 5 pounds as well.

The last event I trained for was a half marathon and 2 months before the event, I did only yoga and cardio and saw amazing results (including a dramatic increase in my flexibility).
 
I agree with one of the other posters who mentioned an article where someone said if you want a body that looks a little more like some of these actresses, don't just assume they are lifting heavy. I did some investigating for myself and it seems that the body type I prefer is actually where the actresses focus on lighter weights, more reps or pilates. Not that there is anything wrong with heavy lifting, I don't like the look and feeling I get after doing that for a while.
 
I started out this way, but I was doing 3 days a week of cardio and 2 days a week of cardio/circuit. I lost 20 lbs., but now, I'm staying at around 130 and I still want to drop to at least 125. I might join you in that lot of cardio routine!

Tricia

darine said:
I am so tired of not seeing results. I am not liking my body. I want to completely shock it. I can't fit in my cloths... it never happened to me.

So I am going to watch my diet (my problem is portions) and do 5 days a week of intense cardio for only 1 month. And then slowly incorporate circuit and weights.

is that a bad idea.

i feel that if i do intense 1 hour with abs and sometimes 20 min leg workout when i have time, i will see results. my butt and leg are stuck on that size. they are shape nicer with lots of weight but i want them to get smaller

i know someone who lost LOTS of weight only by running... oh and i will add walking / running 30 min twice a week (always raining here, when weather is nice)

i know i will get a lot of you saying i have to have weight. but i have been doing so since January.

i need support... is that a bad idea?
Click to expand...
 
It's funny you post this because I'm tired of working my butt off and not seeing results. I began a new strength rotation with limited cardio to shock my body. I'm a cardio junkie at heart so limiting my cardio is hard for me. However, I remember once a few years ago, I had been working out 45min cardio/45min weights. I had a nice body but the definition wasn't as cut as I wanted it to be.

Well, I had an overbearing boyfriend who complained about my being obsessed with the gym, so I limited my gym time and just did Taebo Advance, I was mad because I thought I would gain weight, but believe it or not; I got so cut!! I didn't monitor my food or count calories, however I ate what I thought was pretty clean.

Uhm, maybe I should so something like that again.
 
wow

really great

i was not expecting that

i was expecting people telling me, you have to lift heavy to loose weight

this is a motivation

thx ladies. thx a lot
 
Have you considered Cathe's intensity rotation?
http://www.cathenation.com/forum/showthread.php?t=235664&highlight=ADVANCED+Total+Body+Blast+Workout

I'm doing the full body blast. It is low weights/high reps with interval training it has a very high cardio effect. I add on 30-45 minutes of SS cardio after the pyramid workouts.
I just finished a week and getting ready to start week 2.
I read that Cathe created this series to shock her sluggish metabolism after pregnancy. After a week of this rotation, I would say it has the shock factor!:D
 
Darine and any other cardio junkies, how about a July cardio challenge/checkin? I, too, am a cardio junkie. I strength train cause everyone says I have to. We can do all our favorite cardios as much as we like, monitor food intake or not (but, I think we'd better) and enjoy this month.

What do you say?
 
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