skysooner

I may be wrong on the time, but I think it is recommended that you get 20 to 30 minutes of cardio exercise 3 to 4 times a week. I'm not 100% clear as to what constitutes cardio since every book you read has a different definition. I know it has something to do with exercising at a certain percentage of your target heart rate. Some describe biking as a moderate exercise with competitive biking being high impact. I have also read that if you do bikes, you are supposed to do twice as many minutes as jogging to get the same impact. That doesn't make much sense to me since I actually burn about 700 calories in an hour on my recumbant, and I generally workout 6 days a week. Okay, here are my questions.

My max heart rate is supposed to be 155. I generally exercise in the 125 to 140 range depending upon how hard I am working. Is this enough heart rate? Do I just need to do this 20 to 30 minutes to get the "cardio" workout or do I need to be doing 45 to 60 minutes. The reason I ask is that I don't always have the time to do an hour of cardio in the evenings. Doing it for 30 minutes in the morning would be a better use of my time on some days. I'm getting good results. I have lost 24 lbs since mid-June just cutting my calories and using the bike, but I wanted to make sure I'm actually exercising in the most efficient manner.

Ether

A common mistake people make is to assume that cardio = aerobics.

Cardiovasular training has two seperate divisions:
-Aerobic (long distance @ a lower heart rate)
-Anerobic (shorter distances @ higher heart rates, usually done repeatedly)

Both forms can help you lose weight, but keep in mind they should be used for different fitness goals.

Mael

based on the date you listed as your b-day, your max heart rate is actually 182 bpm (max HR = 220-age). that's just an approximation. if you want to find out for sure, you'd have to get tested. as long as you exercise daily, that should be your #1 goal. i think the general wisdom is 60-70% of max. HR for weight loss, and 70-90% for cardio improvement (although any cardio will help). don't worry about what mode of exercise you do. just as long as your doing something. running is the best calorie burner (well, next to kick boxing i hear), but as long as you work your heart hard enough, you'll definatly improve it. also, make sure you get enough down time between sessions.

that's all i can think of right now, i'll post more later if i think of any other stuff that might be helpful.

skysooner

155 was just something that my bike has on its program for age 37, so I wasn't sure whether that was max or target. figuring that 182 is max, 155 is 85% of it, so that is how it appears to be. 70% is 127, so I appear to be exercising in the cardio area. It doesn't matter much. I'm seeing amazing gains in my weight, appearance and stamina. I spent an evening walking about 40 blocks in downtown Austin the other night, and it didn't really faze me. Two months ago, that would have worn me out.

JohnnyRock

That's always the best indication of if you are doing something right...nice job!

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winsecure

Cardio workouts are generally defined as working at 60-85% of your Max HR for 20+ minutes. Depending on what your goal is you can narrow this range down further.

If you're wanting to strengthen your heart/lungs then target the 70-85% range.

If you're wanting to burn fat target the 60-70% range

Anibal5

The American College of Sports Medicine has the latest recommendations that you should do 100 minutes of exercise a week for general CV health.

Now, your getting great results, =)
and your not mentioning any health problems or challenges so Ican assume your well and functioning well at all your daily living tasks. So really exercise comes down to two main points;

1) Do it when you can and for no longer tha n 45 minutes
2) Why 45 minutes ... personal choice so that you concentrate on intensity and not volume. Better to do 30 minutes harder than 60 minutes softer due to the EPOC. Which is basically just that you take longer to get over hard work. This means your metabolic rate is elevated longer and thus your using your bodies fuel at a higher rate for longer (often up to 12 hours later).

Keep up the good work and dont try to over-intellectualise it, your getting results and making it fun and thats what counts.

P.S. i couldn't be happier if you did 2 * 20 minute sesions day and kept intensity even higher and got the EPOC effect twice for the day and felt better time managed. Where is the down side i ask you? .... =) Let me know how it goes

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skysooner

I've come to that realization myself. Both the wife and I have cut back to around 40 to 45 minutes of more intense cardio a day (5 to 6 days a week). I can do a harder workout, and the weight loss has stayed the same. It also takes up less of my day, and I'm not as completely wiped out as I was doing the hour a day. Weight loss is still around 1.8 to 2.8 lbs/week currently, and the "diet" isn't very hard to maintain at all.

cowlick

The techniques for health and fitness have yet to be written by God into tablets of stone. If you're losing weight, keeping active, and keeping happy, you're doing it right.

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