Toning & Cardio?

purplehurr
purplehurr Posts: 1
in Fitness and Exercise
I've heard that doing cardio and weight training on the same day is counter productive to only building muscle? I'm a girl and i just want to mainly TONE UP my body, some slimming down (AND ULTIMIATELY LOOK AMAZING). Currently I am 130 pounds and I'm 5'6. I am a runner, so usually i would do 20-30 mins of cardio and then use the weight machines on either upper body or lower body. Is this a good plan though? Or should I just stick to ONLY CARDIO every other day and then weight training the other days? I'm just wondering what is a good combination of cardio, pilates, and weight-training in order to tone up and slim down! Thanks :)

Replies

  • junipearl
    junipearl Posts: 326 Member
    i almost always do weights and cardio on the same days.

    /sub for answers
  • vjohn04
    vjohn04 Posts: 2,276 Member
    Negative.

    However, I've always been taught that you should lift and then do cardio if you're going to do both on the same days. There's nothing wrong with doing both.

    I'd do the cardio last so that you can get the most out of your lifting by not being fatigued.
  • Danardeener
    Danardeener Posts: 255
    I do both cardio and lifting on the same day, every day.
  • _stephanie0
    _stephanie0 Posts: 708 Member
    @ 5'6 and 130 i wouldnt even do cardio at all.

    im 5'4 140 and don't do cardio (unless it's in my WOD *i do crossfit*)

    if you want to "tone" *shutter*....LIFT HEAVY!! HEAVY HEAVY HEAVY!!

    and if you must do cardio, lift first. see if you have energy for cardio...

    or even better, lift 4-5 days a week and do HIIT 2x week
  • skinnylove00
    skinnylove00 Posts: 662 Member
    i lift first then do cardio. lift for about half hour then see how much energy i have for cardio; bare minimum i do is 30 min and i dont go past an hour.

    i feel like doing JUST cardio is okay if you want to lean out; but you might get soft if you dont combine it with at least SOME resistance training. too much cardio burns muscle too and you need to KEEP that muscle to look tight.

    i like doing both because i look at strength training as toning, and then cardio like `shrink wrapping` my skin to burn off fat so i can see those damn muscles i work hard for hahaha.

    if you want to work on your endurance though, do cardio before weights.
  • gmallan
    gmallan Posts: 2,099 Member
    @ 5'6 and 130 i wouldnt even do cardio at all.

    im 5'4 140 and don't do cardio (unless it's in my WOD *i do crossfit*)

    if you want to "tone" *shutter*....LIFT HEAVY!! HEAVY HEAVY HEAVY!!

    and if you must do cardio, lift first. see if you have energy for cardio...

    or even better, lift 4-5 days a week and do HIIT 2x week

    What's with the no cardio thing, I'm seeing that around quite a bit. I personally wouldn't reccomend no cardio to anyone who wants to be generally all-round fit (which is the purpose of cross fit right?). Even if the OP doesn't want to lose weight she may want to improve her cardiovascular fitness which will require doing some cardio.

    You can do them on the same day but weights then cardio is best. Different days is probably better to get the most out of your workouts. At 5'6" and 130lbs you probably want to focus on the lifting to change your body composition to more muscle. Depends on your goals really, I need to have top cardio fitness and strength as I play a full-contact sport where I need to be able to cover 8km in a game while taking hits and makign tackles.
  • gillman_chatsworth
    gillman_chatsworth Posts: 7
    Loose the weight first and then start lifting heavy. You can't loose weight and gain muscle at the same time, these must be done independently from one another. Once you hit your goal weight, you have to up your protein intake, cut out cardio, and lift heavy weights.
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,329 Member
    depends on how heavy you're lifting and how much time you're leaving between your lifting and cardio.

    i lift very close to my 1 rep max, which means i can't do cardio afterwards because i have nothing left. when i lift lighter weights then yeah i can do cardio right after
  • gmallan
    gmallan Posts: 2,099 Member
    Loose the weight first and then start lifting heavy. You can't loose weight and gain muscle at the same time, these must be done independently from one another. Once you hit your goal weight, you have to up your protein intake, cut out cardio, and lift heavy weights.

    Doesn't mean you shouldn't lift heavy while losing weight. Lifting heavy will make sure you're losing fat not muscle. You can also gain strength, get your body used to lifting and practise form while losing weight
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    Loose the weight first and then start lifting heavy. You can't loose weight and gain muscle at the same time, these must be done independently from one another. Once you hit your goal weight, you have to up your protein intake, cut out cardio, and lift heavy weights.

    Please please please, no one listen to this terrible advice. It's like it's from Oppositeville or DontDoThisLand.
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    Loose the weight first and then start lifting heavy. You can't loose weight and gain muscle at the same time, these must be done independently from one another. Once you hit your goal weight, you have to up your protein intake, cut out cardio, and lift heavy weights.

    Please please please, no one listen to this terrible advice. It's like it's from Oppositeville or DontDoThisLand.
    +1. I guess some people have never bothered to read studies indicating that strength training while in a caloric deficit preserves lean body mass.

    Preserving what LBM you have is a lot easier than trying to pack muscle on after reaching goal weight (and being "skinny fat" because of the LBM loss)...not to mention the fact that putting muscle on involves bulking (eating at a caloric excess), which will take you right back up from the goal weight you've achieved and necessitate another "cut" to get back down to goal weight.
  • junipearl
    junipearl Posts: 326 Member
    uh yah even when I am in maintenance, I will continue to do cardio because I want a strong heart and lungs lol........

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