Balance: Cardio AND Weight Training
Indialove901
Posts: 71 Member
When I started exercising I fell in love with walking. Not only was it physical exercise but it was mental as well. Months go by and after doing some research, I decided to pick up some weights. Guess who fell in love again and decided to kick cardio to the curb?! Bad idea. Fast forward to today after weeks of battling with myself I decided to do what’s best for me mentally. I’m going to start back going for my morning stroll (light cardio) and then come home and lift. Today was day 1 and I feel GREAT!!! While this is backwards to most people who are looking to lose fat, I’ll just have to see how it works for me. Wish me luck! 🤞🏾
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Replies
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You lose fat with a deficit. The balance of the two in exercising is to help burn calories to make deficit easier, but overall it's for health aspect.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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@ninerbuff Correct! I think I’m just overwhelming myself thinking about when I should do what exercises. With the right diet and exercise I should be fine.5
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Doing both is great for your health, in different ways. I think you have a good plan.
Like niner says, fat loss is about managing the calorie intake to be a sensibly moderate amount below calorie expenditure (from a combination of daily life and exercise, plus just the calorie expenditure from being alive in the first place). Get cardio & strength exercise; if needed, lose fat at a gradual, sustainable rate: Perfect.2 -
Exercise needs to be meaningful to you otherwise why bother. Stick to what you like but challenge yourself with other work out types like circuit training and HITT intervals when you are ready. Weight training is very important and should not be skipped so glad you are combining.
Best of luck3 -
I do cardio daily and lift or strength train 2-4x/wk depending on what kind of strength I do. I don't know what you think is backwards. There's no reason to not incorporate both types of exercise.5
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But that's subjective. People SHOULD exercise regardless if meaningful to them or not just for physical health and wellbeing. It's currently part of the reason why we have such a high overweight population now. Exercise ISN'T meaningful enough to them so they don't do it, but should to help use overconsumed calories and keep their muscles active.Exercise needs to be meaningful to you otherwise why bother.
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
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You don’t need to worry about walking the same day as lifting weights. Walking is a low intensity, lower impact cardio exercise. If it was a HIIT session or high intensity cardio then you would need to treat that like a weight lifting day and allow for a day’s recovery before lifting weights. For example, if you were focusing on running a race you would only lift weights 1 or 2 days a week with the the same weights but less volume of sets and frequency of sessions each week. In other words just enough lifting to maintain current strength. Instead you would use the extra time and energy to focus on your running training and recovery.1
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@Beautyofdreams Got it! Great advice.1
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Lift for muscle, cardio for weight loss, and watch your calories when doing both. It's a tough balance for sure. I cut calories and walked 4 miles every day for 6 weeks and I lost 18 lbs, but it was a mix of muscle and fat. I also gained it all back because I lost my focus. What has been working for me is 3 days of strength training, 3 days of HIIT Cardio and a day of rest every week. On the days I lift, I go a little heavier on the calories and carbs to give me some extra strength. On the Cardio days I really try and stick to my calorie goal religiously and push for a nice sweaty, hard to breathe / speak workout.
What few people advertise / realize is that the presence of lean muscle mass automatically increases our metabolism and makes losing weight easier. Also, healthy muscle mass will not dwindle due to a calorie deficit on days you do cardio only. Your body will naturally target your fat reserves first.
Cardio every day with a calorie deficit will lead to weight loss, but it will also lead to losing muscle and fat together.
Good luck to you!!2 -
@CTtugboating Thanks for your response. So you never do both in the same day? What I did this week (Sunday and today) was a mile walk - moderate pave according to MFP and some upper body weight training - the heaviest dumbbells I use are 20 lb, so super light. As for my diet, I have drastically increased protein and veggies because at first I wasn’t eating enough. I still need to get a grip on my snacking because while some are healthy I do get carried away and then I don’t want to eat real meals. It’s a journey but I’m not giving up. 😊💪🏾2
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Indialove901 wrote: »@CTtugboating Thanks for your response. So you never do both in the same day? What I did this week (Sunday and today) was a mile walk - moderate pave according to MFP and some upper body weight training - the heaviest dumbbells I use are 20 lb, so super light. As for my diet, I have drastically increased protein and veggies because at first I wasn’t eating enough. I still need to get a grip on my snacking because while some are healthy I do get carried away and then I don’t want to eat real meals. It’s a journey but I’m not giving up. 😊💪🏾
It's viable to do both cardio and strength on the same day, or to do some form of both every day (with variations on alternating days, say). But that's not usually a great place to *start*, as a relative beginner.
For fitness, recovery is where the magic happens. Recovery (rest) lets the body's self-repair happen between workouts. Everyone, of every fitness level, needs adequate recovery in order to make fitness progress. But the exact specifics of how that looks can be very, very different for a very fit person who's advanced with respect to the particular kinds of training they do, as compared with a relative beginner.
Think of recovery between workouts as the point where you're pulling back on the bow-string, so that an arrow can shoot forwards. It looks like you're not moving toward your goal of moving forward, making progress, but you really are.
