Question for people who lift heavy.

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poorlittlefish
poorlittlefish Posts: 38 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I have been a long time cardio junkie...run half marathons etc but my body has never really changed much. So, I decided to try lifting heavy and have been doing stronglifts for a while now. I lift 3-4 days per week and walk or run 2 miles before I lift. This is a drastic reduction in my cardio and it makes me so nervous, if you can understand that. Just wondering how much cardio all of you lifters are doing and wondering if I should be doing more. My goal is to drop 20 pounds.

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  • dgoradia
    dgoradia Posts: 109 Member
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    I've done 0 (ZERO) cardio for the last 2 years. I just lift heavy 3 days per week with 4 movements and I'm sub 10% bf.

    I.e. you'll be fine. May even end up gaining some muscle.
  • ashleearoha
    ashleearoha Posts: 165 Member
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    I hardly do any cardio now. I was the same as you, I ran at least 5 kms, 6 days a week and when I started strength training I found it hard to give up the cardio. I do cardio once or twice a week and only 20 minutes at a time doing interval training. Hope that helps :)
  • RaggedyPond
    RaggedyPond Posts: 1,487 Member
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    Cardio interferes with my leg recovery so I don't do it.
  • Mia_RagazzaTosta
    Mia_RagazzaTosta Posts: 4,885 Member
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    I spent almost a year solely lifting. I just started running again two weeks ago; 30ish minutes twice a week. I'm not training for anything, it's just something I missed so I started up again. Lifting is my priority.
  • poorlittlefish
    poorlittlefish Posts: 38 Member
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    Thanks. Has the weight continued to come off even though you don't do cardio or are are none of your goals weight loss at this point.
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,326 Member
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    if you've already set up a pretty good baseline of running fitness i dont see why you wouldnt be able to continue to run if you want to continue to do that. you might not be able to run as many miles, especially once you get to weights that are challenging and you're barely able to finish your 5 reps, but that will probably take you 1-2 months to reach that stage and you can just listen to your body from there.

    i'm running and lifting by the way and havent been having any issues as long as my calorie deficit isnt crazy high
  • dnamouse
    dnamouse Posts: 612 Member
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    I did a 30 minute walk on Monday with a friend and 15minutes of intervals yesterday after my weights session. That will probably be all for this week unless I feel like a swim on the weekend.

    I do cardio when I can fit it in - it's just not my focus at the moment.
  • Mia_RagazzaTosta
    Mia_RagazzaTosta Posts: 4,885 Member
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    Thanks. Has the weight continued to come off even though you don't do cardio or are are none of your goals weight loss at this point.

    All of my loss (22#) was with zero cardio.
  • jofjltncb6
    jofjltncb6 Posts: 34,415 Member
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    During "running season" (which is loosely defined as when the weather isn't ridiculous), I'll run 2-3/week and lift 2-3/week swinging the ratios based on how I'm feeling/recovering. It's really a balancing act (especially for me as an "old" guy).

    How much do I think you *need* to do? Absolutely none. Probably ideally would to be low-impact active (like long(ish) brisk walks) in addition to lifting. More of a hunch though than something to which I can point to references.
  • spoiledpuppies
    spoiledpuppies Posts: 675 Member
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    I just started working with a trainer for heavy lifting. He doesn't want me to do any regular cardio because it will ask my body to do opposite things with my muscles than what we're trying to accomplish. He set me up for HIIT runs though to maintain my cardio health. (We spent my last session identifying my starting intensity and times--essentially 1:24 of running intensely, 2:48 of absolute stop, repeat 4-8 times.) So I'll do this and/or yoga on days we don't do the heavy lifting.
  • Hauntinglyfit
    Hauntinglyfit Posts: 5,537 Member
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    For the past year, I've done no cardio at all.
    Recently i started doing 1-2 moderate pace cardio sessions a week. Tonight i tried yoga for the first time, and i found it challenging and more entertaining than cardio machines, so i'll probably switch to doing that twice a week. I feel like my muscles have been really stiff lately, and i have some mobility/flexibility issues, so that should help me a bit.

    ETA: I've lost over 20 pounds with no cardio, so it's not necessary for weight loss.
  • Fithealthyforlife
    Fithealthyforlife Posts: 866 Member
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    I have done hardly anything you could consider cardio since November. No problems with fat gain. And I eat more than I burn.
  • RaggedyPond
    RaggedyPond Posts: 1,487 Member
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    Thanks. Has the weight continued to come off even though you don't do cardio or are are none of your goals weight loss at this point.

    I'm continuing to lose weight and inches with strength training only. It's mostly keeping a calorie deficit.
  • steve0820
    steve0820 Posts: 510 Member
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    I have been a long time cardio junkie...run half marathons etc but my body has never really changed much. So, I decided to try lifting heavy and have been doing stronglifts for a while now. I lift 3-4 days per week and walk or run 2 miles before I lift. This is a drastic reduction in my cardio and it makes me so nervous, if you can understand that. Just wondering how much cardio all of you lifters are doing and wondering if I should be doing more. My goal is to drop 20 pounds.

    You can certainly do both. But one routine will probably dominate the other. If i'm training for a race, the miles have to go up, so the lifting scales down a bit. Or vice versa. Right now, i'm not running at all, so my cardio is pretty much at zero, except for the occasional HIIT session. If you're goal is to just lose weight right now, nutrition and keep lifting will take care of that.

    I would suggest the walk/run 2 miles, be done after your lifting session if you want to maximize.

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