For those lifting, do you do cardio too?

ydyms

Or do you only lift? How much time do you spend each day/week?

ydyms

That's fair. 2-3 times a week vs daily cardio like I'm used to..

19gabriela01

Man how much I hate steady cardio. But yeah I must do it too. 10 minutes warm up before every strenght training. Usually run, elliptical or stairclimber on leg days. And around 20 minutes after Prefer hiit, sprints, skipping rope, box jumps, kettlebell swings.

sijomial

I do loads of CV exercise, especially in summer when effectively I'm a cyclist who lifts.

Summer is typically 2 x 1 hour CV sessions in the gym and weekend rides up to 100+miles (more typically 60'ish). Will also do 3 x 1 hour strength/weight sessions a week - nearly exclusively upper body to save my legs.

Winter I'm more a lifter who cycles as I can't tolerate cold weather cycling very well and don't enjoy it. 3 x 1hr weights, 3 x 1hr cardio is typical but do some longer sessions for endurance base building. Tend to mostly use cycle trainers but elliptical and rowing machine also included for variety.

Mycophilia

The only cardio I get is when I'm doing high-rep squats and deadlifts.

dhimaan

When not lifting heavy. Maybe 2-3 times a week.

HealthyVitamins

lift 4 days a week, have active rest days 3 days a week, where I will do 30 minutes of HIIT

DancingMoosie

I lift 2 days (mostly 5x5 with some accessories), then do 30-45 min. cardio or circuits in between, with a longish run on Sunday, if possible.

riffraff2112

I do both, details vary from week to week. I rarely miss lifting days but cardio is a real mix bag. Intense cardio is limited to a few times a month however as I find it takes away from my strength and I need two or three days to recover properly.

rainbow198

I do cardio daily. I walk 2 - 5 miles everyday...sometimes it's LISS, all brisk walking or brisk walking with sprinting intervals. Depends on how I feel. I also jump rope and do plyometrics for cardio.

Regarding strength training I lift heavy and/or do body weight work 4 times a week.

My active rest day is walking at a moderate pace for about 2 miles and Pilates.

Panthers89

My goal is to lift 3X weekly and intense cardio at least 2X during the week (treadmill and HIIT RPM Spin), and I will occasionally add to the end of my weights workout some cardio on the treadmill. I also wear a Fitbit and try to get my goal of 5 miles on my legs 6 days per week, whether it is power walking or running, just trying to keep moving.

lisalsd1

I either run intervals after lifting (25 minutes-ish) or walk for (35 minutes-ish) on the treadmill. Lately, it has been mostly walking. I lift 5 days/week (usually takes 45 minutes-ish; depends on the day/lift of the day).

FitGirl0123

I just lift right now. Sometimes I might hit the stairs just for an extra glute workout, but I won't add cardio until I'm ready to cut for my competition. I recommend a good combo of lifting and cardio for general, overall fitness though.

DaddieCat

I do relatively short runs (no more than 5 miles) on my rest days when I'm not lifting... that is, unless I feel too beat to do it and need a full rest day for some reason.

having a higher V02 max helps me improve lifts by ensuring that I'm not running out of breath or something like that while I'm lifting. *shrug* lots of ways to go about it.

KaiUneeda

As crazy it sounds to some, I just realized how much I actually enjoy running longer distances. I used to run a mile and stop, but now I am currently training for a bunch of 5ks. I run about 5k 3 times a week, and HIIT 2 other times depending on how my legs feel (if not just a quick mile). I really hate the cold, as it demotivated horribly last year. This year I plan on embracing it and running in it as often as possible. I lift/do abs 3 to 4 days.

ReeseG4350

ydyms wrote: »

Or do you only lift? How much time do you spend each day/week?

ABSOLUTELY! I run 3-4 x a week and lifting/iso two-3 x a week, alternating days and totally depending upon how I feel on any given day. After having been grossly overweight, up and down the scales, for far too long, now finally losing the "mini-me" there is a lot of lost elasticity in the skin that needs to be restored as much as possible. That means tightening and toning underlying muscles. You can't do that by just running. And, you surely cannot erase the flab just by losing more weight. That just gives you more flab to deal with. So, for full fitness and health, you need to use a combination approach. Dieting, obviously, is at the forefront. Close second is exercise - as aggressive as you can tolerate without pushing yourself away from the workouts.

