Exercise

jlhill7

I have been lifting weights and I am getting stronger. I started with Kelly Coffey-Meyer DVDs and started with 5-8 pound and not completing all the sets and reps and am now up to 8-10 pounds and I can do all the reps and sets. So I know I am getting stronger. I can even walk a mile at 3.0-3.3 on the treadmill without getting winded. However these seem not to increase my heart rate. Whenever I try to jog, run, or do the elliptical, or HIIT training I get winded and immediately short of breath. Does anyone have any suggestions on increasing cardio? How often should I do it? I heard that cardio is good for fat burning and I have a lot of fat to burn :-)

heybales

I have been lifting weights and I am getting stronger. I started with Kelly Coffey-Meyer DVDs and started with 5-8 pound and not completing all the sets and reps and am now up to 8-10 pounds and I can do all the reps and sets. So I know I am getting stronger. I can even walk a mile at 3.0-3.3 on the treadmill without getting winded. However these seem not to increase my heart rate. Whenever I try to jog, run, or do the elliptical, or HIIT training I get winded and immediately short of breath. Does anyone have any suggestions on increasing cardio? How often should I do it? I heard that cardio is good for fat burning and I have a lot of fat to burn :-)

You heard a misconception.

Diet with proper deficit is best for fat burning.

The right exercise along with it can help make sure it is ONLY fat burning, but wrong exercise will assist it being muscle too.

If you are getting winded on cardio, and HIIT should be, you are anaerobic, not enough oxygen for fat burning, just carb burning.

If your aerobic system is that bad out of shape, you need to stay at an intensity that allows you to talk semi-decently, but not be able to sing at all.

Skip the HIIT, you are already doing lifting. HIIT is sport specific cardio lifting basically, and you are already lifting, so don't waste the time.
Worse, if you are doing HIIT using the same muscles day after lifting with them - you are killing the repair process by putting another intense load on them. If you are doing it the day before lifting with same muscles - your muscle are tired and you can't lift with the same load.
Oh, it'll feel like it's hard, and it is - your muscles are tired from double lifting basically.

And you'll make much better progress on the muscles that were being done for both.

Get that aerobic system trained, that's all you should being doing with lifting as focus for body improvement anyway.

Any cardio day after lifting should be in the mis-named fat-burning zone, more correctly called Active Recovery Zone, precisely because it doesn't add an extra load to muscles trying to repair, just blood flow to aid.
Any cardio day before lifting with same muscles can be in Aerobic zone, though that may leave you too tired if done too long for getting good lifts the next day. Have to experiment with that one.

jlhill7

Thanks for the reply. That totally makes sense how you explained it. :-)