You want to avoid a scenario where your body is overstressed all the time, where you feel fatigued, constantly sore, overtired, etc. There are many signs, but they're subtle.
Generally, for a relative beginner, it can be good, as you say, to alternate cardio days with strength training days (depending a little on the specifics of either exercise), because you recover from your cardio on the strength days, and recover from the strength on the cardio days. (If you go super hard at both, or use specific exercises that overstress the same body systems, that might not be true.) A true beginner might even intersperse some days with no formal exercise a couple of times a week or more. A true beginner probably wants to keep the intensity lower at first, same for duration of workout sessions.
Then, as you get fitter/stronger, you can think about increasing the frequency, duration, intensity or exercise type. IMO, the sweet spot is where you have just a little bit of challenge in your exercise sessions, but you don't feel dragged out or fatigued later. (There might be just a few minutes of "whew!" feeling right after the exercise, but in general, you want to feel energized for the rest of the day, not burned out.) With new strength exercise, it's normal to have quite sore muscles at first, but after a few sessions, that should not be major soreness, more like just a nice, taut, "I've worked out" feeling vs. soreness that has you groaning and limping. That latter should not generally happen, after the first few sessions with a particular exercise type.
Also, I'll mention that exercise timing (especially timing of cardio vs. strength) may someday need to vary in specific ways, once you have more specific fitness goals. It's not important to worry hard about that right now, but, for example, a competitive cyclist (high cardio, but strong) would schedule their exercise program differently from a powerlifter (high strength, enough cardio to be healthy). To develop basic fitness, balance is key.
I'm a li'l ol' lady, age 65. I regularly do strength and cardio on the same day, sometimes two sessions of different kinds of cardio, one of strength. Thing is, I've been very active (even while still obese) for nearly 20 years. What someone can/should do after 20 years is way different than what someone would do as a beginner . . . and what I do now is way, way different from what I did when I started getting more active in my 40s. Also, my exercise goals are more on the cardio side, though I need some strength, too. (I'm a rower.)
There really aren't hard and fast rules about scheduling exercise, though there are some rules of thumb. For now, when you're just getting started, I think the best rule of thumb is what I said before: Challenge yourself a little manageable bit every session, but pay attention to how you feel and don't let persistent fatigue from overdoing overtake your energy level. Let yourself recover, so you can make progress.
Best wishes with your fitness!7 -
Then, as you get fitter/stronger, you can think about increasing the frequency, duration, intensity or exercise type. IMO, the sweet spot is where you have just a little bit of challenge in your exercise sessions, but you don't feel dragged out or fatigued later. (There might be just a few minutes of "whew!" feeling right after the exercise, but in general, you want to feel energized for the rest of the day, not burned out.) With new strength exercise, it's normal to have quite sore muscles at first, but after a few sessions, that should not be major soreness, more like just a nice, taut, "I've worked out" feeling vs. soreness that has you groaning and limping. That latter should not generally happen, after the first few sessions with a particular exercise type.
Nicely phrased!3 -
@AnnPT77 Very well said! This week since I’ve added cardio back to my regimen, I feel really good. I’ll pay attention to how I feel going forward and make adjustments as needed. Thanks so much!2
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I do a little bit of both3
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I do both. I swim most days for at least an hour, often longer. I’ve started doing bodypump classes three times a week and I also try and fit in a couple
Of aqua HIIT classes and yoga. All of these I really enjoy so that really helps with my motivation to get down to the gym and get stuff done! 🙂2 -
CTtugboating wrote: »Lift for muscle, cardio for weight loss, and watch your calories when doing both. It's a tough balance for sure. I cut calories and walked 4 miles every day for 6 weeks and I lost 18 lbs, but it was a mix of muscle and fat. I also gained it all back because I lost my focus. What has been working for me is 3 days of strength training, 3 days of HIIT Cardio and a day of rest every week. On the days I lift, I go a little heavier on the calories and carbs to give me some extra strength. On the Cardio days I really try and stick to my calorie goal religiously and push for a nice sweaty, hard to breathe / speak workout.
What few people advertise / realize is that the presence of lean muscle mass automatically increases our metabolism and makes losing weight easier. Also, healthy muscle mass will not dwindle due to a calorie deficit on days you do cardio only. Your body will naturally target your fat reserves first.
Cardio every day with a calorie deficit will lead to weight loss, but it will also lead to losing muscle and fat together.
Good luck to you!!
While I don't completely disagree with what you wrote there's a few points I think could be stated differently. First, extra muscle does burn more calories but it is very minimal. Many times I hear this advice phrased like it is some kind of magic bullet that will allow you to eat so much more. In reality a few pounds of muscle gained (and fat lost at the same time - not easy) will net you an extra Oreo or 2 per day.
