How Much Cardio Is Too Much?

Running, biking and other aerobic exercise help improve your health and fitness. Find out just how much aerobic exercise is right for you and how much cardio is too much.

Hi friends! How’s the morning going?? I hope you’re having a wonderful week. For today’s post, I updated an older *beefy* one with lots of fitness tips. If you’re wondering about how much cardio to do and need help with your routine, join us for Fit Team!

I frequently get variations of the same question. What is my weight loss goal? What cardio exercises should I do? What is a *good* amount of cardio I can do without losing muscle? What’s the bare minimum?

But what the core of each of those questions is ultimately asking is: How much cardio is too much?

Let me dust off my cardio queen badge and tell you a long tale.

How Much Cardio Is Too Much?

The Tale of the Cardio Queen

Back in the day, I thought cardio was the “end all be all” of health, fitness, and (what my goal was at the time) losing weight. I figured that more was better as far as cardio exercises go. Little did I know, I was burning my precious muscle away as I pounded the treadmill and was striding along on the elliptical.

It’s equally tragic and amusing to consider the amount of time I spent doing cardio, thinking I was throwing myself a solid to only later find out that it was overkill. I cardio-ed my little heart out, and there was a time when I was going an hour +, almost every day of the week. I was doing way too much cardio at high intensity. (This is also when I screwed up my metabolism years ago.)

Thankfully, I started to work in the fitness industry, became certified to teach group fitness and work as a personal trainer, and learned a lot about the cardio balancing act. It takes a little time to find out the amount and types of fitness that will propel you toward your goals, while providing endorphins, SWEAT, and performance gains (including endurance, speed, and agility).

It wasn’t until I cut down the duration of my aerobics session and made the exercises count that I noticed a difference in my fitness gains and overall health. I also felt a major boost in my gym mojo, as I was no longer using the time to read books and gab with friends. (<— which is still fun, but it opened doors as far as new classes, HIIT methods, and fitness modalities go!)

FAQ and Tips for Finding Your Personal Cardio Sweet Spot

(As always, check with a doctor before making any fitness changes. If you have medical conditions or have a sedentary lifestyle, it’s especially important to start a program with the guidance of a physician. As always, honor your body.)

What the heck is cardio exactly? Does strength training count?

Cardiovascular fitness is a critical aspect of health, which involves the intake, transportation, and usage of oxygen during exercise. Your heart, lungs, and muscles work in harmony as you’re jogging, sprinting, or even vacuuming throughout the day.

We measure cardio through VO2Max, which is the maximum amount of the body’s oxygen consumption. It’s not easy to measure, so usually we’ll determine intensity as a percentage of your maximum heart rate.

Example: I’m 36 so my estimated max heart rate is 220-36= 184. If I want to hit 80% (for high-intensity workouts) of my max heart rate, 184 x .8 = 147.2. So in that case, I’d aim to hit around 147 if I was wearing a heart rate monitor. This is in line with NASM recommendations, which is where I earned my personal training certification.

As far as strength training counting as conditioning, it certainly can. It depends on consistently elevating your heart rate. If you’re doing traditional hypertrophy training (3 sets of 10-12 reps, resting in between sets), there’s a good chance that you will not elevate your heart rate and sustain it during your workout. If you’re doing more circuit-style workouts, or supersetting multiple exercises, your heart rate will likely remain elevated! This type of exercise can count as cardio. Sometimes for circuit workouts, my heart rate is higher than it would be if I were doing steady state, like jogging on the treadmill or dancing.

What are the recommendations for cardio?

I don’t ever recommend doing over an hour of cardio unless you’re training for a specific event. If you just really LOVE it, make sure that you have some off days (yes, more than one! especially in this case) to let your body recover. If you are consistently training the same muscles, especially if you perform the same types of cardio each day, you will not give them the chance to grow back stronger and recover. Also, this can set you up for overuse injuries <– not a picnic.

Make sure that you are giving your body the chance to heal in between sessions, and be sure to alternate intensities. I always like to throw the reminder out there that the heart is a MUSCLE, and a pretty dang important one. It needs rest, just like your legs, shoulders, chest, back, etc. all do. Include easy days as a part of your plan.

