Can too much cardio hurt?

[BigD]

Can you do too much cardio? Reason I’m asking is because I am trying to cut down so I’m heavy into cardio right now. I run for at least 30min every day and most of the time I run twice a day, once in the morning then again in the evening. I stay in my target heart rate so I’m not killing myself or anything, but it seems like I have no energy anymore. I wake up tired and I go to sleep exhausted. So I was just wondering if too much cardio could hurt?

Thanks for the help.
PEACE!!

[bex]

You can still overtrain with too much cardio......

[BigD]

I'm not sure what you're tyring to say. I am just wondering if to much cardio can have a negative effect on your body or not.

[Naturally Anabolic]

Yes it can, cardio works muscles just like any other exercise and if it is done to much the muscles will be torn down and require a lot of repair time, also known as Overtraining. This can cause major setbacks and general frustration.

[BigD]

Yeah I know about over training muscles while lifting, I guess I just never though about breaking down muscle while doing cardio. But now that you mention it, it makes sense.

So what would you consider as too much cardio?

[superbeast]

If you are doing enough cardio to break down muscle, it is too intense. Running is not a good choice anyway. It is hard on joints and muscle. How many runners do you know that have muscular legs. Do you take vitamins,etc? An hour a day is not going to break down muscle unless you are not eating.

[BigD]

No I'm still lifting and doing the whole diet thing i just bumped up the cardio to get the BF down for the comming summer. I just seem dead ever since i started doing that and was just wondering if i was doing too much.

But like i said i never run for more than 30 minutes a session. I just usually do two sessions a day, one in the morning and one in the evening.

[mopar_13]

you should not be doing more than 20 mins at one time more than that and your muscle being torn down. Also you will find you have less strength for lifting. But if on a AS no muscle will be torn down.

[superbeast]

Sorry Mopar,
...but that is a bunch of crap. Depending on the level of glycogen stores, it may take 15 minutes before your body even begins to burn fat.

PM me if you want to discuss.

[partyboynyc]

only bad thing about too much cardio and i'm stressing the word TOO much(which i highly doubt most of the board members are doing) is over use injuries.overuse injuries in running occur in hip flexors, tibias, knees, lumbar regions, and rarely achilles tendons do to frequent impact on those areas.you would have to be putting in more mileage that is needed for fat reduction.i'm talking upwards on 75 miles a week in a trained and conditioned distance runner and too frequently training in full short distance training(ie. 100m, 200m, 400mhurdles, hj, lj, tj) if you are training in those events(which i'm sure no one here is) then emphasis should be on techinque, starts, and form more than consistantly going full out in those events.

[silverfox]

I truly believe too much cardio is bad, especially when you are trying to bulk, your working very different fibers. I would say anymore than 20min 2-3x week is too much, if your just worried about staying generally heathly. If you are cutting yes do more. If you doing 5x week 30min, going to be very hard to eat enought to give you body time to recover from workout to workout, plus no matter how much you eat, your body and only repair so fast. Most guys have gone from every bodypart 2x week to 1x week and generally speaking getting more gains.

[mega_man]

I f you just have to run ... Run for 30 minutes in the morning and quit the evening cardio.

With all that cardio when do you find time to lift?

What I prefer doing for cardio is to walk at a quick pace with the treadmill set at an incline that gets my heart in the target range.

I do 30-40 minutes a day and feel great!

Running all the time will just make you tired and skinny.

[superbeast]

I'm not knocking anybody but some of this is just ridiculous.

If you are doing cardio any other time rather than right out of bed in the morning or after your lifting, it takes at least 15 minutes before your body starts switching over from burning glycogen to burning fat. It takes 5 to 10 minutes when glycogen stores are low. This is not opinion, this is fact. I can site scientific journals if need be.

Fat can't be turned into muscle. Whatever calories you burn doing cardio, replace with an equal number of clean calories in your diet. This way you burn fat and add muscle.

Muscles being broken down comes from intense exercise. If your cardio is do intense as to breakdown muscle tissue, you are doing something wrong. You can do 100 curls with 2lb dumbells and get your heart rate up and not breakdown the muscle. If you were breaking down the muscle, it would be growing. If your muscles are actually sore from cardio, something is wrong. Do non-impact cardio, bike, stepper, eliptical. They are easier on the joints, also.

Most people don't understand this or have never heard it. Doing cardio creates what is called capillary density. This means more capillaries taking nutrient-rich blood to your muscles. The more blood and nutrients your muscles get, the more they will grow. Once again this is not opinion. I can site journals with these studies.

[Tobey]

Figugre out your lean muscle mass weight. Here's how
Let's use this as an example. Let's say
Your present body weight (BW)=225
Your present body Fat percentage (BF%)=13%
Ok First you need to know what your fat weight (FW) is. To do this multiple the body weight by the BF%. To do this you must convert the BF% into a decimal. So 13% would become .13

225 x .13 = FW = 29.25lbs of fat weight That is out of the total 225lbs of total weight tht you possess, 29.25lbs of it is fat.

Now we need to figure up your lean muscle mass.

To do this take the BW - FW = lean muscle mass soooooo

225 - 29.25 = 195.75lbs of lean muscle mass
Now this can be a little misleading as this value also represents your bone tissue, body fluids, organs, ingested food, ect. BUT these areas are not going to grow significantly enough to make a difference in the number so this is a good reference point to start with. Keep and eye on these figures checking your body fat % on a regular basis as well. If your lean muscle mass begins to go down, you need to alter either your diete or your cardio routine. But you get the picture.
IC

[llbeastcd]

Cardio is dependent on where it fits in the caloric scheme of things. Follow Tobey's advice above. If your cardio is putting you too much in a caloric deficit, you WILL lose some muscle.

[Nathan]

It can eat up muscle. It isn't as big a worry if you are using gear.