Cardio on strength training days

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AllNewMelanie
AllNewMelanie Posts: 47 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Do you do cardio or HIIT on weight training days? I do weights 3x a week for about an hour or so and after I'm so tired that's sometimes I just can't finish my HIIT training....What's your gym routines?

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  • kazmurphblin
    kazmurphblin Posts: 114 Member
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    I do weights in the morning cardio at night not at the same time for the same reason basically you dont give as much to the workout otherwise. x
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    IMHO, if you're doing a good strength or lifting routine, you shouldn't really have the ability to do much cardio...you should pretty much be shot to ****.

    I don't do any rigorous cardio on lifting days...I go for a walk usually at lunch for about 45 minutes and I lift in the evenings those 3 days. I do my aerobic cardio and HIIT on non lifting days. I have to be somewhat careful though as I don't want to overdo it and not make my gains next lift session.
  • CyberEd312
    CyberEd312 Posts: 3,536 Member
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    I do cardio following my weight lifting (Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday) but it is low impact cardio (walking outside or on the treadmill, some seated biking, etc) I am pretty much taxed from my lifting so I save my heavy cardio (swimming laps, elliptical, etc for Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) One Rest day a week normally on Sundays...... Best of Luck
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    My routine looks like this...

    Monday - Jogging 3 miles
    Tuesday - walk at lunch; strength in the evening
    Wed - HIIT
    Thurs - walk at lunch; strength in the evening
    Fri - Jogging 3 miles
    Sat - Strength in the AM; recreational exercise (bike ride, walking dog, etc)
    Sun - Recreational Exercise.
  • kazmurphblin
    kazmurphblin Posts: 114 Member
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    why dont you do cardio on your days inbetween your weight days?
  • AllNewMelanie
    AllNewMelanie Posts: 47 Member
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    Thanks everyone! I do my weights mon, wed and Friday, HIIT on Tuesday and Thursday but I wasn't sure if I should be doing any cardio on my weights day too. I'm so tired though so I wasn't getting through much. So maybe my weights and a cool down on the elliptical maybe...
  • tlrindy
    tlrindy Posts: 4 Member
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    I do cardio every time I workout but the days I do strength training is for a thirty minute warm up before I lift to get my heart rate up and to warm up the muscles. On my non lifting days, I do HIIT for an hour. So TUES THURS are HIIT and MWF is longer lifting and shorter cardio, I get a pretty good cardio workout when I lift because I like supersets or short/no rest between sets.
  • gxm17
    gxm17 Posts: 374
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    I do pretty much the same as you, strength training three days a week and cardio/HIIT + yoga two times on the days in between. If I'm feeling particularly energetic and have the time, I'll do cardio or yoga on the weekend. There's no way I could do strength and HIIT back to back.
  • tomcornhole
    tomcornhole Posts: 1,084 Member
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    Doing cardio on strength days may impede effective recovery, especially if you are doing 5x5 type lifting in a caloric deficit. I want to do cardio on strength days because I like cardio and need it to manage stress. But it will adversely effect my strength recovery, so I don't. If I could stand it, I would not do any cardio right now to maximize my strength benefits. Strength is my focus right now. And despite all the brouhaha on here, I don't need to do cardio to lose fat.

    This is all a result of doing all of this in a caloric deficit. If you are eating at a surplus, cardio to your hearts content.

    Tom
  • Huffdogg
    Huffdogg Posts: 1,934 Member
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    If I'm doing any kind of cardio at all on a lifting day, it's at the end of a fasted lifting session to try to squeak a bit of extra fat burn out of a particular workout. Beyond that I don't bother with any cardio at all. I despise it. I'd much rather get my deficit by just eating intelligently
  • WillieMN
    WillieMN Posts: 51 Member
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    Do you do cardio or HIIT on weight training days? I do weights 3x a week for about an hour or so and after I'm so tired that's sometimes I just can't finish my HIIT training....What's your gym routines?

    What's your goal for that day? If you need to focus on quality cardio then do it first. If you are working on strength then cardio need to be after or the next day. In order to be 100% for your priority workout then the other workout must take the back seat.

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