Here are general recommendations for cardio:

At least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity cardiorespiratory exercise, 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity, or a combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity exercise per week. The weekly recommendation for resistance training is 2 or more days per week with exercises for all the major muscle groups (minimum of 1 set of 8-12 repetitions for each muscle group). Flexibility and neuromotor exercises (balance, agility, coordination) are also recommended at least twice per week.

I think that 150 minutes a week of moderate cardio is a great goal. If you’re working out 5x a week, that’s 30 minutes each day. As far as the bare minimum goes, I like to recommend walking for 20 minutes every day. That’s it. You can break your aerobic fitness sessions into blocks if you need to, which leads me to the next question.

I don’t have a lot of time to do a solid cardio block. Should I just skip it altogether?

Split it up!! I used to be guilty of thinking that if I didn’t have the time to do more than 10 minutes, it wasn’t worth it. It IS worth it and can be beneficial. After we work out, our body has to work hard to replenish its stores and regulate tissue temperature. This is called EPOC (Excess post-exercise oxygen consumption) and burns extra calories. By getting in multiple short workouts each day, you get bonus EPOC sessions. So do what you can, when you can. If you only have 20 minutes to work out, here are some ideas.

Tips for Cardio

Start slowly and build up from there.

It’s smarter to start with less and build up from there.

Focus on quality over quantity.

Focus on making the time count, and getting the most out of your workout. It’s not about how many minutes you can add to your time, but more about how you FEEL. Do you feel challenged, sweaty, and energized (not drained)?

Your cardio magic number may be different than the recommendations above.

Depending on the types of cardio modes you do, how often you strength train, and your daily activity level, you may find that you need way less “traditional cardio” and more strength. It’s all a matter of experimentation and finding the magic number according to your unique goals and circumstance. This number may also change week to week depending on what’s going on. Cardio is a critical aspect of health, so if you can, try to walk a bit and be active each day.

How Much Cardio Is Too Much For Building Muscle?

Are you worried that your cardio sessions are causing muscle loss?

This is a common concern, but the truth is that it’s not actually a concern at all. In fact, the right amount of cardio can actually help you build muscle and burn body fat—and it’s a lot more than you think. It’s true that cardio can be stressful on your body and make you feel tired or sore, but when done correctly and for the right amount of time, it can actually help your muscles grow stronger and bigger.

If you’re looking to build muscle (or just get healthier in general), don’t be afraid to add some cardio to your routine!

Don’t overdo it.

Unnecessarily high cardio activity (without a purpose, like training for an event) can set you up for overuse injuries, increased cortisol levels, depleted immune system function, dreading your training, increased resting heart rate, pain in your joints, extreme muscle soreness, and fatigue. It can make your hunger levels go haywire and affect your hormones (which is why many women who do too much grueling cardio can suffer from a lack of menstrual cycle, hair loss, skin changes, anxiety, depression, sleep changes, and irritability). When you overdo it on cardio, your body can also start to use its lean muscle as fuel, which decreases overall strength and muscle mass. Your body composition changes and you need to find the sweet spot for cardio in your workout routine — one that works for you and your unique goals. Make sure you have plenty of “easy days”!

If you hate it, ditch it.

There are so many cardio fish in the sea, you are destined to find something you love. Don’t be afraid to try out different classes, modes, and instructors until you find your perfect match. If you decide traditional cardio isn’t for you, get it through circuit training or something else that will increase your heart rate. Don’t forget the bonus of unintentional exercise (also called NEAT: non-exercise activity thermogenesis), and that you’re burning calories and increasing your heart rate through everyday physical activities like household chores, gardening, errands, intimate activities, etc. 🙂

So tell me, friends, how often do you do cardio in your routine right now?

When I was teaching at the resort I was doing intense amounts — teaching up to 3 dance cardio classes in a row. My knee also hated me. Right now, I only do 2-3 days of cardio and also walk Maisey every day.

xoxo

Gina

Some resources:

35 cardio-based bodyweight exercises

What does cardio fitness mean?

Hail HIIT, the cardio king