For those who strength train and do cardio...

Ta2dchic20
Ta2dchic20 Posts: 376 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Lately I find myself getting a little burnt out. I am curious, for those of you who do both cardio and strength training AND are trying to lose weight (not bulk, sorry guys), how much time do you spend on cardio during your typical strength training day? Previously I was doing 75 min of cardio/day, which was yielding terrific weight loss. However, I realize the importance of strength training and have been trying to incorporate if. Since I started strength training, I cut back my cardio and haven't lost much weight. I also haven't noticed a real difference in how my clothes fit, but that maybe due to my clothes either being too big or too small. Anyway, I would appreciate hearing from others who believe in both cardio and strength training. Thanks.:flowerforyou:

Replies

  • livingdeadlifter
    livingdeadlifter Posts: 36
    Mm, I do cardio every three days or so, or do a quick HIIT session after lifting (will be doing that today, actually).

    What kind of strength training are you doing, and with what frequency?

    And anyway, what/how you're eating makes the most difference in terms of shrinking fat cells. What kinds of things do you eat?
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,329 Member
    when did you make the change?
    it took about a month for me to see differences in how my clothes fit when i switched to mainly weights.i've had several months where i noticed no change in scale weight but my pant size was decreasing

    lifting days i do no more than 30 minutes of cardio, but usually it's around 20 minutes
    non lifting days it's 45-60 minutes of varying intensity.

    also, for the record, i know that you dont necessarily need cardio to lose weight, but i noticed a HUGE difference in my endurance and stamina when i started slacking on cardio. i have other goals beyond just weight loss (ie i want to do a sprint distance triathlon, want to start running 10Ks, want to start playing capoeira again) and some of those involve having decent endurance and stamina which weight training alone wasn't building for me


    congrats on your weight loss so far. i'm planning on getting 65 pounds total loss by the end of this year
  • Ta2dchic20
    Ta2dchic20 Posts: 376 Member
    I will admit my diet wasn't the best over the holidays, but it never will be a clean diet. A totally clean diet doesn't fit into my life and while I'm all about changes, I'm trying to reach my goals within my current life. I try to focus heavy on the protein. I did still lose a couple pounds.

    As for when I made the change, beginning of December. 4x/week(2x upper body, 2x lower body) I incorporate strength training. I'm mainly using the machines, free weights scare me a little bit, but I've worked with a trainer in the past, so I'm very familiar with the importance of form and negative resistance.

    It's hard for me to give up too much cardio, but sometimes I wonder if I can live the rest of my life doing 65-75 minutes of cardio a day. I'll admit, I don't enjoy working out. I do it because it's a necessary evil and I never regret it when I'm done. My profile says it all, it's a struggle. Mind over matter, but it still bites.
  • sarahrbraun
    sarahrbraun Posts: 2,261 Member
    Up until about 3 weeks ago I was doing about 35 minutes of cardio and an hour of strength. Now I do about 20 minutes of cardio and 60 minutes of strength. This week I am going to add in a few minutes of stair climber on my lower body days...
  • Sycoholic
    Sycoholic Posts: 282 Member
    Here's me. I do heavy strength training M,W,F. I'm talking about 2 hours each day of freeweights hard and heavy with a friend of mine. I then do about a half hour on the treadmill. The rest of the week I do light cardio and abs and lower back, depending on energy and how sore I am. At least once a week, usually on the weekend I'll do a long run of about 6 or 7 miles, but that's because I love running. I have been at this for months and haven't seen a difference on the scales. I have lost several inches on my waist and gained a lot on muscle mass. You cannot rely on the scale to tell you what's going on. Get yourself a tape measure such as a seamstress would use and measure yourself. Easiest is to measure around your neck below your larnyx, around your waist across your belly button, and around your biceps. Do this once every two weeks. I do it every other week as soon as I get home from doing my biceps/triceps workout. This way I have a reliable measurement since your muscles swell when working out; as I'm taking it at the same time, same conditions. I am doing this for weight loss and to build strength. Once I attain my desired bodyfat percentage I'll still do the same amount of everything, I'll just up my calorie intake so I'm not so hungry all the time. That will also help my energy levels so I can work out better. I hope this helps.
  • mimstero
    mimstero Posts: 119 Member
    I do a sprint/walk interval for 2.5 miles on Monday and Friday, jog 4 miles on Wednesdays and 4.5 + on Saturdays, do either the stairmaster gauntlet on Sundays for 35 minutes or an Insanity video, and do hard strength training on Tuesdays and Thursdays for 45 min with a trainer. I have not noticed a huge change in weight, but I have noticed that I am a lot more toned, especially my core.
    I signed up for another half marathon in May and I hope that my strength training pays off for that.

