Lifting heavy AND cardio?

vharding7

I know this is probably on the boards here somewhere, but I couldn't find anything that was specific enough for me.

Anyway, I started my weight loss journey a few months ago and have slowly progressed from all cardio, to lifting heavy with some cardio (not following any sort of plan, just going through the movements trying to get my form down!). However, I enjoy running and have built myself up to running about 6.5 miles in a hour, which for me is a tremendous accomplishment seeing as though just a few months ago I could barely run ten minutes! I have done my research and seen the results: Lifting heavy just works better, and gives you a leaner body than cardio does. What my problem is, is I don't want to lose my endurance. I worked really hard to get where I am with my cardio, and in addition to that, I'm entering Tough Mudder New England in August, which is 12-13 miles!

So I guess my question is, what should I do to keep my endurance, and also at the same time transfer my focus a little more on lifting heavy? I started today with the NRL4FW workout A, and honestly felt very anxious about it. Will it be good enough for the race? Any help is very much appreciated!

redheaddee

If you love it and it works for you, by all means do it!

ndj1979

if you like it then you keep doing it..

However if you want to get some muscle gains then the cardio is going to eat into that. Six months ago I was doing a program that had me doing circuit training, play, and I was running like ten miles a week and I lost a good amount of muscle...I ditched the cardio...only do like one HIIT session a week and went to lifting heavy and have seen nice strength gains, and have lost three percent body fat..

are squats, deadlifts, bench pressing, over head press, chin ups, pull ups etc a part of your routine..if not find a way to incorporate them..

A middle ground might be lifting three days a week with a two 5k runs and tow days of rest..so mon - weights tues - run - wens weights - thurs run - friday - weights sat and sunday off....
Good luck

WithWhatsLeft

I've got no wise words for you, and I'm sure someone much more knowledgeable than I will chime in.

I do both. My cardio is HIIT and maybe 20 to 40 minutes, 3 or 4 times a week. So I'm not going for endurance or to run longer, but to run at all. I like it - I get better as time goes by; feels good. I've never had any kind of stamina with running so to know I get stronger each week or so feels really nice. I use a heart rate monitor and it steadily bumps me up to challenge me, and it's right. I can do more.

And the more I read, the more I think that lifting heavy gives me yet more benefits. I certainly see them physically and the scale and tape measure testify to that. Again with the heart rate monitor - darned thing loves it when I lift weights.

So I'm no expert, but I can do both, and both feel right. I tend to gravitate to cardio first, but I'm beginning to place just as strong an emphasis on lifting, and I'm seeing some tiny little results that make me feel great.

I don't know if either of these things will help you with a mud race, but I'm pretty sure you are doing good things for your body.

bert16

I'm a distance runner (not any kind of super pro, but it's what I like to do) and I'm working to incorporate more heavy lifting, since I've been all cardio for too long. I also just got NROL4W; my plan is to lift twice each week while running 5 days per week. That seems manageable to me for now, but I guess I'll see how it goes when the mileage starts building up! Not so worried for half marathon training, but am wondering how I'll hold up when I take on my next full.

Happy running (and lifting)! :flowerforyou:

jamiek917

I wonder the same. I just recently increased my weight training to 4x a week and lifting a lot heavier- I've been doing about 20-30 min of cardio of days I lift, one day is all cardio and abs (45 min of cardio), and two days off (not back to back). I'm hoping for good results and hope its still good to do cardio on lift days as long as the main focus of the day is lifting.

But who knows. Everyone has dif opinions and find what works best for them. I'm hoping this works for me!!!

vharding7

Thanks all for the responses. There doesn't seem to be a definitive answer, but I guess what I'll be doing is a mixture of what you guys said, lifting three days a week and an hour+ of cardio the other days. Not sure if I'll be able to keep that up because of soreness and other things, but I'm going to give it a try! I really want that lifting body, but also have cardio endurance so this is worth it... I want it all!!! haha

It would be interesting to know how this approach turns out for other people that are trying this too!