What most don’t understand is that cardio is a tool and should not be the *only tool* in the toolbox. If so, the more you do the more your body will figure you out and then the more you’ll have to do to get continuous change. It sounds backwards, but there comes a time where hours a week becomes ineffective and can then become a hormonal playground. So when nutrition and weights are at the focal point, cardio is then icing on the cake and NOT the whole cake.

We now use it to dial in. Had I been doing it year round, then my body would have little room left for change when I need it most with a date on the calendar. I do, however, still stay very active like walking, gardening, and cleaning and that still gets my heart rate up and my body doesn’t know it’s not on a machine!

Again, this only works because I have NOT been doing it for awhile.  Less is more effective overall. And now it’s time to sweat like a girl!

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So what you really want to know is, “How much should I be doing, Mindy?”  Well, there is no one-size-fits-all.  If I were coaching you, I would tell you about the three types of cardio I like to suggest and those are explained below.  What I’m finding though is many, many gals and guys are using cardio as their ONLY form of activity and not doing any weight training,with little attention to the nutrition.  Cardio will have impact when you first begin it because it is new to your system and it can really help to shed some pounds….initially!

However, when done for longer than four weeks and in couple with a calorie deficit, you will run into some hormonal concerns.  This is when variety is key, weight training is of great benefit, and a watch on the nutrition is critical.  Many fail to intake enough to fuel their basal metabolic rate (resting, just breathing and beating your heart) on top of the added cardio sessions they’re doing.  As I said, at first you can get weight loss on cardio, but if you use it long term, the body will adapt and you’ll have to keep adding more and more to get a different outcome.

It is quite possible when going beyond a four-week high volume amount of cardio and low intake of calories to actually GAIN weight because we then run into a stress response by the body.  Cortisol gets released after all exercise and if hormone balance from foods and activity levels are not in check, then long term effects can be the body’s “starvation” response.  It thinks it’s starving from too much activity output, too little food intake (less than 10x your body weight in calories/day), and cortisol levels are high and off balance.

What happens?  Many people start to store fat in their midsection and commonly get very frustrated.  What needs to happen is for one to dial back the cardio to a few varied sessions a week (see the options below), increase the calories, and make sure to have rest and repair days, all in tandem with resistance training of some sorts (weights, yoga, pilates, bodyweight work).

HOWEVER, many feel they need to keep eating less and doing MORE and then the vicious cycle continues.  “45 minutes 5 times a week is not enough, my body is not responding.  I must need 60 minutes per session and need to cut even more calories.”

No!  This is so very common and I see it in frustrated men and women all the time.  Instead, shop from the options below and dial back the volume.  I can’t prescribe cardio in general, but I can say that we don’t need as much as we think, maybe two to three 15 to 30-minute sessions in some variety as seen below.  That’s it!  Find other ways to be active that are not as stressful like bike rides, walks, gardening, and cleaning.  Just move!

No more of these cardio-only 60-minute, long duration classes that get your heart pounding at high levels or long duration runs.  At max, maybe one a week to get you out doing something you love, but if you don’t know how to pair it with weight training and the proper amount of food intake to fuel the activity, I can promise you you’re likely doing damage to your metabolism that WILL show up in time, sometimes six to 12 months + down the road.

I’ve been there.  I did the 60 and 90-minute group exercise classes and I loved the sweat and the burn and energy

and the loud music.  I especially loved the community it brought me in those classes, but I was skinny fat.  I carried extra body weight and got to the point where I wanted to LOOK FIT instead of just showing up to do all this cardio.  When was it going to arrive?  And it did, when I cut cardio back and started lifting weights.

So if your goal to lose body fat, to add muscle and to look like you workout instead of looking like you’re carrying extra layers of body fat, you have to add resistance training, pare back the cardio, and watch the nutrition to fuel the body….as in eat enough!  My 1:1 online coaching is helpful to gals who want to compete, but also to many gals who are working to optimize their metabolism and get out of this vicious cardio cycle.  This is my passion.  I’m so honored to spread the good news and coach people how to get MORE out of doing LESS with regards to eating in balance, eating enough, and {not always} being in the gym and pounding away at the pavement!

Types of Cardio:

HIIT: High Intensity Interval Training.  These are very intense, high energy sessions that require a lot of mindset and energy during the session, but have long term, fat-burning effects long after the session is over.  HIIT sessions are when you have SMALL moments of time like 15-30 seconds where you’re going all out and then you allow a longer period of recovery.  If the all-out window is too long, you’re not truly able to do the HIIT properly and it becomes more like interval training.  These might be 6, 8, or 10-cycle sessions on a bike, sprinting, or mastering elliptical.

Steady State or also known as LISS, Low Intensity Steady State, are great for the slow burn, longer duration exercises.  When doing a steady state, focus on range of motion and keep heart rate near 60% of heart rate max {.6 x (220-your age)}.  I suggest going no longer than 30 minutes in any one session or you could be heading into some hormonal imbalances, especially if you have many sessions in a given week.  Runs, walks, and stair mills are my favorites for this option.  The goal is to keep the heart rate steady and at a lower rate, but challenging enough that you’re getting a nice little sweat on!

Intervals are great to keep the body guessing and to keep it from adapting, but the intervals are longer with equal-value recovery sessions vs. the HIITs that is a short-to-long duration.  When doing an Interval cardio, the focus is to keep the body guessing.  One way to do intervals is to do an outdoor walk-run, but you can do it on any apparatus.  This is great for someone preparing to run a 5k, for example, in that you can walk for one minute and then run for one minute, therefore putting the body under intervals of various intensity.  The bottom line, keep it varied, make your intervals 30 seconds on and 30 off or 2 minutes on and 2 minutes.  The options are endless!

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Questions:

Email Mindy at [email protected]

Coaching Info with Mindy HERE!