3 days a week balanced cardio and weights

BlackJack96

The title is my tl:dr question. Ideally I’d like to do c25k with some added weight training with some barbell exercises.

Here’s the longer story: I’m in my early 40s 5’8 and around 200 pounds now. I’d like to get closer to 180 or so but more muscular. I was 230 and I lost 30 pounds. About a year ago I started Stronglifts and gained 10-15 pounds (mostly muscle) and felt great. I got pretty sick this winter (flu, strep and pneumonia in a 3 week span) and now I’m back to 200 pounds but deconditioned since I lost both fat and muscle.

I really liked stronglifts since i felt great and got really strong. I also really liked doing barbell excercises over dumbells and machines. However, I found I ate more and gained weight (mostly muscle). I also was too exhausted to do any cardio.

I guess what I’d like to do is something like c25k but “strong lifts lite” where I do some lifting to build some muscle and tone up but not where that’s the primary focus. Does something like this exist?

AnnPT77

There's a great thread here about strength training programs of many types. (Despite the title, it even includes bodyweight programs.) Here's the link:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1

If you can't find one that seems to fit your needs by reviewing that thread, that would be an excellent place to ask follow-up questions.

Best wishes!

DancingMoosie

You can do stronglifts 3 days and run 3 days on alternate days. My suggestion would be to not increase the weights every workout. Find a happy medium of weights vs running where you can maintain both. Once you get there, then you can begin to increase again.