how long to stay on treadmill to improve fitness?

[Elite_Fry]

whats the best amount of time you should run for to improve fitness? ive been running for 15 minutes @ speed 12..
should i be going less but faster? or more but slower?
i do this 3 times a week, followed by jump rope then swimming

 

[Elite_Fry]

and is it really necessary to do a leg workout if your doing this much cardio? cos you work your legs a lot.
my legs are pretty big and im not really interested in getting them any bigger. so do i need to do them?

 

[Cobin]

If your trying to improve endurance, and nut burn fat, run sprints that works well.


I still train my legs when I do cardio, thats upto you though.

 

[Elite_Fry]

bump

 

[Haz]

To improve your fitness, you need to run at a pace so that your heart rate is above 140 beats per minute. The duration of your training depends on your starting fitness level. If you already have good endurance conditioning, you will need to train much longer then someone who is a couch potato.

A good starting point, is to try and shoot for 20 minutes, and work up from there. Try and train about 4-5 times a week, and keep increasing the duration of your runs every week. You'll be surprised at how fast your body improves. Within a month I went from being able to barely run 2 miles, to knocking back 7 miles like it was nothing.