Sweating more early in the workout, shorter workouts better?

[Anonymous]

I always do some weight training before cardio, with the different machines targeting parts of the body. Then I do cardio. I notice that if I spend more than 10-15 minutes on a machine, maybe 20 TOPS if I have a lot of energy, while going at a high intensity, I suddenly start feeling less sweaty.

Like, I'm working hard, but the sweat pours out at first and I can feel the fat coming off. Then it kind of comes to this sluggish point where I just don't feel like it's pouring out of me anymore.

I do hear that long intervals of cardio aren't as effective as high intensity shorter bursts, so with this in mind is it probably better to keep my cardio at 20-30 minutes and sweat a lot rather than drag it out for 45-60 and stop enjoying it as much?

Keep in mind that I do the weights as well. And I always vary my cardio machines. I usually do 10-20 minutes apiece on 2-3 machines.

[NotJustAnotherGuy]

Sweat is not an indicator of calories burned. It is simply an indicator that when you do this sort of workout, your body gets hot, and therefor releases sweat through its pores to cool itself down.

Despite the previous answer, you should not do your cardio before lifting weights. Cardio is about how long you can last until depleted of energy.. Weightlifting is about lifting as many reps/weight as possible-- which can not be done if you already depleted your body of energy. Plus cardio gets your blood pumping, which is good for distributing your post lifting shake and all it's nutrition through your body.

Intervals versus distance running.. They're not really comparable with the question "which is the better workout?". It would be more comparable with "which is the better workout FOR MY GOALS?"

If you just want to burn fat, build slow twitch muscles and increase your cardiovascular endurance, distance running is best. If you want to build fast twitch muscle and increase your top speed, intervals is better. Also, you will experience hypertrophy with intervals (increased muscle size) and not so much with long distance running. When I did cross country, I would do both each week. Long slow distance (8-12 miles) to build my cardio and intervals by sprinting a distance then walking half of it (100m 100m 200m 200m 400m 800m 1600m 800m 400m 200m 200m 100m 100m) to increase my speed.

P.S> please don't run on dreadmills watching Tv and go outside and experience what running is really about. I promise after you get over the difficulty of it, that you'll never go back to dreadmills or other cardio machines again. Long distance running is a very beneficial workout, but you can't get half of those benefits hopping up and down on a machine.

[kholland65]

First of all, you should do you're cardio first. Get's the muscles warmed up for lifting.

Interval training is best for cardio. Running really hard for a minute or two, then slowing down for a few minutes, then repeat. I don't know for sure, but 45min-hour sounds a bit long unless you are training for a long distance run.

You also seem to be spending to much time on a machine. 3-4 sets is plenty. As a women who is likely just trying to lose weight and tone up as opposed to build excessive strength or mass. You will be doing more reps per set, but you sill should only fall between the 14-20 range, maybe a bit less like 10-16. Only allow about 1-2 minutes tops of rest between sets. I think many women make the mistake of going a bit to easy on their weight lifting because they just don't have the capacity for the pain that comes with intense weight lifting. That's why you rarely see a women power lifting, and the women I do see lifting, looked way to relaxed, like they aren't even trying. If you're doing 25+ reps, then you need to up the weight.

My overall advice would be to spend about 20-30 minutes interval training on the treadmill or whatever, then head into the weight room for about 30-45min. Do 3-4 sets of 12-16 reps. I'm no personal trainer to take my advice with a grain of salt. My advice simply comes from my own experience working out over the last few years, and from doing lots of reading about fitness and weight training.

[Asker]

My reps are fairly heavy. I usually do 4-7 machines, 3 sets of 12 reps each. They are definitely heavy, I am pushing myself to reach that number 12.

[kholland65]

Then that's good. those last few reps should make you struggle, not the entire set, just the last few of the final set. I've just traditionally been taught that doing cardio first is better. My personal trainers would always have me do that. I don't know about you're timing but 45-hours still seems long for cardio. Then again I don't do a ton of cardio so I could be wrong. Interval training though is best. I've read that and been told that many times by trainers and doctors a like.