Cardio Question

Geezer From The Freezer said:

Age 30, Male, 5'10 170lbs

Ok, trying to lose some fat, mainly around the stomach area (same old story).
Decided to cut down on carbs, but not totally and increase cardio but decrease
weights a bit.

So. I'm spending around 30 minutes on weights, (weighted stomach crunch, squats
bicep curls, wrist curls, dumbell flys/press, shoulder press etc

But the cardio is where I'm lacking the knowledge. I'm typically able to go
flat out on the cross trainer for about 20 minutes burning (what the machines
says)
is 270 calories and around 3200 steps. Heart rate raised to 172 - is this good
enough
for fat loss -

At that rate, it would take 13 workouts to burn the 3500 calories it takes to
get rid of 1lb of fat. If you're working out 3 times a week, it would take you
about a month to lose a pound, and about 4 months to really see the results. I
take it you're probably hoping for faster results than this.

So I'd suggest you try to burn more. Aim to burn 500 calories or so each workout,
and get in 5 or 6 workouts a week. Do 20 minutes at a moderate intensity, 15
minutes hard, then 5 minutes as a cooldown.

Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi
http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~elflord/

In article <[email hidden]>,

Donovan Rebbechi said:

Geezer From The Freezer said:

Age 30, Male, 5'10 170lbs

Ok, trying to lose some fat, mainly around the stomach area (same old
story).
Decided to cut down on carbs, but not totally and increase cardio but
decrease
weights a bit.

So. I'm spending around 30 minutes on weights, (weighted stomach crunch,
squats
bicep curls, wrist curls, dumbell flys/press, shoulder press etc

But the cardio is where I'm lacking the knowledge. I'm typically able to go
flat out on the cross trainer for about 20 minutes burning (what the
machines
says)
is 270 calories and around 3200 steps. Heart rate raised to 172 - is this
good
enough
for fat loss -

At that rate, it would take 13 workouts to burn the 3500 calories it takes to
get rid of 1lb of fat. If you're working out 3 times a week, it would take
you
about a month to lose a pound, and about 4 months to really see the results.
I
take it you're probably hoping for faster results than this.

So I'd suggest you try to burn more. Aim to burn 500 calories or so each
workout,
and get in 5 or 6 workouts a week. Do 20 minutes at a moderate intensity, 15
minutes hard, then 5 minutes as a cooldown.

Cheers,

And consider cutting calories back to 1,500.
That will speed things up a bit.
--
Om.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-[censored]." -Jack Nicholson

If you want to lose body fat, you should reduce your calorie intake...
to lose 1 pound of fat (3500 calories)a week you need to cut about 500
calories a day from your diet... at 170 pounds, your maintenance is
about 12X 170 which is 2040 calories a day....

You should only be eating around 1500 calories a day, period.

Geezer From The Freezer said:

Age 30, Male, 5'10 170lbs

Ok, trying to lose some fat, mainly around the stomach area (same old story).
Decided to cut down on carbs, but not totally and increase cardio but decrease
weights a bit.

So. I'm spending around 30 minutes on weights, (weighted stomach crunch, squats
bicep curls, wrist curls, dumbell flys/press, shoulder press etc

But the cardio is where I'm lacking the knowledge. I'm typically able to go
flat out on the cross trainer for about 20 minutes burning (what the machines
says)
is 270 calories and around 3200 steps. Heart rate raised to 172 - is this good
enough
for fat loss - I know its a tricky question to ask, but I'd appreciate opinions.
I eat around 1800 calories a day give or take a a couple of hundred calories and
cheat days.

Quoted message said:

If you want to lose body fat, you should reduce your calorie intake...
to lose 1 pound of fat (3500 calories)a week you need to cut about 500
calories a day from your diet... at 170 pounds, your maintenance is
about 12X 170 which is 2040 calories a day....
You should only be eating around 1500 calories a day, period.

A consistant caloric deficit is efficiantly created thru BOTH eating
less AND exercising more. I think the 1500 calorie advice is too low,
leaning towards starvation mode, and doesnt take into account his
lifestyle(sedentary/active) or daily exercise. He could however, easily
up the cardio to 45-60 minutes a day, in addition to his weights to see
overall improved fatloss.

joanne

Quoted message said:

If you want to lose body fat, you should reduce your calorie intake...
to lose 1 pound of fat (3500 calories)a week you need to cut about 500
calories a day from your diet... at 170 pounds, your maintenance is
about 12X 170 which is 2040 calories a day....

You should only be eating around 1500 calories a day, period.

If you're not exercising.

