Too much, too little? page

[afsjesse]

OK, so I'm trying to uptake the cardio in my regimen to help lower my blood pressure. Currently, I lift weights 2x per week and do sprints 1x per week. I've started walking 2-4 miles every other day at a brisk pace, but I'm wondering if this is enough?

Perhaps it's CW, but I feel the urge to jog or do more workouts.... I'm going to start adding in a third workout on the weekend, but am kind of confused as to what I should be doing for cardio. While my overall goal is optimal health, I'd like to up the cardio while not driving my cortisol levels through the roof and burning any muscle that I may potentially gain. My main goal for now is to lower my bp by upping my cardio, but I find that brisk walking doesn't really make me tired much....

Any thoughts? Is briskly walking before or after weight lifting okay?

[lizch]

Make sure you add in some stress-relief stuff too....meditation, yoga, the Resparate thing. Quitting sugar was half the answer for me, and stress-relief exercises were the other half.

[peril]

Doesn't need to make you tired. It still has benefit. Give your current regime a month. If the BP is still up, increase the walking. I do 6km (4mi) 5-6 days per week and it brought my BP down very nicely

[shiggles]

Is a bike out of the question? Grab a backpack, get on your bike and go to the market. Unless you live in a murder cabin, you'd probably get a pretty decent cardio sesh.

[iniQuity]

To my knowledge, there's nothing wrong with walking at any time, in fact, some recommend it as a way to burn fat since it's a lower metabolic expenditure and will tap into fat reserves.

It might be a bit of CW to want to do more, but I understand the feeling. Our society especially when it comes to fitness is WAY too into "no pain no gain" and every time you see a pro athlete or anything, they always show you the grueling work they put in, and they almost always jog don't they? It makes us regular folk think we absolutely must jog or be forever fat.

There's really nothing you need to change about your workout, maybe add in some burpees on your heavy lifting days as a way to get some cardio, or try super setting, going from exercise to exercise with minimal rest, complete a round, take a breather, then go at it again. Cardio isn't just about hitting the pavement...