reducing cardio

K

kariev

Cathlete
i know there have been many posts of people who have reduced their cardio and focused more on weights and have gotten better results. so my question is how much cardio are you doing now and how much weight training? right now i do 3 days of weights (upper, lower, full body) and 3 days of cardio. I was thinking of doing this:
monday: lower body
tuesday: upper body
wednesday: cardio (run, kickbox, or cathe step)
thrusday: lower body
friday: upper body
saturday: cardio
sunday: off
also, i see a lot of splits where the legs are only worked once per week. for those that do that do you feel its enough since the legs are such a large muscle group?
 
I say give it a try for a few weeks. I haven't been working out due to an injury and the scale has actually gone down. Also, when I plan to start up again, I am going to try what you are doing too, since the paranoia of gaining weight without loads of cardio is gone. I think I will do upper cardio lower stretch cardio upper off. Good luck Melissa
 
I did 3 days of weights with 3 days of cardio with great success.

I am now going to do 4 days of cardio/4 days of weights but 2 of the cardios will be short(only 20-30 mins max) since I am doubling up and doing both cardio and weights on the same day 2x per week. The other work outs will be done separately on their own days and the cardios will be a bit longer (40-60 mins max).

One day I hope to try only 2 days of cardio per week but I haven't gotten THAT brave yet...LOL

I second giving it a try! I used to do 40-60 mins of cardio 5-6 days per week and now realize that for me, it just doesn't pay off!!! I now put all of that effort into my weight training instead!}(
 
Hello Hows it going?

For me once i started heavy lifting i hate cardio now LOL
i do 3 HIIT sessions a week and one 30 min ss just as active recovery i also do have a complete day off. i just started this routine but so far i love it. This is what i do each week

Day 1: heavy upper body, HIIT ( 20:40 x 12)
Day 2: light lower body
Day 3: HIIT ( 30:60 x 8)
Day 4: light upper body
Day 5: heavy lower body, HIIT ( 20:40 X12)
Day 6: OFF
Day 7: 30 mins SS

It works for me and this way i do CAthe on my light days and go to the gym on my heavy. Cardio is overrated it is all about diet, but im sure you know that already ;-)
 
>also, i see a lot of splits where the legs are only worked
>once per week. for those that do that do you feel its enough
>since the legs are such a large muscle group?

I do a one-body part per day split. Working out six days per week, looks something like this:

d1 high intensity step, chest & triceps [okay, that's two body parts], abs
d2 cardio kickboxing, biceps
d3 legs only [about 45 minutes] and abs -- NO CARDIO
d4 low impact step, shoulders
d5 interval cardio, back, abs
d6 steady state cardio [usually a 2-3 mile walk], additional legs [about 15 mins]

So on day 3, I am working legs only for about 45 minutes, then a shorter session on day 6. I do it this way because I find it impossible to work legs after cardio, especially intense step cardio. Also, I feel like certain cardio, such as step or walking, works my legs pretty good.
 
I also think you should try the reduced cardio version. I am(excuse me, was) a cardio addict, usually 75 min or more 6-7 days a week. I will be the first to admit that I would do that much cardio to serve as a "crutch" to my nightly ice cream eating. I decided that I was getting no where. I cleaned up my diet and started weight training 3 days a week total body heavy weights, cardio 2 days a week 55 min and one circuit work out. I hate to say it but this has given me much more definition and change to my shape in the last 2 months than in 10 years of heavy cardio. I also feel much better overall. Unfortunately diet is still the biggest factor, no matter what you do for exercise.
 
thanks guys. I think starting next week i will give it a try and see what happens. my diet is clean and i'm in mantainance mode so i guess i just have to give it a go. i think i will do it for a month and then when i switch i will go back to 3 cardio days and 3 full body weights for a month to switch it up.
 
just bumping this to get some more opinions. i'm still nervous about cutting down more. i need to overcome my fears! whats one month going to really do anyway.
 
I've been struggling for about a month to lose 5 months. I've been doing weight watchers and staying on the program but wasn't losing. 10 days ago I hurt my calf doing step and have not been able to do cardio since. I've been lifting weights though. Guess what? The scale finally started to move and my body fat is down. I never would have believed it as I too am used to doing heavy cardio about 5 days a week. If I can get the body I'm looking for doing less cardio, I'm all for it. Just give it a try and see how it goes.
 
>I've been struggling for about a month to lose 5 months.
>I've been doing weight watchers and staying on the program but
>wasn't losing. 10 days ago I hurt my calf doing step and have
>not been able to do cardio since. I've been lifting weights
>though. Guess what? The scale finally started to move and my
>body fat is down. I never would have believed it as I too am
>used to doing heavy cardio about 5 days a week. If I can get
>the body I'm looking for doing less cardio, I'm all for it.
>Just give it a try and see how it goes.
>

what does your rotation look like???
>
 
I only have about 15 pounds left to lose and I've recently reduced cardio, though for a different reason. It's just too hot in my unairconditioned house to do cardio on some days. Even when I get up early in the morning I'm sweating buckets and low on energy when I try to do step. Anyway, the point is that with the reduced cardio I am still losing weight. I wouldn't say I'm losing more or less with the reduced cardio, just that it's not been a problem for the weight loss. I am continuing to lift weights 2-3 days a week and getting cardio in 2-3 days a week, but the cardio is less intense. I do Weight Watchers as well, though I currently do the Core plan, which is mainly eating very clean. The only problem so far with reducing cardio for me is that I still feel guilty about it for some reason.

***Lainie***

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That would be my question. I am a cardio junkie, I admit it. I have heard/read that for heart healthy benefits you need to do cardio more days than not. I can go two days a week without cardio, one a rest day and one full bosy weights, but on my cardio days, I hardly ever do less than 60 minutes. Today was a wieght-only day and I also feel kind of guilty. I feel like I shoudl do cardio every time I work out.

Grrrrr...
 
>Hello Hows it going?
>
>For me once i started heavy lifting i hate cardio now LOL
>i do 3 HIIT sessions a week and one 30 min ss just as active
>recovery i also do have a complete day off. i just started
>this routine but so far i love it. This is what i do each
>week
>
>Day 1: heavy upper body, HIIT ( 20:40 x 12)
>Day 2: light lower body
>Day 3: HIIT ( 30:60 x 8)
>Day 4: light upper body
>Day 5: heavy lower body, HIIT ( 20:40 X12)
>Day 6: OFF
>Day 7: 30 mins SS
>
>It works for me and this way i do CAthe on my light days and
>go to the gym on my heavy. Cardio is overrated it is all
>about diet, but im sure you know that already ;-)

this is a nice setup as well. now i just have to decide.
 
I've been using Gymstyles and P90X. I usually do a split getting in 3 or four days of weights during the week and then on the weekend I'll do a full body workout such as MuscleMax. I'm seeing some real improvements. Hard to believe that less cardio would work so well.
 
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