Cardio/Lifting questions...newbie here!

sappy42

First off, forgive me for all the questions I'm about to ask, I'm a newbie and still learning about nutrition and fitness...

I'm 37 years old, 5'4.5" tall, currently 116 lbs (GW was 120 and have been trying to maintain but I think I'm underestimating exercise calories, need a better HRM, prefer to be at 120 at the moment).

I started using the MFP app back in February/March; eating at a deficit and walking with a friend weekdays since January then training with a C25K app, I lost 25 lbs quite easily. I would do some light weights (3-10 lbs) a couple days a week.

I ventured into the MFP website and forums and have learned a LOT. My goals have changed since I started this whole thing. I now enjoy running and want to get faster and be able to go longer distances. I also want to be stronger and have some muscle definition so I've gone from light weights to wanting (trying) to incorporate some heavy lifting into my program.

I'm reading a lot of confusing things about exercising for your body type, and whether cardio should be done first or do strength training THEN cardio for best results.

Here's the exercise schedule I set for myself, I want opinions from folks who know a LOT more than me about whether I'm doing too much/not enough of anything...

Running - 3 days a week, 2 days x 5K in approx 38-39 min, 3rd day is tempos, intervals, hill runs or bleachers
Cardio - from other sources on alternating days (30 Day Shred, whatever 30 min workouts I can find)
LIfting - nearly every day but focusing on different areas each day, upper, lower, core (I do DL, squats, lunges, OHP, bicep curl, row, tricep dips)...just got a barbell, but low weights, 6 plates at only 2.5 lbs each (it was free so I'm not being picky) but have some hand weights from 5 lbs up to 40 lbs...3 sets of 8,9 or 10, depending on what I'm working on, whatever number gets me to exhaustion.

I was doing cardio first, till I started researching that I should LIFT then do cardio so I changed that up recently. Then I was reading about body types last night (ecto, endo, mesomorphs) and I think I might be an ectomorph and bodybuilding.com and livestrong.com are telling me that I should be doing light cardio FIRST then heavy compound lifting.

Needless to say I'm confused and not sure what applies to me and what route I should take to meet my goals. I'm not looking for quick results, I know this will take time. I'm not a patient person, but I'm willing to be patient for this.

Should I be doing cardio first or lifting?

Is using a barbell when doing squats, DL, lunges not considered compound? Or do I need to use my hand weights for that since I really don't think I can lift the barbell over my head after a squat.

I'm not willing to give up my running. That's my me time and quite frankly something I never thought I'd be into. Can I keep my 3 days and even add another and still see results from lifting?

I thought about using my TDEE instead of what MFP has set for me, but then I worry there are days I won't be able to get a workout in and I don't want to have to worry about adjusting my calories for it. But I also worry about not getting enough to support my workouts.

Again, sorry for all the questions and the crazy long post, just looking for some clarification so I'm not wasting my time and energy doing something that won't help me toward my goals.

Thanks in advance!!

levitateme

I'm not sure what the question is here, or maybe there are multiple questions.

Should you switch to TDEE? Probably. You are very active. I find a lot of people here seem to be doing exercise just to get to eat more. If you up your calories to TDEE you get to eat more every day, and (for me at least) it makes it so my date with the gym can't be stood up.

As for your lifting questions, I'm not sure why you're lifting your hands up on squats. As a new lifter all you really need to do is this:

Squat
Deadlift
OHP
BOR
Bench Press

Do these with a bare barbell and add weight progressively as you get stronger. Check out SL5x5, starting strength, NROLFW or whatever/etc.

If you really want to lift, you may find that all that doing a lot of cardio is counter productive, at least I did. I do a bit of cardio (rowing, walking, swimming) but my main focus is lifting. I find I can't lift as much if I do too much intense cardio on off days.

sappy42

I'm not sure what the question is here, or maybe there are multiple questions.

Should you switch to TDEE? Probably. You are very active. I find a lot of people here seem to be doing exercise just to get to eat more. If you up your calories to TDEE you get to eat more every day, and (for me at least) it makes it so my date with the gym can't be stood up.

As for your lifting questions, I'm not sure why you're lifting your hands up on squats. As a new lifter all you really need to do is this:

Squat
Deadlift
OHP
BOR
Bench Press

Do these with a bare barbell and add weight progressively as you get stronger. Check out SL5x5, starting strength, NROLFW or whatever/etc.

If you really want to lift, you may find that all that doing a lot of cardio is counter productive, at least I did. I do a bit of cardio (rowing, walking, swimming) but my main focus is lifting. I find I can't lift as much if I do too much intense cardio on off days.

Sorry, I did seem all over the place in my OP. I guess I just wanted to give as much info as possible.

I'm reading that working smaller muscles alone isn't enough, that you have to work small muscle groups WITH the larger ones, hence the squat press (squat down, then OHP on the way back up). There's so much conflicting info out there that it gets really confusing for me. I've heard of SL and pinned some info on it, but didn't know if it was right for my goals. I really wanna learn about NROLFW.

I guess my instinct was right, to give up the alternate days of cardio but keep the running. In HS, unless you were a female athlete (which I was, and am, definitely NOT), us girls weren't introduced to the weight room, so cardio was only jumping around enough to get your HR up. I never learned till now that lifting does that too. It's hard to get past that mindset of cardio=jumping around.

Thanks for your response!

LazSommer

Pick a starter lifting program and do it exactly as written.

That's it.

Cardio whenever. If you want to increase your strength more dramatically cut back - you can do some HIIT after your workout for a short period. If you just want to get a bit stronger and aren't planning on squatting 2x your body weight, do whatever, whenever.

It's not as hard as your Google-Fu is telling you it is.

SezxyStef

I'm not sure what the question is here, or maybe there are multiple questions.

Should you switch to TDEE? Probably. You are very active. I find a lot of people here seem to be doing exercise just to get to eat more. If you up your calories to TDEE you get to eat more every day, and (for me at least) it makes it so my date with the gym can't be stood up.

As for your lifting questions, I'm not sure why you're lifting your hands up on squats. As a new lifter all you really need to do is this:

Squat
Deadlift
OHP
BOR
Bench Press

Do these with a bare barbell and add weight progressively as you get stronger. Check out SL5x5, starting strength, NROLFW or whatever/etc.

If you really want to lift, you may find that all that doing a lot of cardio is counter productive, at least I did. I do a bit of cardio (rowing, walking, swimming) but my main focus is lifting. I find I can't lift as much if I do too much intense cardio on off days.

This...

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

That being said if your goal is to get to run faster and longer then do more cardio then lifting...if you want to gain strength (which helps with running) do your weights and cardio after or on off days.

Just make sure you give yourself adequate rests between lifting sessions...

As for how to do the lifts the summary gives links to videos I believe but then there are these as well

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMAiNQJ6FPc&list=HL1398351893
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34XRmd3a8_0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlRrIsoDpKg

and then there is a series on Youtube " So you think you can X" X being DL, Squat etc that I found useful.