Cardio vs. Strength Training
samntha14
Posts: 2,084 Member
There is always the ongoing debate about which is better or which is more important. I've always had a very "to each his own" attitude about life in general, and I think that applies here too. First question is always what are your goals? What are you trying to accomplish? But first I have a little story for you (or maybe it's long LOL):
Sometimes lessons are learned the hard way. In this case the VERY hard way. Almost three years ago, I cant believe it's been that long because it always feels like yesterday, my husband was involved in a very bad training accident. He is a professional cyclist. I really love saying that because I'm really proud of him. He crashed while on a training ride. At the end of a 150mile ride he hit a crevice in the road and went from 30mph to 0 in the blink of an eye. He broke 9 bones, bruised his lung, and landed himself in a trauma ward for a week. Up until then, ALL of his focus was on training. He was over 30 and it was "now or never" for him. He sacrificed everything to spend every spare minute on the bike. This was a very rude awakening. In one crash, it seemed the dream of "going pro" was just gone.
Luckily, strange but true, he was hurt bad enough where he was operated on by the chief of orthopedic surgery at the local trauma center, nobody else felt brave enough to take the case. They all said, "He needs a shoulder replacement, and he probably won't ride competitively again." But Dr. Ed. Krisiloff did an awesome job of putting Humpty back together again. He also saved my cousin's knee after a motorcycle accident, so I can say unequivocally, if you are ever injured in the state of NJ, find this guy!
Anyway, we learned a lot from the good Dr., with a reputation for working with many injured athletes, that over-training and extreme cardio were the cause of his extensive injuries. He had "spun" himself to the point where he drained his muscles and bone mass. Almost like having osteoporosis. Apparently this is fairly common among endurance athletes like marathoners, swimmers, and cyclists.
The story ends well. With a plate holding his arm together and the help of a top physical therapist and a former world champion as a coach, Hubby was back on his bike in 6 months (a little too soon because he ended up breaking his arm along the plate during his first race, but he learned not push to fast too soon and Let it heal right this time.) Within the first year he was ranking at races finishing the year as "semi pro". The next year he earned a pro level UCI license and now his first real factory sponsor. At age 37 he's in the best shape of his life and stronger than ever. He also learned to balance his priorities
The Lesson: everything in moderation!! To protect his bones he had to learn how to "spin" at an anaerobic level, (don't ask me how, I know it has something to do with his power meter). He also MUST strength train and do weight bearing exercises to protect his bones. Due to the shoulder injury he works mainly with resistance bands. The shoulder can't take traditional heavy lifting unfortunately. The extra muscle density, very sexy muscle density, makes him heavy for a rider, but his power output is insane, or that's what his coach and friends say LOL. The flip side is also true. If all you do is strength train, you are neglecting your heart, which is also a muscle. My family is prone to heart disease, so cardio is important to me especially as a woman. Even the heavy lifting program I'm following, because I got tired of being the frumpy wife of the insane athlete, recommends doing cardio intervals, and breaking up the lifting in later stages with your choice of cardio between lifting days.
My lesson to you: to be truly healthy and strong you need BOTH. Good cardio AND heavy lifting (not light lifting) and to do both well, you need to eat well and in the right proportions! How much you do of any one thing depends on YOUR goals. I'm guilty of this too, but sometime when we give people advice, we do it with our goals in mind, so in the future, when asking for opinions, make your goals clear up front Remember cardio AND lifting!!
Sometimes lessons are learned the hard way. In this case the VERY hard way. Almost three years ago, I cant believe it's been that long because it always feels like yesterday, my husband was involved in a very bad training accident. He is a professional cyclist. I really love saying that because I'm really proud of him. He crashed while on a training ride. At the end of a 150mile ride he hit a crevice in the road and went from 30mph to 0 in the blink of an eye. He broke 9 bones, bruised his lung, and landed himself in a trauma ward for a week. Up until then, ALL of his focus was on training. He was over 30 and it was "now or never" for him. He sacrificed everything to spend every spare minute on the bike. This was a very rude awakening. In one crash, it seemed the dream of "going pro" was just gone.
Luckily, strange but true, he was hurt bad enough where he was operated on by the chief of orthopedic surgery at the local trauma center, nobody else felt brave enough to take the case. They all said, "He needs a shoulder replacement, and he probably won't ride competitively again." But Dr. Ed. Krisiloff did an awesome job of putting Humpty back together again. He also saved my cousin's knee after a motorcycle accident, so I can say unequivocally, if you are ever injured in the state of NJ, find this guy!
Anyway, we learned a lot from the good Dr., with a reputation for working with many injured athletes, that over-training and extreme cardio were the cause of his extensive injuries. He had "spun" himself to the point where he drained his muscles and bone mass. Almost like having osteoporosis. Apparently this is fairly common among endurance athletes like marathoners, swimmers, and cyclists.
The story ends well. With a plate holding his arm together and the help of a top physical therapist and a former world champion as a coach, Hubby was back on his bike in 6 months (a little too soon because he ended up breaking his arm along the plate during his first race, but he learned not push to fast too soon and Let it heal right this time.) Within the first year he was ranking at races finishing the year as "semi pro". The next year he earned a pro level UCI license and now his first real factory sponsor. At age 37 he's in the best shape of his life and stronger than ever. He also learned to balance his priorities
The Lesson: everything in moderation!! To protect his bones he had to learn how to "spin" at an anaerobic level, (don't ask me how, I know it has something to do with his power meter). He also MUST strength train and do weight bearing exercises to protect his bones. Due to the shoulder injury he works mainly with resistance bands. The shoulder can't take traditional heavy lifting unfortunately. The extra muscle density, very sexy muscle density, makes him heavy for a rider, but his power output is insane, or that's what his coach and friends say LOL. The flip side is also true. If all you do is strength train, you are neglecting your heart, which is also a muscle. My family is prone to heart disease, so cardio is important to me especially as a woman. Even the heavy lifting program I'm following, because I got tired of being the frumpy wife of the insane athlete, recommends doing cardio intervals, and breaking up the lifting in later stages with your choice of cardio between lifting days.
My lesson to you: to be truly healthy and strong you need BOTH. Good cardio AND heavy lifting (not light lifting) and to do both well, you need to eat well and in the right proportions! How much you do of any one thing depends on YOUR goals. I'm guilty of this too, but sometime when we give people advice, we do it with our goals in mind, so in the future, when asking for opinions, make your goals clear up front
Remember cardio AND lifting!! 0
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