How much cardio work is too much?

[TheDebbieDee]

Hi, everybody....

I started my fitness program 3 weeks ago. After years of running PT in the Army, my 45-year-old knees are shot, so I do low-impact aerobic dancing and ride my Cardio-Glide 3 times a week for a minimum of 50 minutes.

My goal is to work my way up to a minimum of 60 minutes of work 6 times a week with 20 minutes of work with hand-weights every other work out session.

Anyway, my question is - how will I know if I'm doing too much cardio and not enough weight-training? What are the signs for which I should look?

Thanks, in advance, for your help.

[MemphisTiger]

1. It depends on your goals

If you notice more muscle than fat loss, I would ease up on the cardio and concentrate on lifting. Don't neglect cardio but don't overdo it. As more of a weight lifter I have a love/hate relationship with cardio. I do it but I hate it. I usually do cardio twice a week.

[supernova]

2. General rule of thumb

is that 3-4 times a week is good for general conditioning.

5-6 times a week for weight loss.

And endurance needs to be between 40-60 minutes duration. After 20 minutes or so is when you burn off whatever sugars are floating in your blood stream and you begin to delve into your fat stores.

This was a while ago that I read this. Research might have changed.

[Deja Q]

3. If it gets too hard to breathe while exercising, stop.

If you feel your heart pound VERY hard, definitely stop.

Yesterday I was on the elliptical trainer 7 minutes at top speed. (2 bouts of 3 minutes, rather) and I was sweating bullets and knew I had to stop.

Just wait until I can do that an hour a day, 2x daily. I want to be healthy...

Not sure why, but it goes back to that stupid faith concept thing where the future will get better.