How often should I do cardio?

Hi Travis

The answer to this question depends upon 4 main factors:

1. What are you used to? If you usually do cardio 5 or 6 times per week along with weights and you aren't feeling fatigued all the time and you're not coming down with colds and other illnesses and you keep making progress, then fine, you can handle that volume. Remember, some elite athletes do 2 or 3 sessions of up to 3 or more hours each PER DAY, 6-days per week...but they are elite, gifted and driven people.

2. Your genetics - this is related to the first one, in that if you can do a high volume of training and still make progress and feel ok, then keep it up!

3. Your training intensity - If you wanted to, you could probably walk for 5 or more hours a day...because it's low intensity and doesn't overly tax the body, you can do it long and often. If you are doing High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) every day for 45 minutes, then you'll likely burn out, overtrain or get injured.

4. Nutrition - is your protein and calorie intake good? How about essential fat/omega-3 fatty acid intake? Vegetables? Fruit? A good diet will allow you to push it harder for longer and recovery faster!

So sorry for the wishy washy sounding answer but the truth is you have to find the correct balance of volume, frequency and intensity that allows your to make the most rapid progress towards your goals. So keep a diary of your training and log your progress and how you feel and review it every couple of weeks. This will give you clues as to what is working best for you!