trying to schedule heavy lifting and cardio in

KaciWood19

I am a very busy woman, and my fitness has been the first thing cut out of my schedule. I am looking to get back on track this month and going forward, make the time to fit my fitness routine in. I wanted some advice. I was trying to do upper body lifting and cardio day 1, lower body lifting and cardio day 2, rest or cardio day 3 then repeat but the lifting varied. This doesn't fit in anymore, as it just takes up too much time to do lifting and cardio at the same time. I'm looking to keep my workouts under an hour during the week. What is the harm in doing both upper and body lifting day 1, cardio day 2, then rest day 3? or possibly upper body day 1, cardio day 2, lower body day 3, cardio day 4, rest day 5? (Monday-Friday) Saturday I'm in school all day, Sundays I want to try and fit in a 3+mile run.

Suggestions and advice please!

KaciWood19

Any advice is appreciated!

anemoneprose

You could do 2 economical (just major compound lifts), full-body, heavy lifting days a week. Like Stronglifts:

Here's how StrongLifts 5x5 will work for you: three times per week, you will go to the gym and do 3 full body exercises for sets of 5 reps. The first 4 weeks, you will lift lighter weights so you can focus on mastering and perfecting technique, and prepare your body for heavy weights. You won't have to remember complicate routines... in fact, you'll always alternate between the same 2 workouts...

StrongLifts 5x5 Workout A - Squat, Bench press, BB rows
Workout B - Squat , Overhead Press, Deadlift (1x5)

(But just do it twice)

WendyTerry420

I have been switching back and forth between cardio and strength training, with rest days in between. I usually only workout 3 days per week, or maybe 4.

So it would be like:
Day 1: cardio
Day 2: rest
Day 3: strength training (I do body weight exercises and resistance band)
Day 4: rest
Day 5: cardio
Day 6 rest
Day 7 (If it's Sunday, I'm probably resting again)
Day 8: Strength training

and so on....

For me, this has been working well.

mmapags

You could do 2 economical (just major compound lifts), full-body, heavy lifting days a week. Like Stronglifts:

Here's how StrongLifts 5x5 will work for you: three times per week, you will go to the gym and do 3 full body exercises for sets of 5 reps. The first 4 weeks, you will lift lighter weights so you can focus on mastering and perfecting technique, and prepare your body for heavy weights. You won't have to remember complicate routines... in fact, you'll always alternate between the same 2 workouts...

StrongLifts 5x5 Workout A - Squat, Bench press, BB rows
Workout B - Squat , Overhead Press, Deadlift (1x5)

(But just do it twice)

This is the optimum way to go. Very time efficient. I started on 5X5 but the volume became too much and dropped back to a 3x5 routine that is basically Starting Strength. I do it 3x per week with one weekend cardio session for a total of 4 workouts. If you want more cardio, do 2x and add in a cardio session. This will give you 3 full rest/ off days and a great body reshaping routine while only spending a total of 4 hours per week!

I prioritize the strength sessions as they show me the most body recomposition benefit but do get in some cardio for the health benefits. The split sessions you are doing are very time consuming as you are working each body part in isolation. The compounds get the whole body in about 50 minutes!