I have read a lot about how lifting weight is really important for weight loss, the building muscles help burn more calories etc. But I am always confused about where to strike a balance between weight lifting and cardio. I manage to go to gym about 5 days a week, sometimes 6 also. Total 3 hrs of cardio and 2 hrs of weight training per week. Still wondering if I am getting enough cardio, doing too much cardio....

about the weight lifting i cannot say since i dont do that. but the cardio, i would say work up to at least an hour a day about 5 to 6 days a week. others may disagree, but it has worked for me. the "new" standard these days is 30 min daily to maintain weight and 60 min per day for weightloss.

What exactly is your breakdown of how long you do cardio and weight per day, and what do your workouts look like? Are you doing full body weights or split training?
An hour long cardio session should not be done often in my professional opinion. That's too much, especially if you're doing weights in the same day. Once a week a very long endurance session is fine. You should have a variety of intensities in your cardio: longer, slow sessions, shorter, higher intensity, as well as interval training.
If I had more info I could be of more help. If you would like any help, plase let me know.
Sarah

usually this is what I do:
Mondays - 30min cardio (Step)
Tuesdays - 1 hr full body weights training
Wednesday - 30min cardio (Step)
Thursdays - break
Fridays - 30min running / some weights (I miss this often)
Saturdays - 1 hr full body weight training
Sundays - 1 hr cardio (kick boxing) and sometimes some yoga after that

Sounds like a great plan, but is not working for me

You've got a pretty good variety going on, and it's very good that you have a rest day. The only suggestion I have is to possibly make on cardio workout and interval workout of high intensity. This is where you would use an elliptical, run on a track, or use a treadmill (although treamill is the hardest) and do 30 sprints and 1 minute walks alternating. The sprints should be as fast as you can go. You can do this for 20 minutes with a 5 minute warm up and cool down. Just an idea for ya.
Sarah

Sarah, you mentioned that an hour long cardio should not be done often. I'm not a professional and still young but I completely disagree. Using weights should be limited but cardio is always great. It keeps you energized and if you're not overworking your body it's perfectly safe.

Also, if you're not seeing a lot of weightloss, Jini, it may be because of all the weights building muscle (which is heavier than fat).

Well, I think it's ok to disagree. Nothing wrong with long cardio sessions at times, but typically most women will not eat enough calroies to support lots of long cardio sessions, and therefore cause themselves harm. Personally, I do loads of very long cardio sessions because I'm an avid hiker. However, I'll eat up to 3000 cals a day when I'm hiking, and I do plenty of weight training so that I don't lose muscle mass.
I have a lot of clients come to me who have been doing loads of long cardio sessions, eating low calorie diets and their metobolisms are completely shot! SO frustrating.
I do agree that cardio can be quite energizing.

Sarah

You don't want to do both weights and cardio on the same day. You alternate days, weights one day, cardio the next, then weight, then cardio and so on. It takes a full day inbetween each specific exercise for the targeted muscle groups to rebuild.

One thing to remember about Cardio though is that there is a certain heart rate that every person should keep for them to release their maximum calorie burning potential. Cardio does need atleast 30 mins. at one time.
What I usually try to do is cardio 3 - 4 times a week.. whether it be running or on an elliptycal, etc. and weight lifting the other days. Gaining muscle makes a huge impact on weight loss as the muscles burn more calories during and after workouts than if not being trained.

I too have read that if you are doing a lot of cardio, then you need to eat a lot of calories, because cardio not only burns calories but also stimulates your matabolism to be more efficient, hence too much cardio can slow down metabolism and in turn result in more retention of fats.
"You don't want to do both weights and cardio on the same day."
So is it bad to do 1/2 hr cardio and 1/2 hr weight training every day? I think I will try to make my cardio sessions from 1/2 hr to 1 hr then and alternate it with weights.

Weight lifting should only be done approximately every other day - this is because your muscles need time to relax and gain mass in between each work out. AS a matter of fact, when you complete your weight lifting your muscles haven't stopped working! So give them time in between each workout (24 hours) so they can do their thing. When I don't do my weight lifting that's when I'll fit in my cardio. Ofcourse my schedule isn't that perfect and I don't do that everyday. Cardio and weight training on the same day isn't a big deal. It's not I-deal but it's not a big deal. The key is to do the cardio first. Then - you'll have your heart rate picked up nicely and it'll make a huge difference. As for the amount of cadio a week it should be about every other time you go to the gym. So .. the days you do your weight lifting. The change in work outs will keep your body surprised EVERY time you workout, so it will always make a positive impact on your body. Try throwing in Tae bo or Yoga on the days you don't do cardio. Always remember you ask your doctor first though, everybodys different and you can injure yourself... etc. I'm not a professional I just like to sound like one... hee hee Keep Up The AWESOME Work EVERYBODY!

Hmmmm...it aaaaaaall depends on your goals and fitness level.

Cardio everyday is perfectly fine, one hour long cardio sessions are perfectly fine...weights after hour long cardio sessions are fine too. What might vary is at what intensity you do your cardio at when you plan on lifting afterwards...and I wouldn't do weights everyday unless I was working different areas...even then it's time consuming to do everyday!! LOL

Like Sarah mentioned, it's the way you "equip" your body before you go about doing this. If your starting off, no, I wouldn't push someone to do an hour long cardio and then weights...or even an hour long of cardio alone.
It'll come with time IF it's your goal.

Great topic, and it's got me curious. I do 30 minutes of aerobics or dancing in the morning, and then I go to work for 4 hours, come home, and do 30 minutes of weight training in the afternoons (but only 4 times a week). I read somewhere that if you exercise early in the morning before eating breakfast, you will burn what calories you had leftover from the previous day, thereby not burning what you just ate for breakfast.

ALSO - doing cardio early in the morning will get your metabolism going so that you can continually metabolize FASTER throughout the day, and when you finally do get around to doing weight workouts, you will be that much more ready to do so.

I agree with what others have said that it depends on your goals. I started out doing no weight training at all and only doing Pilates 3 times a week at 30 minutes each. I worked up to this training I'm doing now and I've definitely seen results - my arms and legs are much more defined and I hope they continue in that direction.

Cardio to me should be done for losing weight at least 3 times a week 45 mins at a time and weight lifting should be done 2-3 times a week at least 30 mins since muscle takes up less space. This would be the average person working out six days a week doing every other day cardio, weights etc. Hope this helps you out.

By the way 30 min of cardio really is better than none but for the most part once you hit your plateau you really need to up the anni to 45-60 at 30 your only going to maintain.

Great info for someone who loves to workout in the morning but never does since she loves sleep more. I really enjoy the peace in my house at 5:30 in the morning and since your info is really encouraging to me I believe that will be my inititive to wake up early and get rid of some unwanted pounds. Thanks so much. Keep up the good work I also love the results of my arms and legs especially 40 pounds from now.