    You should stop the 60 plus min of cardio every day simply because you want to do something that you can sustain for a lifetime. That's a ton of time each day.
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    Lately I find myself getting a little burnt out. I am curious, for those of you who do both cardio and strength training AND are trying to lose weight (not bulk, sorry guys), how much time do you spend on cardio during your typical strength training day? Previously I was doing 75 min of cardio/day, which was yielding terrific weight loss. However, I realize the importance of strength training and have been trying to incorporate if. Since I started strength training, I cut back my cardio and haven't lost much weight. I also haven't noticed a real difference in how my clothes fit, but that maybe due to my clothes either being too big or too small. Anyway, I would appreciate hearing from others who believe in both cardio and strength training. Thanks.:flowerforyou:

    what made you decide to do that much cardio every day? it's not needed. you can get the same effect by eating a little bit less. Now that you're doing strength training, why don't we back your cardio down to 30, maaaaaaaaybe 45 mins a day, 3x per week? You're going to need that energy to recuperate from your lifting. Remain diligent with your calories and not only will you continue to lose weight, i think you'll find the weight fluctuations from week to week will be minimized as well
  • Ta2dchic20
    Ta2dchic20 Posts: 376 Member
    Lately I find myself getting a little burnt out. I am curious, for those of you who do both cardio and strength training AND are trying to lose weight (not bulk, sorry guys), how much time do you spend on cardio during your typical strength training day? Previously I was doing 75 min of cardio/day, which was yielding terrific weight loss. However, I realize the importance of strength training and have been trying to incorporate if. Since I started strength training, I cut back my cardio and haven't lost much weight. I also haven't noticed a real difference in how my clothes fit, but that maybe due to my clothes either being too big or too small. Anyway, I would appreciate hearing from others who believe in both cardio and strength training. Thanks.:flowerforyou:

    what made you decide to do that much cardio every day? it's not needed. you can get the same effect by eating a little bit less. Now that you're doing strength training, why don't we back your cardio down to 30, maaaaaaaaybe 45 mins a day, 3x per week? You're going to need that energy to recuperate from your lifting. Remain diligent with your calories and not only will you continue to lose weight, i think you'll find the weight fluctuations from week to week will be minimized as well

    Thanks for the advice. I will admit, I'm a little scared to cut back to 30, 45 I can do, but how often should I be strength training? Should I be doing total body 3x/week? Do I take a rest day? It's hard to change a routine when it's been working. Rest days suck for me because it makes going back to the gym the next day tough. I'll try this for a month and see what results I get, then reevaluate.

    That's partially where I find my problem. My heartrate monitor is screwed up right now (haven't used it in years, I'm sure it's operator error), so I'm not sure how many calories to really eat back. For the amount of exercise I do, 1200 calories is not enough. So I try to compromise, and eat an extra 5 calories for every minute I work out.
  • zeta30
    zeta30 Posts: 40
    I only do 30 minutes of cardio at the most then an hour of weights. One thing I do to not getting bored is I switch my weight workout around every 3 weeks. This not only keeps me from getting bored but it also causes muscle confusion. When you do the same thing every week your muscles get used to it and you will platough, but if you switch your workouts around every few weeks it will reduce this platough effect.

    You can still lose fat by cutting down your cardio and beefing up your weight lifting. It will take longer but in my opinion will have longer lasting results. This is because the more muscle you have the more calories your body will burn when you are sedentary. But you have to lift weights the right way to build up some muscle, not the little 2.5 lb weights that I see a lot of women do.

    I know one person who never does cardio, he believes that the way he lifts weights he gets his cardio work out. He does circuit training. I worked out with him once and I have to tell you I was very winded, even more than I usually am doing my cardio workout. So you might want to consider throwing in a circuit work out in your routine. Go on YouTube or Google and look up circuit training and you can find a boat load of different workouts.

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