My sister used to argue that, if you need to lose twenty-five pounds, you don't need to exercise - just diet. My argument has always been - Yes. You can do it that way if you want. But, if you want to lose the weight AND be healthy?... That's a combination goal, so go for a combination approach.

She is also the one that used to argue that sugar is not bad. (A fact with which I do not disagree). Her mantra was always, "It's not the sugar, it's the company it keeps." In other words, Sugar is usually found in items full of fats and other, less than wholesome in large quantity, foods. So, keeping all of those to a minimum, sugar, in and of itself, is not really bad for you. Just be aware of how you are getting that sugar.

Tea? Coffee? Over a bowl of cereal? Probably not really so bad. In a cookie? Ehhh. Probably not the best.

Tedebearduff

ydyms wrote: »

Or do you only lift? How much time do you spend each day/week?

This is relevant to you and your goals.

I didn't do any cardio until I lost 97lbs, only ever lifted weights. I got stuck at 97lbs lost so I started cardio at that point...

Now I do it for cardiovascular health not to lose weight, I do 2 sessions a day, 1 in the AM - 30 minutes / 400 calories and in the PM I do 20 minutes / 300 calories.

Pawsforme

My goals are to do a minimum of 30 minutes of very brisk walking every day and a 30 to 60 minute session of lifting/stretching three times per week.

I don't understand why cardio/no cardio is even a thing. The most important muscle in the body is the heart. I also want to reap the other benefits of cardiovascular exercise. One example of that is protecting vision--my eye doctor swears the very best thing we can do to protect our vision as we age is to engage in regular cardiovascular exercise.

bluefish86

I lift 3x per week. I walk 3-5km everyday, but I don't really consider this cardio. I try to run 5km 1-2 times per week when I'm not lifting and the other 2 days I do Yoga.

ninerbuff

Yes. 30-45 minutes of moderate cardio.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

_benjammin

Mycophilia wrote: »

The only cardio I get is when I'm doing high-rep squats and deadlifts.

^This.
And for me, high reps = 8
Some casual swimming in the summer, that's about it, regardless of cutting or bulking.

auddii

I love to eat, so I do a fair amount of cardio. I do 4 days of lifting, 4 days of steady state cardio, and I do some simple walking most days as well. I end up trying to average about 20,000 steps a day (although that includes my elliptical time).

Facetious73

cardio as in steady state no. I will do sprints but I won't do more than 10 minutes 5 times a week. I used to be heavy into steady state and I can still probably do a 5 minute mile at 44 if I got back into it for a month but I lose far too much muscle when I train that way.

janjunie

my gym sessions are very random, sometimes I can go 5x's a week, other times it's just once a week. So in my situation I do 30 min of cardio and then head to the weights for 30 min and then occasionally I'll hit the treadmill and walk it off for 15 minutes after that. I know from where my body is right now that I can/should drop some cardio esp if I'm going 5 x's a week, but damn it's been hard.....I think I'm addicted.

FitPhillygirl

Before starting Insanity yesterday, I was doing 90 minutes of heavy lifting 2 days a week and 4 days of doing HIIT workouts. Now that I'm doing Insanity 6 days a week, I'm cutting my weightlifting back to 1 day a week.

ew_david

One day a week I run outside for about 30-40 minutes. I lift 4 days a week for about an hour each workout.

kami3006

I lift 4x a week for around 60 minutes and run once to twice a week for 3-3.5 miles.

USAFmaa

I lift twice a week and do cardio every day. I don't lift as much anymore, I'm more partial to body weight exercises. Pushups are a favorite. Used to hate the dickens out of them but now I like them .

Hornsby

3-5 hours a week in the winter. 8-12 hours per week in the summer.

ShellyBell999

Yes

Clarewho

Yes! It's essential to look after your heart. On lifting days (3 pw) I'll just do a 15 min warm up probably elliptical or rower and nothing after my weights. Outside of the gym, 2x 5k pw plus a longer run at the weekend. Oh yeah and just added a Pilates session as well but I don't really count that as exercise, more just a conditioning/posture thing. I find it works for me but I know more serious lifters are wary of too much cardio.