Mixing Strength Training and Cardio

bioklutz

Does anyone enjoy both cardio and strength training? How do you mix the two? Do you do cardio on rest days? Do you do both cardio and strength training on the same day and do nothing on rest days?

A little background about me: For the last 5 years or so I have been doing cardio only. I did 30 minutes 5-7 days a week. I might not always enjoy it - but I do it because I feel good after. I sleep better. I am not winded going up stairs. I have more stamina and energy. I lost weight and ate more.

So fast forward to this year. I turned 40, I gained 2 pounds. I had been maintaining at 110 for several years. It was a real gain of 2 pounds - I monitored it. In any case, I made an account. I dropped the 2 pounds easily. I intentionally dropped a couple more pounds because Thanksgiving and Christmas were coming up. I am at 102/103 at the moment. This weight would have looked sickly on my younger self. I have definitely lost muscle mass and I do fear losing bone mass.

Thanks to the advice of this forum I got the book New Rules of Lifting for Life. I recently finished it and started yesterday. Yesterday I felt fine afterwards but today I am a little sore. I lowered my resistance on my bike and did 30 minutes. I am wondering if that is a mistake? If I am sore should I not do anything? The book did briefly mention of doing cardio (if you wanted) on rest days.

dougpconnell219

The only day I skip the cardio is leg day, as they are jelly after that.

Cherimoose

bioklutz wrote: »

The book did briefly mention of doing cardio (if you wanted) on rest days.

I agree.

Light exercise actually helps improve soreness.

Personally i don't do true cardio, i mix some metabolic exercises in with my strength training, like medicine ball slams, battling rope drills, jumping drills, etc. But since you're in the learning phase, i do not recommend this, nor would i do cardio prior to lifting. No music either, just focus on your form.

bioklutz

Opps! I did 20 minutes of cardio yesterday...After I finished everything I thought I probably should have skipped it. Mostly because of how long it took me to do everything. I read the exercise right before doing. I would get into position and look at the pictures. Read it again. Than do it.

Out of curiosity, what is the reason for not mixing the 2 on the same day? Focus and performance?

Currently I am thinking of doing the following:
Day 1: Strength Training
Day 2: Cardio
Day 3: Cardio
Day 4; Strength Training
Day 5: Cardio
Day 6: Cardio
Day 7: nothing or cardio or if I skipped one of the previous days everything would just shift a day

sijomial

Alternate days. Typical week is three sessions of weight training and three sessions of cardio and one rest or light activity day.
Cardio intensity and duration varies depending on training goals at the time.

crashchamp

I personally lift Mon/Wed/Fri all full body routines. I do Cardio on Sunday/Thursday. This gives me two complete rest days a week. This seems to be working well for me. On lifting days I am to tired to add cardio so I do it on non lifting days.

bioklutz

Thank you all for the advice. Since I am new to strength training I am going to start with twice a week. After a couple weeks or a month I will try increasing it to 3 times a week and see how that goes.

The strength goal I have is to be able to comfortably lift my 50 pound dog

Cherimoose

bioklutz wrote: »

Out of curiosity, what is the reason for not mixing the 2 on the same day? Focus and performance?

Yes. It's safer to lift when you're not fatigued from doing cardio, plus you can push your sets farther too.
If you feel up to doing some cardio after lifting, that's fine. But judging from your stats, you seem to need strength training more than cardio.

By taking 4 days off between lifting sessions, you may find you get more sore than usual, and being very sore isn't good. I would lift every 2-3 days, and simply make the 3rd session of the week a reduced workout - for example, half the prescribed number of sets per muscle group.

Glad you took my suggestion about the book. I'm curious to hear what you think of it after a month or 2.

rickkaram

Try HIIT Training for both caro and strength

allen_pauley

Thanks I will, any recommendations for plan to start with?

McCloud33

I've done SL5x5 lifting on M/W/F and run on Tu/Th/Sa for the last 6 months and counting. and had good success. Just hit the 1000 lb club lifting before Christmas so the cardio hasn't affected my lifting that much.