Advice on Cardio - How much is enough?

[Guest guest]

Hello,

I am wondering if someone can critique my workout and offer some

commentary? I am a female and my goals are to be lean and toned and

to maintain my feminine shape. My body stats are as follows:

5' tall

103-104 pounds

20% body fat

38 years old (almost 39!)

My Weekly Routine is as follows:

200 minutes of cardio per week -- Consisting of a combination of

intense interval training and steady state training-- all treadmill,

primarily walking on a steep incline, some running, plus

3 full body strength training sessions per week, plus

1/2 hour of light strength training per week.

The week ends up looking like this:

Sunday - 60-70 minutes cardio

Monday - 40 minutes cardio + 1 hour weights

Tuesday - 40-60 minutes cardio

Wed - Off

Thursday - 40 minutes cardio + 1 hour weights

Friday - 45 abs + arms

Saturday - 60 minutes weights

The above routine is new as of @ 8 weeks ago. I used to do just 2

days of full body strength training and @ 260-280 minutes of cardio

per week. I was getting very, very tired of cardio and was not

feeling well- I am sure I was overtraining. Therefore, I reduced the

cardio to no more than 200 minutes per week and increased the

strength training.

My new (reduced cardio) routine has resulted in a 1 pound weight

increase (so far!). I do not want to put on more weight. However,

ideally, I would like to further modify my training schedule so that

the cardio is reduced to just 160 minutes per week (combo of high

intensity and steady state). I think that is a more realistic

program, but I am concernd that doing so will likely result in more

weight gain.

Any thoughts/advice would be MOST appreciated!

Thank you.

Beth

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