Newbie question about routine!

RunWestyRun

Hi, I am completely new to both the forums and to stronglifts!

I have been reading a lot about the stronglift programme and stumbled on this group and found it amazingly inspiring

I am planning to start stronglifts next week and am fully committed to following and getting super-strong but I have a question regarding how much it is possible (or necessary) to do along side it. My current weekly routine is very cardio heavy and looks like this:

Monday - Pilates 1hr, badminton 2 hours
Tuesday - hard hiit class (20 min of actual work), kettlebell class 1 hour, badminton 2 hours
Wednesday - Spin + abs 60 mins,
Thursday - Pilates 1 hour, weights (pull and legs)
Friday - Spin 45 mins, hard hiit class (20 mins)
Saturday - Rest
Sunday - Spin 45 mins, weights (push and legs)

I am happy to drop or reschedule most things as needed except Pilates (rehab for knee injury) and am tied into a badminton league. Cardiovascular fitness and heart health is really important to me, but so is getting strong and increasing muscle with all the benefits that brings.

I was hoping someone with more experience could advise me the best course of action. Also, any tips for a complete noob :-D

Thanks in advance

Westy x

tameko2

I am planning to start stronglifts next week and am fully committed to following and getting super-strong but I have a question regarding how much it is possible (or necessary) to do along side it. My current weekly routine is very cardio heavy and looks like this:

Monday - Pilates 1hr, badminton 2 hours
Tuesday - hard hiit class (20 min of actual work), kettlebell class 1 hour, badminton 2 hours
Wednesday - Spin + abs 60 mins,
Thursday - Pilates 1 hour, weights (pull and legs)
Friday - Spin 45 mins, hard hiit class (20 mins)
Saturday - Rest
Sunday - Spin 45 mins, weights (push and legs)

I am happy to drop or reschedule most things as needed except Pilates (rehab for knee injury) and am tied into a badminton league. Cardiovascular fitness and heart health is really important to me, but so is getting strong and increasing muscle with all the benefits that brings.

Wow that is a LOT. Ok so - from a cardiovascular health perspective, I think you can drop the HIIT class, its a good way to burn calories but you've already got a ton going on.

I'm assuming you plan to replace your weights classes with SL?

So your schedule would look something like:
Monday - Pilates 1hr, badminton 2 hours
Tuesday - Stronglifts, badminton 2 hours
Wednesday - Spin + abs 60 mins (I'd maybe ditch the ab work but if you love it, keep it)
Thursday - Stronglifts, Pilates 1 hour
Friday - Spin 45 mins
Saturday - Rest
Sunday - Stronglifts, Spin 45 mins

That looks like a fine schedule to me, for now. You *could* leave the HIIT in, but I think the spin is already pushing the limits of most people's recovery (I personally probably wouldn't be able to even pull off that much, not while eating a deficit anyway). If you want to try it you can though.

And that's the short answer - go ahead and try keeping everything you want to keep, make sure you add enough extra calories to compensate for the extra work, and then you will just need to be the judge of how well you recover from that amount of work, how rested you feel, how good or bad your progress is because your legs are tired from all that running around and spin, etc.

And then start to drop things if you find yourself having issues. Keep the things you LOVE, drop the things you are only doing for hte sake of fitness.

jayliospecky

Hi!

Well, I would say just see how it goes. If it were me (and I can't imagine it, because that is SO much activity you are doing) but if it WERE me, I would keep the pilates and badminton for now, and see how I feel. Or, you may want to keep a little more, as you may not find the initial stronglifts workouts as taxing while you are still starting with lighter loads, and working on form.

What is necessary to do alongside stronglifts is completely up to you. I like to do 15-20 minutes of cardio (if I have time) following a workout, but it's pretty lightweight - a sloooow run, or a bit of time on the stationary bike. I also do try to do some kind of cardio on non-lifting days. That can vary from a 20 minute run to a half-hour to more of...whatever I feel like doing. In the winter it's been cross-country skiing or snowshoeing, quite a bit. Some people do quite a lot of running, or whatever kind of cardio floats their boat.

If you have really serious goals for either lifting or cardio, it's hard to achieve both. Like, it would be hard for someone training for a marathon to also get really serious strength gains. But if you're doing it just for general health, I think a bit of both is quite fine. If you find after some time goes by that you're not reaching your lifting goals, you can always dial back the cardio a bit more.

RunWestyRun

Thank you so much for your advice - to be honest, until I wrote it down I hadn't really realised how much I do!!!

I think I will continue with pilates, badminton and maybe try 2 spin classes a week and see how I get on, if it turns out to be too much I will cut back the spin classes further. I want my strength training to take priority at the moment and to really get the most out of the programme.

Thanks again x

DaniH826

I think you will find that as you go up in weights, some of your other activities will have to be cut out of necessity because heavy lifting is very taxing, and very heavy lifting is very, very taxing.

P.S. I got tired just looking at your schedule. Good grief. You go with your bad self!

Will_Thrust_For_Candy

I think you will find that as you go up in weights, some of your other activities will have to be cut out of necessity because heavy lifting is very taxing, and very heavy lifting is very, very taxing.

P.S. I got tired just looking at your schedule. Good grief. You go with your bad self!

This! And please make sure you are fueling these workouts properly! I found that in my first 12 weeks it was beneficial to focus mostly on SL.....increasing weight and getting used to lifting was pretty exhausting. Now that I'm in my second round I'm more in tune with my body and my recovery so I have changed it up! Just do what works best for you but unless you have cardio based goals, focus on your lifts first and foremost

RunWestyRun

Thank you for the great advice - you are right, I think I need to prioritise the lifting in order to progress to heavier weights and ensure my form isn't compromised by being tired out from other things.

I try to eat clean 90% of the time and aim for 1900-2500 calories daily depending on my training for the day. I also try to eat 120-170g protein daily. Do you think this enough for the intensity of the programme?

tameko2

Thank you for the great advice - you are right, I think I need to prioritise the lifting in order to progress to heavier weights and ensure my form isn't compromised by being tired out from other things.

I try to eat clean 90% of the time and aim for 1900-2500 calories daily depending on my training for the day. I also try to eat 120-170g protein daily. Do you think this enough for the intensity of the programme?

Yes, looks fine.

DaniH826

Try it for a few weeks and see. Are you still eating at a deficit?

RunWestyRun

I am aiming for a 10% deficit most days but days where I am exercising 3+ hours I usually end up eating a bit more or else I find myself ravenous the next day and on occasion my energy is lagging for a couple of days after.