Endurance and stamina training, without losing muscle? How?

ItsPheebs

Good morning all. I'm training for a very intense physical coming up for a job, and the training following that will be equally intense. My cardio and conditioning has to be really good, so I'm running sprints and doing intervals along with keeping up my 3 to 4 mile runs. This, plus my regular schedule, has made it really hard to lift or do the other things I normally do. I'm feeling mushy!

I want to continue to build strength and muscle, but I'm finding it really hard right now. Being strong is equally important, but the cardio is so brutal that I have to keep it up or I lose it. I'm not a naturally fast runner, and even fast I do intervals so getting my pace up to 7 miles a minute is a challenge for me.

Any suggestions on how I could keep the muscle I have in minimum time (for another month or so)? I'd love suggestions on how to improve my speed, too.

Thanks!

ANewLucia

Well, to increase speed you have to lay off the heavy lifting...keep up the 30% protein for sure.

amsparky

I'm sure someone else will chime in, but I think the key is to make sure you are eating enough to help prevent eating up muscle.

Greenrun99

Just a suggestion but as your doing sprints and your running, before you start the next set of sprints, do 10-20 push ups as quick as possible and take off again.. if you can easily do 20 push ups then do 30.. this way you are working the upper body and lower body muscles.. And as always make sure you are eating correctly to reduce any further muscle loss.

jquijas

Hard to accurately give advice without knowing more details, however one suggestion would be HIIT training. I can do Chest/Back 12 sets each in usually 30 mins or less depending on how heavy I go and how much rest I take in between, you could do that before a run pretty easily. Better advice could be given based on knowing what the physical test is for and what training you would be doing after. It also might be something that you will have to just get back into once you kick enough *kitten* on the test and training after!

SFC Q

ItsPheebs

Just a suggestion but as your doing sprints and your running, before you start the next set of sprints, do 10-20 push ups as quick as possible and take off again.. if you can easily do 20 push ups then do 30.. this way you are working the upper body and lower body muscles.. And as always make sure you are eating correctly to reduce any further muscle loss.

Ahhh ... good! I like it. We were adding pushups into the circuit today, so I'm glad you said that. We're on the right track there.

I am eating pretty good -- not restricting at all, but that doesn't mean I'm eating enough. I gotta start logging again to make sure, and to make sure I'm hitting that protein level.

This new schedule is kicking my butt. Just a leetle bit.

nikkijoshua

To prevent muscle loss from cardio, make sure you continue to eat enough and get enough protein. Endurance athletes have higher protein needs so it's important to meet those requirements. Endurance Athletes: 1.2 to 1.4 g/kg body weight per day Resistance and Strength-Trained Athletes:1.6 to 1.7 g/kg body weight per day. I do alot of endurance/cardio and I also do alot of weight training because, like you, both are equally important to me. My goal for protein is to be at 20-25%. You can decide for yourself where you want to be, but I think amywhere between 20-30% protein is a good place to be. I also have a snack before working out and have breakfast immediately after to prevent as much as possible muscle loss and to help rebuild after the workout is finished.

Also, to increase your stamina and endurance, in addition to the type cardio workouts that you currently do I would suggest you add plyometric HIIT workouts to your current program if you're not doing them already. Plyometrics work your fast-twitch muscles helping to increase speed and HIIT increases your endurance much quicker than regular, steady-state cardio so doing plyo in a HIIT format is powerful. Also, HIIT is a very muscle sparing form of cardio. Do HIIT 1-2 times/week. To continue to build strength while building stamina and endurance, do high-rep (endurance) weight training workouts. These workouts use lighter weights and a higher number of reps to increase your endurance and stamina while gaining strength. You won't build much muscle mass with these type of workouts, but they will greatly enhance your strength and endurance making your cardio/endurance workouts feel alot easier.

I do HIIT once/week in additon to the other types of cardio I do, and while I lift heavy, I still do high rep weight workouts on a regular basis to maintain my endurance level and to just keep improving in that area. Following this type of workout plan has increased my stamina and endurance tremendously. I am so pleased with the progress that I've made because I am now able to do really tough workouts with ease while still feeling challenged by these workouts.

Zylayna

I agree with the above poster re: plyometrics (jump training). Awesome muscle endurance builder. It'll get your heart rate right up there and make your muscles feel like jello after! haha. And fyi, you don't have to just do plyo on the legs...you can do plyo-pushups (if you are capable of them). I believe they are like a pushup but at the top of the pushup you 'jump' your entire body upwards and back down whilst in pushup position. I couldn't do that....:noway: LOL!

ItsPheebs

I have been doing some plyo workouts and I love HIIT training. I think I got hyperfocused on this other stuff and forgot how much it has helped in the past. Thanks for the reminder you guys. Such great info. :flowerforyou:

Can't do plyo pushups ...yet