is a half hour of cardio enough?

B

bella2005

Cathlete
Just wondering what other people's experience is. Is 30 minutes a day of cardio enuf, and how many days--ok how few days--can I get by with?

I can make myself go longer, but it's a great challenge to my attention span. It just isn't there.

Curious what other people do? I'm in the exercise camp of "do as little as possible to get the results I want." I could lose 3 pounds, otherwise happy with my weight.

I lift for each body part once a week too.

What works for you?
 
Enough for what? It depends on your goals.

If you just want to reduce the risks of disease and be healthier, then 30 minutes might be just fine. (though it's unclear sometimes if this recommendation includes a warm-up and cooldown, or if it's just the time in the cardio zone).

If you are looking to build a lot of muscle, then it could be good as well. Muscle and strength building programs often reduce cardio to the minimum (like 20-30 minutes a day) in order to preserve muscle and keep the calories that could be used to fuel building (after an intense workout) from being exercised away.

I don't think it will be enough for much weight loss, unless you are doing most of that through diet. Muscle does burn more calories than fat just to exist, but how many calories is up for debate.

I think it's possible to get good results with less cardio, which is what I do when my time it limited, but my version of this is to do an interval workout once a week (like IMAX2, my current favorite), and precede my weight workouts with about 10 minutes of cardio (segments from some "10-minute solution" or "Quick Fix" workouts).
 
I've been doing cardio for 30 minutes, 6 mornings a week for a couple of weeks, and it's just wonderful! I posted on the Open Discussion forum about this, so you can look there for details, but I am feeling great doing this, and I'm seeing good results. I think you could get away with doing 30 minutes of cardio 4-5 times per week and be happy with it, but it really depends on your goals and other factors, such as diet, sleep habits, the types of things you drink, etc. You could lose 3 pounds by just cutting soda and coffee out of your diet.
 
Hi,
I don't do cardio every day. When I do do cardio I do it for about 45 - 60 minutes, and I do this 3 - 4 times a week (I try to work out every day, or at least 6 days a week). Then on the other days I do strictly weight training. It works for me because I can focus on just one thing on a day, and it allows me to not do cardio everyday but still get enough cardio in during the week. It is nice also because some days I don't feel like doing cardio, and I don't have to feel guilty because I know I'll get it in on another day. I don't keep a strict schedule, like every M, W, and F is cardio day...I vary it depending on how I feel on that day. Being flexible and doing the workouts that I really want to do keep me going and stop me from getting bored and giving up.
Just my two cents!
Karen
 
Mine really varies depending on what I'm working on. Right now I'm working more on strength so I'm only doing 30 minutes about 3-4 times a week. Other times, I do 60 minutes 5 days a week (sometimes I crave cardio). It depends on what I'm focusing on in my current rotation. Sometimes what I do is based on my mood! :) What's important for me is varying my cardio to prevent boredom. So maybe I do kickbox one day, step another and then hi/lo or run. Another alternative is to do 30 minutes of kickbox and 30 minutes of step by combining cardio off of CTX or using premixes.

So in answer to your question, I'm always changing! :)But like you I lift each body part once a week. :)

Jo
 
I've been wondering the same thing lately! I agree with Kathryn that it depends on your goals.

For me, I'm always looking to build muscle/strength but I'm also interested in gaining cardio endurance. Due to time constraints, I am currently doing full body weight workouts (MM or MIS) 2-3x/wk and 30 min of cardio 2x/wk (this includes one interval workout). In addition, I play doubles tennis once a week for about 2 hours (which, at my level, is not very cardio-intensive). I've also just joined a biking group who bike at a fairly decent clip for 2-3 hours once a week. I don't want to lose weight, but I'd love to lose flab around my mid-section -- an elusive goal for me! If I were interested in losing weight, I'd increase the length and frequency of my cardio.

In the next few weeks, I'll probably keep my cardio workouts the same but go to split weight routines.
 
IMO, a factor to consider, also, is - How active are you for the rest of the day? Do you have a very sedentary job? Do you get a chance to walk around much during the day? If you aren't active in that regard, then 30 minutes of cardio may not be enough. However, you can still make an effort to GET active all the time by taking stairs instead of the elevator, etc.
Just Do It! :)
 
It's enough for weight loss if you do it at least 5 times a week. I make sure I do a minimum of 30 minutes at least 4 times a week, usually closer to 40-45 minutes, 6 times a week.

I would not recommend doing less than 30 minutes though. Otherwise you're just wasting your time.
 
To break a plateau I have started doing circuit training 3 days a week with the other 3 days doing just straight cardio. That gives me 6 days of cardio. My hope is to drop 5 pounds. I only started this last week, but I have lost 2 pounds, so I think it is working.

Everything is a trade off. I only have so much time to workout since I am a working mom, so for the time being I have traded heavy weights for circuits to lose the fat and then I can go into maintenance mode once I am at my goal weight. Of course you have to have a clean diet to pull it all together.

Shopgirl
 
>IMO, a factor to consider, also, is - How active are you for
>the rest of the day? Do you have a very sedentary job? Do
>you get a chance to walk around much during the day? If you
>aren't active in that regard, then 30 minutes of cardio may
>not be enough. However, you can still make an effort to GET
>active all the time by taking stairs instead of the elevator,
>etc.
>Just Do It! :)

An excellent point!
You can get some of that "exercise" in as "daily activity." Just bump up your daily activity level, as Honeybunch suggests, by using stairs, parking farther from the door of stores, etc. and that can add to your exercise load. Then, 30 minutes of cardio most days of the week could be just enough.
 
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