How much cardio to how much strength training?

lwagnitz

Pretty much agree with what others have said, but here are a couple webistes for work outs that might help you get started:

bodybuilding.com
muscleandstrength.com

deanadimples

Weights 3 x per week (Body Pump)
Cardio 3 x per week - usually intervals on the treadmill (30 mins on average, sometimes more)

The cardio is mainly to keep a routine of "making" time for working out every day and to build cardiovascular endurance.
Plus the extra calories burned helps with my deficit.

jneihardt

bump

Summer5555

Weights 3 x per week (Body Pump)
Cardio 3 x per week - usually intervals on the treadmill (30 mins on average, sometimes more)

The cardio is mainly to keep a routine of "making" time for working out every day and to build cardiovascular endurance.
Plus the extra calories burned helps with my deficit.

^ This as well, doing strong lifts for weight. 50-60 minutes of cardio. Also pilates 1 x per week.

RunDoozer

So you have two goals.....lose weight/fat and then build some muscle (toning up IS building muscle)

The truth is, you can't accomplish these two goals at the same time.

What I recommend is lose weight first and then when you are down to your goal weight, focus on building muscle. So I will talk about losing weight first and then biulding muscle.

Losing weight: You need to be eating at a calorie deficit obviously, work out your BMR and then your TDEE and then subtract a few hundred calories from that (but never go below 1200 calories). With exercise, you should mainly be focusing on cardio, so I would do this about 5-6 times a week for 45 minutes to an hour. You should still strength train during this time, and do you know why? It is not to ultimately build muscle, because building muscle while on a calorie deficit is VERY hard to do (unless you're new to lifting, you will make small gains in the beginning), the purpose of weight lifting while on a calorie deficit and losing weight is to PRESERVE existing muscle. If you didn't do this, and just did cardio, you would be burning fat AND muscle....strength train and do cardio and you preserve muscle, meaning you burn fat and very little muscle (which means you burn more fat!!!) I would do 2 days of a full body weight lifting work out, or split them over the week so you hit each body part twice.

Right so onto building muscle....Once you are down to your goal body fat percentage you can start focusing on building muscle. You need to up your calories so you are eating at a calorie surplus....scary I know. But you would need to aim for about 200 calories over your maintenance level. Then you focus heavily on weight lifting and reduce your cardio. I would do cardio about twice a week to keep fat off, and then weight lift most days of the week (making sure you get at least a fulls day rest between each muscle group). Make sure you lift heavy with low reps. I promise you won't get fat from the extra calories, because if you stick to your weight lifting program, these extra calories fuel muscle growth. If you ate these extra calories and didn't do weight training, then obviously your body would store it as fat. Your BF percentage may creep up a little during your muscle building phase, and I'm sorry but this is inevitable....

then once you have your ideal body, you can go down to eating at maintenance level and an even amount of cardio and weight training OR you can go back to the cutting phase while preserving all the new muscles you have built and getting rid of any small BF % you put on during your muscle building phase...however you feel at the time! A lot of people just continue cycling the two phases, but I would personally hope to aim to get to a maintainence phase long term...

Hope I didn't confuse you and let me know if you have any questions!

Sorry, but no.

No - "toning" simply means to lose fat, so that the underlying muscle shows up better. And if you lose "weight" first, you'll lose LBM - meaning muscle. You absolutely don't want to do that.



OP's best bet would be to do a 3x per week full-body strength routine, such as StrongLifts, Starting Strength, or New Rules of Lifting for Women. Do some additional cardio - about 1/2 hour - either after your lifting; or no more than an hour on your off days. Just make sure you have enough energy and time to recover fully from your lifting session so that you can lift the next day. Do this at a slight Caloric deficit - for 20 lbs, you may be able to go with a 1 lb per week (500 Cal) deficit, although I think 1/2 lb per week (250 Cal) deficit would be best. And be sure to eat back at least half of your exercise Cals, as you'll need the energy.

