HELP! I hate cardio

Man oh man, have I been asleep at the switch because usually posts like this draw me like bees to honey.

First off, after reading thru a lot of good responses, I was surprised that no one questioned the workout length. Over 2 hour workouts? That's just not sustainable. Or necessary. Chop that down to 45 mins, 3 days per week. If with a partner or two, then an hour is okay, MAX. If you post or send your routine, I'd love to help you whittle it down.

Second, if you don't like cardio, then don't do it. It's got great benefits for your heart/lungs/endurance so it's probably a good idea for you right now. But you don't have to do it to lose weight. We've just cut 90 mins from your lifting, so maybe use 30 of that for cardio. Or not. I've cut most of mine (to great success) so I'm not going to get on you about yours.

Third, it actually sounds like you DO like cardio. Maybe not boring azz treadmill/elliptical work but it sounds like you have an appetite for some more exotic stuff. Heck yes, ball slams and battle ropes can be your cardio. Even better, they can be more effective in less time that the boring stare-at-the-tv-and-the-clock cardio you and I both loathe.

Try this cardio cocktail:

45 secs ball slams
15 secs rest
45 secs burpees
15 secs rest
45 secs battle ropes
15 secs rest
45 secs russian twists holding your medicine ball
15 secs rest
45 secs mountain climbers
15 secs rest
45 secs alternating medicine ball pushups (modify if needed)
15 secs rest
Repeat 1-6

Rest 2 mins

Then do the whole routine again. Should be 12 mins of work, 2 mins rest, then 12 mins of work. 24 mins and wrap it up. Do that 3x a week. And feel free to sub in any high effort exercise you want to keep it fresh.

I currently upped my workout a little bit because we just joined a Takedown side of our gym which offers whole new goodies to play with (ie battle ropes, wall balls, kettlebells, boxing things, rogue racks, rings etc etc etc). I thought perhaps the workout was taking a bit longer because some of the moves are new to me and I'm still trying to get them down.

Current workout is with a partner (hubby) and looks like this: (3 sets of 8 reps, pushing myself to see how high I can go)

Lat pulldowns- 80/85/85 (lbs)
Bench- 80/80/75 (inc. bar weight and sometimes I have to pop back down to 75. 80lbs is still new and I reach failure now and then)
Ball Slam- 14 lb ball
Deadlift- 95lbs (bar + 25lb plates)
Zottman Curls- 12.5 lbs
Hammer Curls- 15 lbs sometimes 20(reaching failure on 20's)
Incline Press- 55 lbs
Tricep ball toss
Shoulder press- 50-55lbs
KB shoulder press- 18 lb bells
Sumo Pull- 25lbs
Short bar row for traps- 30 lbs

Sometimes I throw in the Leg press @ 320 lbs

I don't honestly mind the length of the workout. Before we joined Takedown side of the gym our workouts were 1.5 hrs to 1.75. We take turns after every set in order to rest. Typically need longer rests with Deadlifts and ballslams.

Your cardio cocktail looks like fun! Can you explain what a mountain climber is? I know the rest of them.

Again thanks everyone for your help!

Edit to add: Usually work the same body parts together in a row but found I couldn't do the bench to my full potential after deadlifts and ball slams. So moved the bench up a few slots.

Oooooooooooo, me like the sound of your gym. Not one reason to get bored there. Me like a lot.

What I don't like that workout length. Even the 1.5 hours before was too much. Like Spectreman (yes, I'm old AND I'm a nerd) your body starts to power down from the start of your first set. You just don't have much left for the stuff coming later in the workout. What I find is people start "saving themselves" for the later stuff, and well, you can see why that would be detrimental.

Back to what I do like! You and the hubby actually have some nice exercises on there. You just have too many. And you're on the right track with your full body 3x per week idea. But with the compound work you've got on here, your "full body" doesn't need as much isolation work. We need to get your 12 exercises down to 6-8. Let's take a look:

**********************
Current workout is with a partner (hubby) and looks like this: (3 sets of 8 reps, pushing myself to see how high I can go)

Lat pulldowns- 80/85/85 (lbs)
Bench- 80/80/75 (inc. bar weight and sometimes I have to pop back down to 75. 80lbs is still new and I reach failure now and then)
XXXXXXXXXX Ball Slam- 14 lb ball (cut this and make it part of cardio or not at all)
Deadlift- 95lbs (bar + 25lb plates) (I'd move deadlifts to the first position in this routine)
XXXXXXXX Zottman Curls- 12.5 lbs (Nope!)
XXXXXXXX Hammer Curls- 15 lbs sometimes 20(reaching failure on 20's) (Hell to the naw)
Incline Press- 55 lbs
XXXXXXXXX Tricep ball toss (I admit I had to youtube this one. Cut it. But it you want to put it in the cardio routine, cool!)
Shoulder press- 50-55lbs
XXXXXXX KB shoulder press- 18 lb bells (note: I'm not actually cutting this one, I would suggest alternating it with the shoulder press.
XXXXXXX Sumo Pull- 25lbs (same as above. Alt these with the deadlifts if you like doing them)
XXXXXXXXXX Short bar row for traps- 30 lbs (No. The deads and shoulder work are doing plenty for your traps. You want huge traps?)

Sometimes I throw in the Leg press @ 320 lbs (Sometimes???? Without this, there's no quad work in here. Legs/glutes are your biggest muscle group, and getting them going will get your whole body going. So sometimes, let's throw some SQUATS in there.)

There we go. So our routine is:
1. Squats alt with Leg Press
2. Deadlifts alt with Sumo
3. Bench Presses
4. Incline Press
5. Shoulder Press alt with KB press
6. Lat Pulldowns
7. Barbell Curls. If only because I'm guessing hubby isn't going completely give up his bicep work. Only 1 min rest between sets allowed for this puny bodypart

With both of you resting about 2 mins per set (while the other is doing their set, of course) this should be a 1 hour workout, right on the head and you would have hit every major muscle from your toes to your neck.

When you're done, you can do the cardio cocktail and add the ball slams and tricep thingys and a whole bunch of other fun stuff your gym has.