Confusing cardio advice for 40+

[Lunarr]

Hello ! Went to get a bodyfat measurement today at the gym. At 42 years old,5'7, 177 lbs, the fitness trainer's reading was 23% (On those digital things). He said it was "okay" for my age, but I want to get rid of the fat and improve.

I've been doing 30 mins cardio (running)3X a week and been lifting weights 3x a week also, but so far, results have been slow. Ten years ago, it got me to 11% bodyfat. Well, that's father time at work.

The trainer said I should do cardio 3x a week at 1.5 hours per session. I'm not lazy, but is that right? Another trainer said doing more than 30 mins per session is bad for the knees... I am confused. What's the right thing to do?

[D-bol]

these fitness trainers have the tendency to advise too much exercise....IMO, most of them are underqualified...

anyways, these are my comments:

1) at 40+ your metabolism is slower than at 20's
2) therefore - diet is more important in this instance than exercise
3) 1.5 is too much IMO. Even pro bbers on average do 45-60 mins when cutting. Your other trainer is correct about knee risks - especially if cardio is in the form of running.

So: focus on the diet rather than cardio.

hope this helps

[Lunarr]

Got it. Thanks D-bol !

[wes]

BOTTOM LINE IS THAT WHATEVER YOU ARE DOING,TO LOSE BODYFAT,YOU MUST CREATE A CALORIE DEFICIT.

[slaveboy1980]

BOTTOM LINE IS THAT WHATEVER YOU ARE DOING,TO LOSE BODYFAT,YOU MUST CREATE A CALORIE DEFICIT.

exactly, how hard is it to understand this?

if you wanna loose weight you do it by creating a caloric deficit. and you do that by lowering calories under daily maintainence level or you increase cardio (so you reach neg caloric balance) or you do BOTH. (which is what i advice).

shoot for a caloric deficit of maybe 500 calories per day. do this by lowering calories abit and adding some cardio.

exactly how many minutes of cardio you wanna do is up to you, what kind of cardio is also up to you. you do the cardio you like. you can do lower intensity cardio for longer time periods or you can do higher intensity for shorter periods. its about personal preferance. (there is alot i could write about cardio..but i dont wanna confuse you too much..)
also you can do the cardio whenever you want, but i would advice you not to do it right  before or straight or after a working out.  (try to seperate the cardio as much as possible from lifting weights.)

[Lunarr]

Lower intensity, longer duration..Is fast walking good for this? Short duration, high intensity must mean doing intervals, right? LIke sprinting..walking, sprinting?

[slaveboy1980]

Lower intensity, longer duration..Is fast walking good for this? Short duration, high intensity must mean doing intervals, right? LIke sprinting..walking, sprinting?

exactly  .....you choose the activities you like doing and go from there. Too much high intensity cardio can affect your workouts tho..specially leg workouts. But any activity that burns calories is good. So cut down on the food and add some cardio so that your in a caloric deficit (-500 maybe). go to the gym 3 days a week, and if your schedule allows it, seperate the gym sessions as much from the cardio as possible, in other words, if you go to the gym in the morning, do the cardio in the evening or vice versa.

[Lunarr]

Thanks ! Sounds good. Will try it !