I kind of agree/disagree with the cardio muscle thing. I mean, I don't think you'll lose muscle with cardio alone - if you do your cardio the right way.
On one hand, I do believe in lifting and that it's important. And I lift myself and am pretty serious about it although I don't lift real heavy now that I'm older. I also do more funky things, like right now I'm doing two sets of 25 reps for everything for a few months.
On the other hand, cardio is great for fat processing with no muscle loss if you do it the right way. You'll need to use a heart rate monitor and learn how to find your AT - anaerobic threshold - the point where you body stops buring equal amount of fat and sugar and goes to only sugar. The bad thing about going above this for very long is that you start to use muscle mass for fuel when you run our of sugars. 15 BPM below this level and you are using mostly fat. The good thing is that your also teaching your body to better process fat for fuel at these lower levels.
It does take dicispline to work out lower but longer. It takes about an hour of the lower level stuff to equal a 3 mile, 30 minute jog.
I'll attach a few links, one is a chart for these zones and the AT thing. Print it out and read the second page on how to find your AT without a stress test. I copied some of that stuff here but there is much more in the chart and second page.
http://www.lifetimefitness.com/modul...ning_chart.pdf
1. What is heart rate? The frequency that the heart pumps blood and oxygen
to working muscles. It is the most practical measure of cardiovascular intensity.
2. What is heart rate training? Heart rate training is simply using heart rate training zones to guide your fitness program. If you’re interested in weight loss,
it balances the best use of your fuel (fat vs. carbohydrates) with the need to increase calories burned. If you’re interested in athletic performance, it balances the need to build an aerobic base and endurance with the need to improve your
ability to maintain higher intensity exercise.
3. How do I measure my heart rate? A heart rate monitor is the most accurate way to consistently measure your heart rate during exercise. Manually measuring
your heart rate is often inaccurate and impractical.
4. What is a heart rate monitor? A heart rate monitor consists of a strap worn around your chest that counts your heartbeats, plus a watch that displays
your current heart rate in beats per minute. The chest strap
wirelessly transmits your heart rate data to the watch. In more
advanced models, the watch can also display information
such as workout time, time in specific zones, calories burned
and distance traveled.
5. What are the benefits of heart rate training?
• Improved results: Heart rate training will help you lose weight
or increase your speed and the amount of activity you can do.
• Increased motivation to exercise:
– Your workouts are more interesting and accountability
is improved when you know how many calories you’ve
burned, your average HR and time spent in your target
heart rate zones.
– Different workout types make exercise fun.
– A heart rate monitor is your “cardiovascular dashboard,”
continually providing feedback on your workout.
• Increased metabolism:
– Heart rate training provides the right mix of aerobic
(longer time spent) and anaerobic (higher intensity)
exercise to increase your fitness level and the amount
of time spent using fat for fuel.
• Helps you avoid overtraining:
– A heart rate monitor provides the feedback necessary to
show you if you are over exercising and should slow down.
6. What is Anaerobic Threshold? (AT) Your Anaerobic Threshold (AT) is the exercise intensity level at which exercise becomes noticeably difficult. Breathing
becomes heavy and talk is challenging. A beginner can
only exercise for a few minutes at this intensity. A very fit
individual can exercise at or above AT for thirty minutes
or more. Your AT will improve with exercise and is the best
way to measure your personal fitness level.
7. Why should AT be used to create heart rate
training zones? As your fitness level improves, you are able to do more work
at the same intensity or the same amount of work at a lower
intensity. What was once hard is now moderate and what
was moderate is now easy. The change in your ability to
exercise, i.e., your fitness level, requires that your heart rate
zones change too. Anaerobic Threshold is the best measure
of fitness level as it changes with fitness improvements. (Other
cardiovascular measurements, like predicted maximum heart
rate, do not change when your fitness level improves; Life Time
Fitness does not believe they are accurate gauges for
determining heart rate training zones.)
8. What is maximum heart rate? What is resting heart rate? Maximum heart rate is the highest number of beats per minute that your heart can produce. Resting heart rate is the beats per minute your heart is pumping just after you wake up and before you get out of bed. With improved fitness levels, you will lower your resting heart rate, i.e., your heart can provide the same amount of blood and oxygen in fewer beats.
9. Which method for determining AT is right for me? (See chart)
The Bronze method is a general estimate and should be
used for a starting point only. You will quickly learn whether
it works for you or not. The Silver method is a feeling-based
measurement and is a much more accurate determination
of AT. The Gold method provides an absolute measurement
and also provides you with your fat utilization profile.
10. How often should I have my AT tested? It depends on your level of fitness. If you’re just starting a fitness program, you can test 4 to 6 weeks after you begin.
If you’re moderately fit, you should test 8 to 12 weeks after beginning a program. If you are very fit, you should re-test every 3 to 4 months or when you are starting to train for an event. The more fit you are, the harder it is to change your AT.
11. What is my target heart rate or target zone? There is no single target heart rate or heart rate zone. You should use a variety of zones in your fitness program. The zone or zones for a given workout will vary depending on
the goal of the workout and your fitness program. A good guideline to use for your fitness program is to keep 80% of your cardiovascular training below your AT in zones 2 and 3. The other 20% should be spent above AT in zone 4. Very fit
users should also use zone 5.
12. If zone 3 is where I burn the most fat, is that the zone where I should exercise? You should train in multiple zones. Training in zone 4, above AT:
• Helps increase your fitness level, providing a large range of
intensities where you use fat for fuel.
• Helps you increase the calories you burn after exercise and
at rest.
• Helps improve your ability to store excess carbohydrates as
glycogen in the muscles instead of as fat.
The Life Time Fitness Heart Rate Training Chart: Your guide to finding your individual training zones.
Heart Rate Training—An introduction:
The heart is a muscle that needs to be exercised regularly to be strong and efficient. Your heart rate (heart beats per minute) provides a constant measure of your exercise intensity.
Exercising at the right intensity for the right amount of time is the key to getting the most out of your workouts and meeting your fitness goals.
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Here's an good article on the same stuff from Mark Allen, 6 Time Ironman World Champion:
http://www.duathlon.com/articles/1460
Here's a teaser from the article:
Working Your Heart
The secret of training smart
How hard do I have to workout? How far do I have to go? I workout 2 hours every other day of the week and I still can't lose those last 10 pounds. Why do I keep getting injured when I try to run? These are all questions and comments people make about their training that seems to have no simple solution.
I want to give you that solution. It's called a heart rate monitor. Whether your goal is to win a race or just live a long healthy life, using a heart rate monitor is the single most valuable tool you can have in your training arsenal of equipment. And using one in the way I am going to describe will not only help you shed those last few pounds, but will enable you to do it without either killing yourself in training or starving yourself at the dinner table.
Good luck!!