Thread: How much cardio is too much?

Hi!

I am 53. My entire life I've been the square, strong shape rather than the slim, endurance type. Cardio has been something I've suffered through.

At last I've found a workaround, that means I enjoy cardio. I look forwards to cardio in the gym and incorporate it more. But... so far in my life the upper limits of how much cardio your body should have, that has been as relevant to me as the wind conditions on Mars. But yesterday I totaled up my calories, exercise time etc for last week. And I had 1 hour of cardio five days last week, about half of each hour with my heart above 140, often over 150 BPM.

After a lifetime of watching everyone else outdo me on the cardio, there may have been some excessive enthusiasm here.

I've not had any ill effects so far, but at my age it pays off to be careful with these things.so my question is

How much is too much at my age?

Cardio won't necessarily change your shape - if you out-eat the extra calories burned. From what you describe, it sounds like you just need to diet.

If you want to improve your CV conditioning, you need to experiment with how much you can add to your schedule. Nobody can tell you in advance how much is too much because it depends on your recovery abilities. This is something that varies a lot from one person to another - and it can also change over time too.

I wouldn't jump straight to 5 days a week unless you are only doing a light maintenance resistance training schedule at the moment. Make incremental changes - then you can better judge the effect on recovery.

Thank you. I am not looking to lose any large amounts of fat, I am enjoying being able to improve my cardiovascular fitness to a level I never have before. It has taken me some time to get up to 5 x60 minutes per week, but I am worried about hitting my ceiling and injuring myself. Especially since injury here may easily involve the heart. At my age the ceiling is being lowered too.