Cardio/Strength Ratio

morganpalmer9

I started working out/eating healthy a year ago. I started at 142 lbs (I'm a 5'4 female) and have dropped down to 124. At this point, I don't care about my weight and focus more on if I look in shape.

While I do want to tone up my arms and legs, I'm doing pretty well there already. What I'm concerned about is my stomach. I still have love handles and some lower back fat, and a bulge below my belly button. I've kept up with cardio for months now (around 40 mins a day 5 days a week) without much luck getting my stomach smaller and I've recently started adding in weights with the hope it could help my stomach, and I've also started doing more training for my arms and legs as well.

I should mention, I am still eating healthy, weighing my food and tracking my calorie intake, which is still at a deficit.

I'm wondering, is it okay to cut down my cardio time (40 mins) if I am weight training? I've started doing 25 minutes of cardio and another 30-35 of hard strength training. I'm worried I won't lose weight if I cut down what my body is used to for cardio, but I also think its clear that just running endlessly isn't working for me any longer.

nordlead2005

If you want to lose the love handles, then you have to lose the fat. To lose the fat, you need to either eat less than you burn, or maintain and do a lot of resistance training (as in terms of months/years, not hours in a week, as 3hr/week is sufficient for a beginner)

You don't need to do any cardio to lose fat. If you want to do more strength training and want to cut the cardio to make time for it, then go right ahead. You will probably have to reduce the amount of food that you eat to accommodate the lower calorie expenditure.

cwolfman13

30 minutes 5x per week of cardio is pretty much the minimum recommendation of the AHA for general cardiovascular health...so I'd do at least that. Beyond that, I greatly value my cardiovascular fitness so I generally spend around five to six hours per week on my bike...more if I'm working towards an event or something.

As far as lifting goes, my programming is full body 3x per week which generally translates to about 60 minutes per session. The last thing you want to do is go in and just do a bunch of isolation work...that's about the least bang for your time buck I can think of.

nordlead2005

cwolfman13 wrote: »

30 minutes 5x per week of cardio is pretty much the minimum recommendation of the AHA for general cardiovascular health...so I'd do at least that. Beyond that, I greatly value my cardiovascular fitness so I generally spend around five to six hours per week on my bike...more if I'm working towards an event or something.

As far as lifting goes, my programming is full body 3x per week which generally translates to about 60 minutes per session. The last thing you want to do is go in and just do a bunch of isolation work...that's about the least bang for your time buck I can think of.

just to clarify, the AHA recommendation is the same as the minimum CDC recommendation which means that 2.5 hours of moderate cardio is fulfilled by fast walking. They give an alternative of "intense" cardio 3x/week for 75 minutes total. So, if the OP is doing something more intense than a fast walk, then cutting it to 125 minutes/week is still fine and better than the minimum recommendation.

robertw486

Alter either or both to find your best progress towards your goals.

And to toss it out there, you can somewhat combine the two and work towards ab based exercises doing circuit style stuff which might give some benefit to both the cardio and strength side via compromise. This could help burn off some fat which exposes the ab muscles more, while also working those muscles that will be exposed.

Not being able to spot reduce fat is a bummer, but at times working on the muscle under the fat does alter appearance in a positive way too.

rileyes

Stability work can help strengthen your core. And a strong core can help with your cardio activity. And compound lifts are great for the core --> squat, bench press, overhead press, row, deadlift. These are whole body lifts that can help build strength, muscle, stability... I like to add hip thrusts and rotations to my compound days.

On active rest days I may do cardio and/or team sports or bodyweight circuits with some light band work.

I started with SL5x5 to learn the movements with good form while tapping into my strength potential. I still use the same compound lifts but at different sets/reps/weights.

loulamb7

cwolfman13 wrote: »

As far as lifting goes, my programming is full body 3x per week which generally translates to about 60 minutes per session. The last thing you want to do is go in and just do a bunch of isolation work...that's about the least bang for your time buck I can think of.

Focus on a beginner's progressive overload program that incorporates the main compound lifts, squats, bench press, bent-over rows, overhead press and dead lifts. A 3 days a week, full body routine should take about 45-60 minutes per workout. Fill in with the cardio on alternate days. Maintain the calorie deficit to manage weight, body fat loss.