Help with excercise schedule.

Amandabelanger614

Hello -

I worked with a trainer at my fitness club, who suggested i do 4 days cardio and 2 days strength.
When i break up the strength training for every third day, the next day when i do cardio i am so sore that i don't push as hard as i normally would. Some weeks it works out that i can plan my rest day for the day after strength...

Does anyone have any tips or advice on this?

WhiteRabbit1313

Hello -

I worked with a trainer at my fitness club, who suggested i do 4 days cardio and 2 days strength.
When i break up the strength training for every third day, the next day when i do cardio i am so sore that i don't push as hard as i normally would. Some weeks it works out that i can plan my rest day for the day after strength...

Does anyone have any tips or advice on this?

I do strength training every other days and cardio, immediately before or after, on the same days, depending on how I feel, and rest on the days in between. I'm new to both, so my schedule may not fit yours...

Cherimoose

Maybe you're doing more sets than you need to. How many leg sets do you do at each workout, and which exercises?

Hornsby

I do strength training 4 days a week (2 upper body, 2 lower body) and a cardio activity 6-7 days a week.

Amandabelanger614

I usually do full body...

as far as legs go:

40 lunges
45 calf raises
3x :30 wall sit
3x10 leg press machine
3x10 calf curl thing? i forget what that machine is called.

WhiteRabbit1313

I usually do full body...

as far as legs go:

40 lunges
45 calf raises
3x :30 wall sit
3x10 leg press machine
3x10 calf curl thing? i forget what that machine is called.

Hmm...I do compound lifts (StrongLifts 5x5) and alternate Workout A and B every other day, plus 20 minutes (theoretically...I'm working on cardio--I hate it.) of HIIT each work out day.

Workout A
Barbell Squat 5x5
Bench press 5x5
Barbell Row 5x5 (The app and the PDF call them that but they are actually pendlay rows).


Workout B:
Barbell Squat 5x5 (5 sets with 5 reps)
Overhead press 5x5
Deadlift 1x5 (1 set with 5 reps)

Weights progress by 5# each work out day, except Deadlifts, which are increased 10#.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/560459-stronglifts-5x5-summary

So, I guess, it depends on your strength training routine, but I'd figure you could do cardio the same day, before you get sore?

Briargrey

I do cardio 5-6 times a week and strength training 3x/week (Tue, Thu, Sat). I also do yoga 2-4x/week. I just moved from weight machines to free weights. I've pushed myself and been sore on several occasions, but not so sore that my cardio was significantly impacted. However, I've been at this about 11 months now, slowly increasing what I do, because I didn't want to try to do too much and burn out and spiral downwards again like I did so often.

You may need to tweak your workouts a bit - someone suggested doing cardio prior to strength and resting the other days, so that may work for you. You may need to tweak the weights you do or just not worry about being a bit fatigued and sore while doing your cardio.

Here's my typical week, when I'm not on the road now:
Monday and Wednesday: 20 minutes treadmill or elliptical just before yoga, 60 minutes yoga, in a.m.
Tuesday and Thursday: 20-30 minutes treadmill or elliptical before strength training (see below for that breakdown) in a.m. Back after work for 60 minutes yoga.
Friday: 30 minutes treadmill or ellipical
Saturday: 30 minutes treadmill or elliptical, strength training

On the road, I had only been doing cardio. I haven't had to be on the road since I got used to dumb bell work, but I'll be integrating that in when they don't have barbells (most my hotels don't), and I have a yoga video from amazon downloaded to be tablet so I can do yoga while on the road now too.

Strength training A:
Squats 5x5
Bench 5x5
Overhead 5x5 [I should move this to B and learn how to do the pendlay so I'm closer to SL 5x5 I guess!]
Assisted pull ups: 3 x Fail (3 sets, each to fail, working on doing more and lowering the 'assistance' from the machine)
Triceps (using body weight off a bench): 3 x 10

Strength training B:
Squats 5x5
Bench 5x5
Deadlift 5x5 (I did this - then realized that Nerd Fitness Academy had them at 3x5 and SL 5x5 had them at 1x5 -- so question for the experts - should I drop this to 1x5 and up the weight?)
Assisted dips: 3 x Fail
One other thing based on mood (whatever I want to work on - planks, pushups, sauna because I'm dying).

My basic goal is WAY less than what I am doing now. And I am flexible on my schedule because I know I will not always have the time to get in all of this every week, but I've been really lucky this last month in getting the time in for a variety of reasons. So don't look at this and think you're not doing enough. I started at 3x/week, 20 minutes of really easy treadmill and did that for a couple months before looking at the elliptical. I bumped it to 30 minutes, 3x/week, treadmill or elliptical, working on increasing incline, resistance and/or speed for another couple months, and then I added in the weight machines. I gradually increased my days in the gym, kept my cardio at 30minutes (20 if pressed for time), and slowly integrated in weight machines (arms and legs). I just this month ditched the machines for free weights. Yoga I only did as I had time but I made a commitment in November to do at least 2x, preferably 3x a week for maximum benefit, and it's made such a huge difference in strength I keep doing it

I'm a huge proponent of compound lifts and free weights over machines, but I know we all have to start somewhere, and if what you're doing is what you're comfortable with, then awesome!

If you've got access to the trainer - ask him/her for advice too, see if they have some insight since they set you up on the program.