Summary of why long, slow cardio is not ideal... (vs. HIIT) page 3

[MikeEnRegalia]

^ I've yet to see jogging cows ... I guess you could say that they're standing or very slowly moving 95% of the time. The other 5% are, at least in the wild, brief and intense episodes of trying to evade predators.

Of course there are many differences between animals, and between animals and humans. I'm just saying that most of the animals with impressive lean and muscular bodies get them from "exercising" very, very rarely.

[OnlyBodyWeight]

Any new readers with something to add?

[MightyAl]

My take on this is that you are defining LSD with chronic cardio. If you have been around a lot of recreational runners you will know they like to run as far and as fast as they can. This is chronic cardio where you get the breakdown of muscle and the extreme depletion of glycogen. Running in the 70%-95% MHR zone is where you will accomplish very little.

On HIT days I train as hard as I possibly can and if I can walk then I have done something wrong. I never kill myself but the 30 minutes after those 12-15 min of exercise I usually feel like I need to throw up. I will do this once or maybe twice a week.

On any other day that I run it is usually for 30-40 minutes at a super easy pace. During these runs I work on running form and cadence. I have found that increasing my turnover rate without increasing my speed has greatly improved my form and decreased my soreness and having my chronic injuries pop back up.

Then usually I will do a nice long run with some friends on the weekend. They all have garmins and are worried about their pace and pause them whenever we stop for water. I am trying to train them to run slow and easy but it is an uphill battle. It is hard for most rec runners to just run without trying to push a pace. That is how they all get injured. The only time you need to push a pace is during interval training or tempo runs any other run should be at a nice leisurely pace because all that matters is time on the road.

I did a circuit of body weight exercises last night. Lots of hanging off the bar with pull ups, and leg lifts, some crawling pushups on a hill, some jumping, and kettle bell swings. I felt good but not drained so I went for a 30 min run afterward. Nice and slow and it felt good.

[paleo-bunny]

My personal experience is that low-level cardio (heart rate between 50 and 75% max) is the most effective and beneficial means of losing body fat. I'm also lifting weights and doing resistance training, and limited sprinting (intervals).

The most effective cardio workouts are of length 45 - 90 minutes. It takes me about 40 minutes to maximise fat burning.

I've gained about 10 lbs of muscle while losing 46 lbs body fat. I am not and have never been insulin resistant. When I am overweight, exercise does not increase my appetite in line with the extra calories burned.

More than half my fat loss has occurred during two 2-month windows during mid to late summer where I've lost about 14 lbs in 2 months. The key was upping 4-5 hours low-level cardio in the gym to about 8 hours, and walking about 15 miles a week in addition to that, mostly for leisure about town at the weekends, plus a 1 mile walk most weekday lunchtimes.

I'm planning to use the same tactic this summer - it'll be interesting to see the results. I have heaps of energy in the summer anyway, so I'm naturally very active.

As I feel I'm getting close to my set point (around 25% BF), I'm sure it's going to be challenging to lose much more fat. I am currently consuming around 2500 a day, and my weight has plateaued for the past 2 months mainly due to doing to the gym less and walking less due to crap weather, and also swapping some fat calories for carbs thus gaining a bit of water weight.

[federkeil]

The runners I know don't run to lose weight or be in shape. They run to be better runners, which is exactly why you should run.

[john_e_turner_ii]

I no longer do sprints or intervals. However, I walk 4-5 miles per day, everyday, and a few days a week up to 10 miles.

[paleo-bunny]

I no longer do sprints or intervals. However, I walk 4-5 miles per day, everyday, and a few days a week up to 10 miles.

Walking is very good exercise - and I felt great when I used to walk that distance every day.

[sbhikes]

The runners that I know and see all have great bodies. I really find it difficult to match up my own personal observation of people with the stuff on this forum.

I run maybe once a week. Not very fast and not very far. I enjoy it. Otherwise I walk. Sprinting tends to give me injuries. Lifting weights also tends to injure me or at the very least leaves me incapacitated for a day.

I can walk all day long and do it multiple days in a row. I find it more enjoyable than gyms, especially walking in the mountains out in nature, drinking from creeks, listening to birds, seeing wildflowers and gazing out over long vistas.

[MightyAl]

The runners I know don't run to lose weight or be in shape. They run to be better runners, which is exactly why you should run.

I run because I enjoy it. Is that wrong too.

[paleo-bunny]

I run because I enjoy it. Is that wrong too.

Personally speaking, I don't think that's wrong.

I can't run at the moment because it's damaging to my knee joints.

If you can run then I encourage you to enjoy it.

I expect I will be able to enjoy a short run once a week once I've lost a bit more weight.