Balancing heavy weightlifting and other workouts

dlwyatt82

Hey all,

I've been hitting the gym 3x per week for the last 3.5 months or so, doing the StrongLifts program followed by up to 30 minutes of cardio. I've decided that I'm in good enough shape now that I can start taking up martial arts training again, which I haven't done since my teens, but have wanted to get back into for a while.

Since there are only so many days in the week, I'm going to wind up doing a martial arts class / workout either the day before or the day after lifting weights at some point. Does anyone have advice on which is the better arrangement? Here's what I'm kicking around as a schedule idea right now (backing from 3 days in the gym down to 2 to make room):

Monday: MA
Tuesday: MA
Wednesday: MA
Thursday: StrongLifts
Friday: Rest
Saturday: StrongLifts
Sunday: Rest

Does it make more sense to have the Rest days come before I lift weights, rather than after (so at some point in the week, I'd be doing a MA class the day after lifting)? I'm probably going to do Bench/Rows on Thursday, since that's the easier of the two StrongLifts workouts for me right now. Overhead Press and Deadlift day kicks my *kitten*.

JNick77

Hey all,

I've been hitting the gym 3x per week for the last 3.5 months or so, doing the StrongLifts program followed by up to 30 minutes of cardio. I've decided that I'm in good enough shape now that I can start taking up martial arts training again, which I haven't done since my teens, but have wanted to get back into for a while.

Since there are only so many days in the week, I'm going to wind up doing a martial arts class / workout either the day before or the day after lifting weights at some point. Does anyone have advice on which is the better arrangement? Here's what I'm kicking around as a schedule idea right now (backing from 3 days in the gym down to 2 to make room):

Monday: MA
Tuesday: MA
Wednesday: MA
Thursday: StrongLifts
Friday: Rest
Saturday: StrongLifts
Sunday: Rest

Does it make more sense to have the Rest days come before I lift weights, rather than after (so at some point in the week, I'd be doing a MA class the day after lifting)? I'm probably going to do Bench/Rows on Thursday, since that's the easier of the two StrongLifts workouts for me right now. Overhead Press and Deadlift day kicks my *kitten*.

Great question and I'd love to see some others (Niner) chime in on this too. My gut reaction would be not to train the morning after the MA session. Not sure what you're doing but imagine something like, Muay Thai, Kickboxing, Judo, or Jujitsu being very taxing leaving you a little beaten-up, perhaps literally too, the next day.

dlwyatt82

Great question and I'd love to see some others (Niner) chime in on this too. My gut reaction would be not to train the morning after the MA session. Not sure what you're doing but imagine something like, Muay Thai, Kickboxing, Judo, or Jujitsu being very taxing leaving you a little beaten-up, perhaps literally too, the next day.

All my workouts tend to be in the late afternoon or evening. I'm not much of a morning person.

As for the style and intensity of the workouts, I'm not really sure what to expect, myself; my first class will be on Monday. The dojo teaches a blend of Goju-ryu karate, Jujutsu for ground work, and a couple of other minor influences. I trained in Tang Soo Do (Korean art somewhat similar to Taekwondo) when I was a kid, but decided to try something completely unfamiliar this time around.

dlwyatt82

Shameless bump!

ninerbuff

Hey all,

I've been hitting the gym 3x per week for the last 3.5 months or so, doing the StrongLifts program followed by up to 30 minutes of cardio. I've decided that I'm in good enough shape now that I can start taking up martial arts training again, which I haven't done since my teens, but have wanted to get back into for a while.

Since there are only so many days in the week, I'm going to wind up doing a martial arts class / workout either the day before or the day after lifting weights at some point. Does anyone have advice on which is the better arrangement? Here's what I'm kicking around as a schedule idea right now (backing from 3 days in the gym down to 2 to make room):

Monday: MA
Tuesday: MA
Wednesday: MA
Thursday: StrongLifts
Friday: Rest
Saturday: StrongLifts
Sunday: Rest

Does it make more sense to have the Rest days come before I lift weights, rather than after (so at some point in the week, I'd be doing a MA class the day after lifting)? I'm probably going to do Bench/Rows on Thursday, since that's the easier of the two StrongLifts workouts for me right now. Overhead Press and Deadlift day kicks my *kitten*.

Dependent on your MA intensity, I would treat it like lifting with at least a day off in between. I've had a few members try to do back to back kickboxing and the 2nd day I totally notice a difference in the "power" of their kicks and punches compared to having a day off in between. Personally if it were me, I would split it to a morning/evening training for the same day with a day of rest after or just cardio the day after. Muscle needs rest to rebuild/repair and doing MA back to back (again, depending on the type of training also is a factor) may not give you enough time to recoup and be effective.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Lift_hard_eat_big

In terms of rest days, if possible, I recommend swapping rest day to Wednesday instead of Friday.

dlwyatt82

Ow. I don't remember if I was this sore after starting lifting weights. I think my original schedule idea is a bit optimistic, at least until I get used to the new workouts.

Assuming that I need to back off my lifting to one day a week for now (something like M-W-F with lifting on Friday), does this seem like a reasonable approach to hit all of the muscle groups each week?

Squats 5x5
Overhead Press 3x5
Deadlift 1x5
Bench 3x5
Rows 5x5

That's the same volume as the StrongLifts program, except with only 3 sets each of overhead and bench press. Since they work some of the same muscles, I'm not sure I'd be able to do a full 5x5 of both at full intensity on the same day. I'm not sure if I'd continue to make much in the way of strength gains on this schedule, but if I can at least maintain my current level for now, it'll do, until I feel up to adding a second lifting day back into the mix.

wellbert

I do weight lifting (Right now Stronglifts + some accessory work) on T TH SA . (I add incline press, shrugs, side bends, power cleans, lunges..)

I do Muay Thai/Boxing (or cycling) on M W F. Sunday is either bonus more weight lifting day, or rest day.
If I just feel like BUTT, I'll just simply walk 3 miles on cardio day.

This used to KILL ME until I changed 3 things:

1) Attitude. I read that overtraining in regular joes is pretty much just mental wussificiation, and it exists only in elite athletes that train for many hours a day. I adopted this mentality.

2) Nutrition. Started getting over 200g of protein and eating more calories = much better recovery.

3) SLEEP. More sleep = MAGIC. Seriously.


You'll want to work up to it, too. Just don't go in head first. You have to train yourself to handle the capacity over a few months. Martial arts once a week. Then twice. Then three if you can swing it.

dlwyatt82

3) SLEEP. More sleep = MAGIC. Seriously.

That would be awesome. Please pass the message on to my one-month-old daughter. :laugh:

wellbert

3) SLEEP. More sleep = MAGIC. Seriously.

That would be awesome. Please pass the message on to my one-month-old daughter. :laugh:

I'll let her know, what's her email address?