cardio without killing my legs

[guids]

Cardio training imo, has a point where for most people it is a hindrance to your physique goals. What are your goals? What is your current cardio status?

if you are doing cardio to purely burn calories, youd be much better off cutting down on running, maybe 3 times a week for 25 minutes (5 minutes of warmup) at super high intensity (hill sprints, etc), and doing a more cardio based workout (circuit, supersets, light olympic training)

[Packard]

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ldo

the question i'm asking is how can i work on burning calories / increasing endurance without putting so much of the burden on my legs

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HERE IS the answer from T-Nations Lonnie Lowery. Its low intensity walking that burns fat without stressing out your legs. It works but it can get boring.

100 Workouts From Ripped City

Have you ever looked at a truly ripped person — a guy on the cover of a magazine or even the rare local gym specimen — and wondered how you'd look with that kind of leanness?

I have. And I'm thinking about it again.

I've even held that kind of condition on occasion, which may make my craving all the worse. But here's a more important question: Would you like to make a sincere attempt to see, once and for all, how your structure looks at a body fat percentage under six? (Or a body fat percentage under 16 if you're a female?)

http://www.t-nation.com/findArticle....le=06-025-diet

[fitnessfreak]

i dont know how this hasnt been suggested yet, but the obvious answer is to take up swimming. not only is it an awesome overall body workout and really good for weight loss, but its pretty much zero stress on your legs, especially if you get one of those floaty foam things to put between your legs to keep them afloat without having to kick.

[secretprankster]

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i dont know how this hasnt been suggested yet, but the obvious answer is to take up swimming. not only is it an awesome overall body workout and really good for weight loss, but its pretty much zero stress on your legs, especially if you get one of those floaty foam things to put between your legs to keep them afloat without having to kick.

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If you looked good enough to swim in public you wouldn't need to do cardio LDO.

[durron597]

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Cardio training imo, has a point where for most people it is a hindrance to your physique goals. What are your goals?

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I have a belly I want to get rid of. I'm not "fat", but I have a belly that I want to make disappear. The reason I'm doing so much is that I want to burn the fat QUICKLY, while still eating enough to maintain and build muscle. Bad plan so far?

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What is your current cardio status?

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I'm not enough of an athlete to answer this question the way you probably want it to be answered.

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if you are doing cardio to purely burn calories, youd be much better off cutting down on running, maybe 3 times a week for 25 minutes (5 minutes of warmup) at super high intensity (hill sprints, etc),

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I've been mixing flat sprints and uphill fastwalking (like just over 4 mph at like 5 incline)

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and doing a more cardio based workout (circuit, supersets, light olympic training)

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i'll look into this

[durron597]

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i dont know how this hasnt been suggested yet, but the obvious answer is to take up swimming. not only is it an awesome overall body workout and really good for weight loss, but its pretty much zero stress on your legs, especially if you get one of those floaty foam things to put between your legs to keep them afloat without having to kick.

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If you looked good enough to swim in public you wouldn't need to do cardio LDO.

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i wouldn't call my body "good", but it's good enough that i can take my shirt off at a swimming pool

anyway; i actually tried this but i didn't want to pay for a second gym membership to get access to an olympic sized pool. i actually swam a lot in high school, but for some reason when i first came back i started having swimmers ear problems almost immediately (no clue why); tried to solve the problem with wax plugs but they kept falling out (probably because i am retarded) and eventually gave up

[guids]

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Cardio training imo, has a point where for most people it is a hindrance to your physique goals. What are your goals?

[/ QUOTE ]

I have a belly I want to get rid of. I'm not "fat", but I have a belly that I want to make disappear. The reason I'm doing so much is that I want to burn the fat QUICKLY, while still eating enough to maintain and build muscle. Bad plan so far?

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What is your current cardio status?

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm not enough of an athlete to answer this question the way you probably want it to be answered.

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if you are doing cardio to purely burn calories, youd be much better off cutting down on running, maybe 3 times a week for 25 minutes (5 minutes of warmup) at super high intensity (hill sprints, etc),

[/ QUOTE ]

I've been mixing flat sprints and uphill fastwalking (like just over 4 mph at like 5 incline)

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and doing a more cardio based workout (circuit, supersets, light olympic training)

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i'll look into this

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by cardio shape, I just meant how far can you run at what pace...



I woudl revamp your whole game plan then, Check out meltdown training at t-nation, I seriously just love this routine, if you follow it to a T, and really go hard when you are in the gym it is ridiculous at how well it works. If your goal is to build muscle while losing fat, def stop the 45 minute runs. Your kind of doing extra work imo, if your goal is to lose fat, and gain muscle, which can be done in your case probably. Id eat less (maybe 2400 cals), lift more weight, with not a lot of rest in between sets, and do high intensity cardio for 20 to 25 minutes, 3 times a week.

[jogsxyz]

Steps. Try walking steps. Twice a week I walk the steps of
Coit Tower. Two steps at a time. It's over 500 steps.
Good work out without killing your feet.

[durron597]

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by cardio shape, I just meant how far can you run at what pace...

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last friday i:

walked 1/4 mile @ 3.5 mph (4 minutes)
ran 1 mile @ 6 mph (10 minutes)
walked 3/4 mile @ 3.5 mph (13 minutes)
ran 1 mile @ 7.5 mph (8 minutes)
walked 1/4 mile @ 3.5 mph (4 minutes)
walked 4 degrees uphill @ 4.2 mph (6 minutes)
5 minutes cooldown

i started this thread because i can't do that anymore - my legs hurt too much even though my heartrate and breathing are fine.

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I woudl revamp your whole game plan then, Check out meltdown training at t-nation, I seriously just love this routine, if you follow it to a T, and really go hard when you are in the gym it is ridiculous at how well it works.

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I can't do more than one chinup, the first thing meltdown training says is 3 sets of 10 [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

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If your goal is to build muscle while losing fat, def stop the 45 minute runs. Your kind of doing extra work imo, if your goal is to lose fat, and gain muscle, which can be done in your case probably.

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Why exactly is it extra work?

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Id eat less (maybe 2400 cals), lift more weight, with not a lot of rest in between sets, and do high intensity cardio for 20 to 25 minutes, 3 times a week.

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i'm terrible at counting calories, but i think i'm much closer to 2000 calories than 2400. a typical weekday for me will be something like:

breakfast - whole wheat wrap, two scrambled eggs, cheese + coffee
10:30 or so - 2% cottage cheese single
lunch - protein & veggies that i get at local deli, prob eat like 10 meatballs and about half a fist of veggies
2:30 - 3:00 - eat the other half of what i got at the deli, about same amt of food
6:00 - workout
8:00 - wendy's large chili (no crackers or cheese or anything)
9:30 - wendy's salad + one dressing packet

you know now that i actually write it down maybe it is closer to 2500 than i originally thought

[guids]

well basically cals in v cals out is what weight loss comes down to, if your goal is to lose weight you might as well just eat less rather than do all that running (unless you want to get into superb cardio shape). Some people might think "gee, if I eat low calories AND run, Ill have WAY more fat loss" but at some point you are hurting yourself and losing too much muscle, so thats why I say, low cals, high weight, and just a little bit of high intensity cardio.



If you cant do a full pullup, just do than negative portion, hop up on a chair, get to the "top" of a normal pullup, and do a slow controlled negative portion of a pullup. Ie just let your self go back down to the floor, but do it very slowly, at a pace of 3 or 4 seconds.