Strength or Endurance

marybowldseddington

Is it important to continue to build both at the same time? I have recently started stronglifts about 3-4 weeks and started out very light but am making progress. Started at 35 lb for squats and now am up to 55..However I backed off of going to a P900x style class at the Y that I was going to on Monday nights. I went last night and where I used to be able to go without feeling completly out of breath last night was awful. We did sixty squats in a row with just body weight and my thighs felt like they were on fire.

So I am building strength but my endurance seems to be lacking...should I be having a balance of both?

My main goal right now is to loose weight. My goal is 30 lbs or a size 6 whichever comes first. I am 5 ft tall and 152 now. Started in March working out period and have lost 10 lbs and five inches in my waist.

ChrisLindsay9

Good question. Bumping to hopefully hear what people say.

I'm in the middle of a strength-building program with a goal of setting new PRs. This is the fourth week and my trainer has me doing more endurance stuff (he dropped the weight a bit on my main lifts and accessory work, and added more sets and reps) this week. I would call it a deload, but the extra work has been a butt-kicker. So he obviously feels that it's important to build/maintain some degree of endurance. But I don't think this is typical of a stronglifts program? I could be wrong though.

kavanaghev

I do a 30s/10s interval strength routine every 4th lifting day. The weights are much less (I normally squat 100+, but on these days I just use a 25lb kettlebel) and it's an hour long, and the focus is on endurance. I may change it to every 3rd lifting day, but I generally like this format. It helps me to not get bored with my lifting routine and it kicks my *kitten* every week (I also make it just slightly harder every week). It's also the only time I do focused ab work like crunches or whatever.

I like making strength gains, but for me personally, fitness is more about being able to do normal life better, and my normal life is playing with my kid, which takes more endurance than majorly heavy lifting. So I think it is a choice you make for the goals you want to achieve.

Hexahedra

I like making strength gains, but for me personally, fitness is more about being able to do normal life better, and my normal life is playing with my kid, which takes more endurance than majorly heavy lifting. So I think it is a choice you make for the goals you want to achieve.

I agree wholeheartedly. Endurance enables you to tackle your day with higher level of energy and enthusiasm. Strength for me is a bonus of muscle building in the course of losing fat. This is why my lifting takes a backseat to my 5K training.

ninerbuff

Depends on what your overall goal is and how either are connected to your life. For instance someone who may be in a job with some physical labor daily would probably do better with endurance training. Someone who's sedentary at work, could use both. Someone who's always on their feet walking around (waitress) would do better with strength.
I have clients who hate cardio, so we don't focus on endurance type movements. We do SOME cardio, but if they aren't going to do endurance events or wrestle or play sports, then it's not something to focus on.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
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Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

rick_po

Is it important to continue to build both at the same time? I have recently started stronglifts about 3-4 weeks and started out very light but am making progress. Started at 35 lb for squats and now am up to 55..However I backed off of going to a P900x style class at the Y that I was going to on Monday nights. I went last night and where I used to be able to go without feeling completly out of breath last night was awful. We did sixty squats in a row with just body weight and my thighs felt like they were on fire.

So I am building strength but my endurance seems to be lacking...should I be having a balance of both?

I doubt your endurance has been harmed. It's just you hadn't recovered from your Stronglifts session yet.

I think endurance and strength are both important and eventually you should be train for both. But starting a strength program is really really hard. Until you adjust to the intense strength workout, you're going to find other exercise very challenging. That's why a lot of these beginner programs recommend you don't do any exercise at all on your off days. It's not that cardio on off days is a bad idea, it's just that it's too much work for a new lifter.

I think you should still do cardio work, but keep it light, and ramp up as you feel you can. P90x might be too much. Maybe a 30 minute stroll around the block on a sunny day would be a better place to start.

cwolfman13

Is it important to continue to build both at the same time? I have recently started stronglifts about 3-4 weeks and started out very light but am making progress. Started at 35 lb for squats and now am up to 55..However I backed off of going to a P900x style class at the Y that I was going to on Monday nights. I went last night and where I used to be able to go without feeling completly out of breath last night was awful. We did sixty squats in a row with just body weight and my thighs felt like they were on fire.

So I am building strength but my endurance seems to be lacking...should I be having a balance of both?

My main goal right now is to loose weight. My goal is 30 lbs or a size 6 whichever comes first. I am 5 ft tall and 152 now. Started in March working out period and have lost 10 lbs and five inches in my waist.

My guess, as someone who did Starting Strength for some time...I doubt your endurance has been lost...you're just not recovered from your heavy lifting when you go do the boot camp class. Honestly, if you're actually doing a strength program like SL or SS and once you get to where it's pretty heavy, it's really taxing on the body.

When I'm doing strength training and really working on strength gains, pretty much that's what my fitness life revolves around. What little cardio I do is in support of my strength gains and is done at a level as to not interfere with recovery from my lifts. I recently switched to a split routine due to the fact that I could no longer recover in 48 hours from doing squats 3x weekly along with switching off between deads and power cleans every other workout. I couldn't do any running or anything on my off lift days because it severely interfered with my recovery and my legs were just jelly anyway.

The routine I do now sacrifices those fast, linear strength gains and my strength gains come much slower...but being a split routine, I'm a lot fresher and can balance out my strength training with other endurance type activities much better. I have my running legs back and feel a lot more balanced in my fitness approach.

When you research various programs and routines, you really need to sit down and identify fitness specific goals. If you primary goal is to get strong, very, very fast then SS or SL are optimal programs...but once you truly get heavy, it's pretty much 80-90% of your workout routine because you need everything you have just to recover from those lifts. If muscular endurance is your primary goal then heavy lifting is going to ultimately interfere with that goal...you really can't do both optimally. If you take a balanced approach, you're going to be more balanced obviously...but you're going to optimize neither. You need to sit down and address fitness goals and make them independent of weight loss/calorie burn, etc.

jackflak

With that being said-what would be a good mix of strength building and endurance work?

jimmmer

With that being said-what would be a good mix of strength building and endurance work?

This routine is a compromise between some strength, some size and some endurance:

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=147447933

For instance by the end of each cycle you've built up doing 2x12 with what was your previous 10RM with a 90s rest between sets. That's a test of endurance, I can attest.

froeschli

I only just started lifting, and i refused to give up my running for it. doing both seems to be working fine for me - i make progress in both, maybe not as much as if i focused on just one thing, but it's enough for me.

marybowldseddington

Thanks for the replies.

The reason I picked strong lifts is that I want to loose weight and hate cardio. I love lifting weights and have six kids at home so my time in the gym has to be used effectively in a short amount of time.

I will keep on with the stonglifts and try to do more stretching classes such as yoga or pilates on my off days.