is walking fast enough as cardio?

[buck]

It does not take a lot of cardio for the heart to have the maximum benefit from most of the studies i have seen. weight lifting could end up doing enough depending on how it is done. Keeping the arteries supply and as young as possible takes the load off the heart over the years and decades. which is where the wear and tare seems to come from. The heart muscle is not like all the other muscles and doesn't need to be trained the same.

 

[Norse13]

Everyone always talks about different forms of cardio but nobody really knows the best secret, lucky for you I’m part of this forum and I’ll share it with you…..

DIGGING!

Get yourself a shovel and some gloves and go out in your backyard and every day for 45 minutes work on digging a hole. After 8 weeks or so you’d be surprised at the results and then you can turn it into a swimming pool, then at that point you transfer over to swimming for cardio.

Ground is still frozen with a bit of rotten snow. An ice-water pool is the last I want, even if it comes with free cardio.

 

[Juggy3838]

Peter Attia has many many podcasts on cardio capacity. Moving up your VO2 max is one of the best ways to drop “all cause” mortality death rates.

Like drasticly. I think he reccomended 3-4 hours of zone 2 training a week to get there.

 

[Preacherwife]

So, your body utilizes fats and carbohydrates on an inverse curve depending on your HR or % of VO2 Max. For an example of what I mean check out the graph on this LINK. The lower your HR, the more predominately you burn fat, as you approach 66%(ish) of VO2 Max you’re burning about equal parts fat/carbs(in the form of glycogen), and above that your body will predominantly utilize carbs(glycogen). I would guess that if you’re in the 150-160 bpm range you’re sitting right about that 50/50 point but probably still a bit under and burning more fat. Best was to find out where your HR zones are would be to do a Max HR/Threshold test. I’d recommend THIS FIELD TEST then plug your average HR into THIS CALCULATOR.

Once you have those numbers then monitor your HR during cardio and keep it in Z1/Z2. You’ll be burning predominantly fat and saving valuable energy for when you need it most, such as higher intensity lifting and interval type work. You’ll also find that over time with consistency, your HR will start coming down during cardio and you’ll be able to add more speed or more incline.

I know that’s a lot of info, let me know if you need clarification on anything. Hopefully it helps.

New here & learning. Thank you so much for the explaination.

 

[RedSalmon]

Walking for me was always the best cardio, and it does help with fat loss a lot

 

[Triceposaurus]

Cardio is just BPMs/Energy expenditure.

 

[Hypersonic]

So, your body utilizes fats and carbohydrates on an inverse curve depending on your HR or % of VO2 Max. For an example of what I mean check out the graph on this LINK. The lower your HR, the more predominately you burn fat, as you approach 66%(ish) of VO2 Max you’re burning about equal parts fat/carbs(in the form of glycogen), and above that your body will predominantly utilize carbs(glycogen). I would guess that if you’re in the 150-160 bpm range you’re sitting right about that 50/50 point but probably still a bit under and burning more fat. Best was to find out where your HR zones are would be to do a Max HR/Threshold test. I’d recommend THIS FIELD TEST then plug your average HR into THIS CALCULATOR.

Once you have those numbers then monitor your HR during cardio and keep it in Z1/Z2. You’ll be burning predominantly fat and saving valuable energy for when you need it most, such as higher intensity lifting and interval type work. You’ll also find that over time with consistency, your HR will start coming down during cardio and you’ll be able to add more speed or more incline.

I know that’s a lot of info, let me know if you need clarification on anything. Hopefully it helps.

Old thread but here to agree with this comment and the Peter Attia comments elsewhere. A few months of mostly zone 2 cardio with some high intensity intervals (20% of weekly workout time) has done wonders for my conditioning. I did get to the point where I bought a lactate monitor to make sure I knew where my zone 2 threshold really is (will explain if anybody is interested), but a simple "talk test" is also a pretty decent proxy for finding the zone 2 threshold. Basically, if I'm right on the edge of needing to breathe through my mouth or doing that some of the time, and I can speak a few words - have a halted conversation - I'm near the upper limit of my zone 2. I try to stay there for at least 45 min, ideally 60. Here's some additional information.

The MAF 180 Formula: Heart-rate monitoring for real aerobic training. - Dr. Phil Maffetone

philmaffetone.com

 

[New_Varient]

walking is great for you. I wouldn't consider it cardio, your heart rarely goes into level 2. But it's still very healthy. Strengthens core, increases balance, etc.