Also, diet is king. Cardio allows you to eat more but it is possible to gain weight and run 60 miles per week (ask me how I know
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To the OP - Do both. I run and lift. I run more when I'm training and I lift more when I have no races on my calendar. At no time to I stop doing both. Good luck.3 -
CTtugboating wrote: »Lift for muscle, cardio for weight loss, and watch your calories when doing both. It's a tough balance for sure. I cut calories and walked 4 miles every day for 6 weeks and I lost 18 lbs, but it was a mix of muscle and fat. I also gained it all back because I lost my focus. What has been working for me is 3 days of strength training, 3 days of HIIT Cardio and a day of rest every week. On the days I lift, I go a little heavier on the calories and carbs to give me some extra strength. On the Cardio days I really try and stick to my calorie goal religiously and push for a nice sweaty, hard to breathe / speak workout.
What few people advertise / realize is that the presence of lean muscle mass automatically increases our metabolism and makes losing weight easier. Also, healthy muscle mass will not dwindle due to a calorie deficit on days you do cardio only. Your body will naturally target your fat reserves first.
Cardio every day with a calorie deficit will lead to weight loss, but it will also lead to losing muscle and fat together.
Good luck to you!!
While I don't completely disagree with what you wrote there's a few points I think could be stated differently. First, extra muscle does burn more calories but it is very minimal. Many times I hear this advice phrased like it is some kind of magic bullet that will allow you to eat so much more. In reality a few pounds of muscle gained (and fat lost at the same time - not easy) will net you an extra Oreo or 2 per day.
Also, diet is king. Cardio allows you to eat more but it is possible to gain weight and run 60 miles per week (ask me how I know ).
To the OP - Do both. I run and lift. I run more when I'm training and I lift more when I have no races on my calendar. At no time to I stop doing both. Good luck.
Yes to this: The whole post.
To the bolded: IMU, a pound of muscle at rest is believed to burn about 6 calories per day, while a pound of fat - which is also metabolically active - is believed to burn about 2 calories per day at rest. So, if one loses a pound of fat, gains a pound of muscle, that's 4 extra calories per day, metabolically. EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, a.k.a. afterburn) is not a huge thing numerically, either, despite the gee-whiz blogosphere's trumpeting the difference in percentage terms. 🙄)
It's going to take a lot of added muscle to burn even one Oreo. With 1-2 pounds of muscle gain per month a really good result under ideal conditions (but without illegal/dangerous drugs in the picture), increased BMR (metabolism) via body composition is a long term investment, far from a quick fix.
I do suspect that people with more muscle mass and less fat mass are likely to move more in daily life, simply because it's easier and more fun for them than for fat people (true for me, for sure). That burns calories, too, but that's not "improved metabolism", it's moving more - a thing fat people can work to do, too, either exercise or non-exercise. ** Further, fat people get numerically more caloric benefit from moving more, compared to thin people: Takes more calories to move a heavier body around.
Also, the cardio part is true, too. I was doing plenty of pretty intense cardio 6 days most days a week for a dozen years, training to compete at a short-endurance sport (on-water rowing), while staying at an obese bodyweight. It's super easy to eat that few hundred extra calories daily, and stay fat. It's not very many Oreos at all, typically. (NB: I don't like or eat Oreos. 😉) Someone who naturally eats close to but a little above their maintenance calories may be able to turn that around and lose weight via exercise, but for a lot of us, attention to food intake is going to be necessary (sure was for me).
** Ideas about that discussed in this thread: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10610953/neat-improvement-strategies-to-improve-weight-loss/p12 -
Like you OP, I don't want to sacrifice cardio - in my case running - for lifting. I run for my mental health and it's also the majority of my social life currently, but I love the strong feeling I get from lifting. Giving up my personal training when we moved away two years ago is the only thing I regret about the move; I stopped training completely and ate more, instead, putting on a good 3 stone (and I was overweight anyway) but more importantly, losing that feeling of strength.
I've been running since November, and running for an hour is within my comfort zone. I figure I'll maintain that, rather than specifically trying to improve the duration or speed/distance. I'll start lifting again soon (waiting on equipment) and ignoring a bit of soreness initially, I think I'll see my running improve as my strength improves because we have all the hills and glute strength is key.
I am unlikely to do both on the same day because I don't like committing so much time to working out. I'd rather do an hour every day than two hours in one day and nothing the next, for example. This is compounded by a healthcare package I have, where you get benefits for certain types/frequencies of activity; this steers me towards cardio and few/no rest days in a week. This is where the concept of an 'active rest day' comes in I suppose, where running to a level the body is already well accustomed to is fine. I might cope/recover better if I do cardio and weights on the same day then have a complete day off, so that could be an interesting experiment.
I'm also going to be trying to maintain a calorie deficit as I still have quite a bit to lose. I'm expecting that at some point, I'll either have more hungry days than not, or I'll have more hard workouts than not - by that I mean the ones that are a real slog/struggle. That to me is the signal that I will need to ease off on something and prioritise for whatever my goal is at the time.1 -
@Littlemizzmochrie Swimming is great exercise!!!
@dewd2 I couldn’t agree more. My diet is really what I need to focus on tweaking. While I’m seeing subtle changes in my body, I know that if my diet was balanced and under control then I would see a huge difference by now.1 -
@DD265 I can definitely relate. I love feeling stronger because I can remember when lifting 10 pounds was a strain for me. It’s been a week and a half since I’ve added cardio back into my routine and I feel great! Good luck!1
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