Exactly this. You can lose weight and retain most of your LBM by lifting. There will be some loss but a lot less than if you do cardio without strength training. You will end up looking much better in the end too.

Stronglifts

While I respect others opinions, you can't just say "no" and not back it up with any points. And then what you went on to say was practically in line with half of what I said anyway... Lol

I can and I did. So still no.

NikoM5

I can't believe I'm about to say this but, "good advice has been given in this thread!" Lol.

Your diet is where 90% of your weight loss will come from. The other 10% can be cardio. Rough numbers but you get the idea. (diet > cardio) when it comes to weight loss. Weight lifting will help with the muscle building, or muscle retention in your case of a calorie deficit

I have a desk job and I don't do a lick of traditional cardio. I'm not a nutrition Nazi either. I eat plenty of protein and keep my overall cals within reason. I lift intensely and I know my energy expenditure levels fairly well so I'm able to keep fat under control without cardio or crazy diets.

NikoM5

So you have two goals.....lose weight/fat and then build some muscle (toning up IS building muscle)

The truth is, you can't accomplish these two goals at the same time.

What I recommend is lose weight first and then when you are down to your goal weight, focus on building muscle. So I will talk about losing weight first and then biulding muscle.

No - "toning" simply means to lose fat, so that the underlying muscle shows up better. And if you lose "weight" first, you'll lose LBM - meaning muscle. You absolutely don't want to do that.



OP's best bet would be to do a 3x per week full-body strength routine, such as StrongLifts, Starting Strength, or New Rules of Lifting for Women. Do some additional cardio - about 1/2 hour - either after your lifting; or no more than an hour on your off days. Just make sure you have enough energy and time to recover fully from your lifting session so that you can lift the next day. Do this at a slight Caloric deficit - for 20 lbs, you may be able to go with a 1 lb per week (500 Cal) deficit, although I think 1/2 lb per week (250 Cal) deficit would be best. And be sure to eat back at least half of your exercise Cals, as you'll need the energy.


edited for spelling

Both right... and wrong.

You can build muscle and lose fat at the same time. It's not efficient and it requires a lot attention to detail but it can be done

"Toning" is BOTH losing fat and gaining muscle. There's no official definition but based on visuals of what most people would consider a toned body, this is accurate.

The most efficient way to achieve your goal is by losing weight first, building muscle second. There's no reason you can't lift weights during the weight loss phase in order to avoid muscle loss.

ItsCasey

You don't need cardio at all for fat loss. You need heavy lifting, a proper diet, and plenty of sleep.

You may choose to do cardio for other reasons, but it is not necessary for fat loss.

Jess830409

i agree with the above posters. you need about 2-3 days of cardio a week, and 2-3 days of strength training a week.

OP, are you looking to run, bike, swim? are you planning on taking classes at a gym, or sticking to barbells and other free weights?

I like Turbo Fire, Zumba, etc for cardio and probably free weights for the strength. Kinda of a newbie on this so I am learning as I go

Jess830409

Some really good info here guys...thank you so much. I do want to incorporate some cardio for health reasons and benefits but I know that strength training is a must for maintaing and building muscle....really appreciate the help!!

mervakikas

I think Alternating will help because you need the Strengh training to be even better at cardio and burn more calories like Challene says" people who have more muscle burn more fat "

BonaFideUK

Original reply is wrong. You absolutely can do cardio to lose fat and also building muscle with strength training at the same time. You just need to find the right balance so that your cardio doesnt destroy the strength gains you make.

Sarauk2sf

Original reply is wrong. You absolutely can do cardio and lose fat while building muscle at the same time.

If you are a 'newbie' or significantly overweight, yes, but those gains are finite and depend on a variety of factors, gender being one of them. As the OP is a female and not significantly overweight, the gains will be very small, if any. However, this is a bit of a moot point as strength training is very beneficial for LBM retention, bone density,strength and a slew of other things.

pspetralia

You don't need any cardio for this goal - only calorie deficit, good macros, and strength training. However cardio is good for your cardiovascular system, so it's well worth doing 2-3x/week.

Best answer!