If you're doing 500 calories of exercise a day (about an
hour of exercise will be 200-1000 depending on your choice
of workout), your total expenditure will be 2040+500=2540
and you should be eating about 2000 calories to lose a
pound a week.

The exercise allows you to eat a more "normal" amount of
food, and it helps spare muscle while you're dieting.

If you eat way too little, your body will enter starvation
mode, sparing fat and losing muscle. You'll weigh less
and lose weight faster, but it's the wrong weight to
lose.

The key is not to eyeball the food, or let your body tell
you "what's right" (unless you're getting sick, and then
your problem is sanitation, not calories). The key is to
track what you're eating and make sure you're staying on
the program.

--Blair
"Lose 80 lbs in 3 years.
Ask me how."

I have heard that you need to do cardio for around an hour to get
better fat loss. I haven't researched it myself but I would guess that
depletion of glycogen storage may have something to do with this.
If you are only doing thirty minutes of weights I would strongly
suggest doing compound exercises and would cut out the bicep and wrist
curls to make room for more compound exercises such as power cleans,
pulldowns, bench press, dumbell rows, and deadlifts. Do these and I am
sure that your wrists and biceps will still get a workout.

James

JamesG said:

I have heard that you need to do cardio for around an hour to get
better fat loss. I haven't researched it myself but I would guess that
depletion of glycogen storage may have something to do with this.

It comes down to burning calories. There's only so much you can burn in five
minutes. I often see people go for a "run" which consists of 1-2 laps of the
school track. That's not going to do anything.

Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi
http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~elflord/

In article <[email hidden]>,

JamesG said:

I have heard that you need to do cardio for around an hour to get
better fat loss. I haven't researched it myself but I would guess that
depletion of glycogen storage may have something to do with this.

Somehow I don't think a single cardio session, even of an hour, will
deplete glycogen storage.

It takes me two solid days of COMPLETE carb abstinence to get into
Ketosis after indulging. I'm assuming (might be wrong) that that is due
to glycogen storage from the carbs I ingested...

I do 30 minutes of cardio per day, plus I'm very busy and active.

At least when I'm not posting. <G>

Quoted message said:

If you are only doing thirty minutes of weights I would strongly
suggest doing compound exercises and would cut out the bicep and wrist
curls to make room for more compound exercises such as power cleans,
pulldowns, bench press, dumbell rows, and deadlifts. Do these and I am
sure that your wrists and biceps will still get a workout.

Agreed! My arms get PLENTY of work from just doing back and chest!
He needs to do at least the core 3:

Deadlifts (but ONLY if he is taught proper form as this one can hurt you
if you don't do it right, but ironically it is one of the best for
overall body strength)

Bench Press

Squats

Ab crunches and hyperextensions are also good for torso work.

In place of deadlifts, he can also do back work such as wide grip front
cable pulldowns and T-bar rows.

Quoted message said:

James

--
Om.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-[censored]." -Jack Nicholson

Om,
Thanks for the reply. I am curious if you have heard anything about
the hour cardio thing, as I said this is only something I heard and was
not something that I researched. My guess on glycogen was just that I
figured maybe the body starts to store more glycogen up based on
extended training sessions and that the body tries to liberate the fat
calories more.
I appreciate you commenting on the safety issue, and would like to
add that power cleans require good form also. It is very important to
start light on power cleans, squats, and deadlifts and be careful.
These are all good exercises though. I should just put a blanket
statement that the key to good safety and strength gain is good form
and that this goes for all the lifts with an emphasis on some of those
mentioned above. The amount of weight is just a tool to build
strength.

Thanks,
James

JamesG said:

Om,
Thanks for the reply. I am curious if you have heard anything about
the hour cardio thing, as I said this is only something I heard and was
not something that I researched.

Glycogen usage drops during longer endurance workouts. This is good if you are
training to run a fast marathon, because it improves your fatigue resistance
by reducing dependence on glycogen.

But for weight loss purposes, it's a non issue. Not relevant. Calories are all
that matter. Your body can work out how to balance the books -- if glycogen is
scarce, you use less of it but you burn the same amount of calories. The bottom
line is calories in vs out.

Quoted message said:

My guess on glycogen was just that I
figured maybe the body starts to store more glycogen up based on
extended training sessions and that the body tries to liberate the fat
calories more.

You're overthinking this, and getting distracted with things that aren't
relevant to the task at hand. Glycogen capacity is trainable which is great if
you're an endurance athlete, but irrelevant if you're just trying to lose
weight. Calories in vs calories out.

Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi
http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~elflord/

Geezer From The Freezer said:

Age 30, Male, 5'10 170lbs

Ok, trying to lose some fat, mainly around the stomach area (same old story).
Decided to cut down on carbs, but not totally and increase cardio but decrease
weights a bit.

So. I'm spending around 30 minutes on weights, (weighted stomach crunch, squats
bicep curls, wrist curls, dumbell flys/press, shoulder press etc

Interesting list.

Quoted message said:

But the cardio is where I'm lacking the knowledge. I'm typically able to go
flat out on the cross trainer for about 20 minutes burning (what the machines
says)
is 270 calories and around 3200 steps. Heart rate raised to 172 - is this good
enough
for fat loss - I know its a tricky question to ask, but I'd appreciate opinions.

Yes.

Quoted message said:

I eat around 1800 calories a day give or take a a couple of hundred calories and
cheat days.

Donovan Rebbechi said:

Geezer From The Freezer said:

Age 30, Male, 5'10 170lbs

Ok, trying to lose some fat, mainly around the stomach area (same old story).
Decided to cut down on carbs, but not totally and increase cardio but decrease
weights a bit.

So. I'm spending around 30 minutes on weights, (weighted stomach crunch, squats
bicep curls, wrist curls, dumbell flys/press, shoulder press etc

But the cardio is where I'm lacking the knowledge. I'm typically able to go
flat out on the cross trainer for about 20 minutes burning (what the machines
says)
is 270 calories and around 3200 steps. Heart rate raised to 172 - is this good
enough
for fat loss -

At that rate, it would take 13 workouts to burn the 3500 calories it takes to
get rid of 1lb of fat. If you're working out 3 times a week, it would take you
about a month to lose a pound, and about 4 months to really see the results. I
take it you're probably hoping for faster results than this.

Well, he's also eating 1800 calories a day; I'd expect at least a pound of fat
loss a week, wouldn't you?

T said:

Well, he's also eating 1800 calories a day;
I'd expect at least a pound of fat loss a week, wouldn't you?

I have no idea how many calories he's eating. Unless you audit everything that
goes into his mouth, you don't either. My point is that the exercise he's doing
isn't going to make a whole lot of difference.

Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi
http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~elflord/

In article <[email hidden]>,

JamesG said:

Om,
Thanks for the reply. I am curious if you have heard anything about
the hour cardio thing, as I said this is only something I heard and was
not something that I researched.

Let's just say that I understand the concept of glycogen storage as
related to ketogenic dieting. ;-) I'm no expert, I just go by my own
personal experience. YMMV and all that!

My understanding (which may be flawed as I'm still learning this stuff)
is that in order to start really burning body fat during carbohydrate
depletion dieting, you have to pretty much use up glycogen reserves
before you can start generating detectable ketone bodies which signals
inefficient fat burn.

If I'm incorrect on this, I know the other posters will be happy to
correct my misconception so hang on a bit. <G>

Since you are not low carbing, this may not apply to you.

Like another poster said, calories out have to be larger than calories
in in order for you to lose fat. It's not necessary to enter ketosis in
order to burn off body fat, but for some of us, it just works better and
faster.

As for the hour cardio thing, it depends.
It depends on the INTENSITY of your cardio and the method. AFAIK, the
fastest calorie burn is generated by cross country skiing. I use the
life cycle at the gym and the calories per hour burned depends on where
I set the resistance. I plan to move to the stairmaster when level 10
gets easy.

I don't think it has a thing to do, realistically, with glycogen
depletion.

Quoted message said:

My guess on glycogen was just that I
figured maybe the body starts to store more glycogen up based on
extended training sessions and that the body tries to liberate the fat
calories more.

You will burn fat if you burn more calories than you consume.

Are you actually measuring what you eat or are you just guessing?
It's very easy and very common to overestimate your calorie intake.
Try Fitday.com.

Quoted message said:

I appreciate you commenting on the safety issue, and would like to
add that power cleans require good form also. It is very important to
start light on power cleans, squats, and deadlifts and be careful.
These are all good exercises though. I should just put a blanket
statement that the key to good safety and strength gain is good form
and that this goes for all the lifts with an emphasis on some of those
mentioned above. The amount of weight is just a tool to build
strength.

The whole concept is, check your ego at the door. ;-)
If you can't lift with proper form, reduce the weight load.
I like to lift to failure on each set. On some things (like deadlifts),
I judge failure as when I can no longer keep proper form to lift the bar.

Quoted message said:

Thanks,
James

Cheers!

Quoted message said:

--
Om.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-[censored]." -Jack Nicholson

Thanks for all the replies. I'll try and increase
my cardio work and do some core weight exercise
to get a better weight workout in the time.

Cheers