Lifters - cardio question

Depends on you and your goals. I do 45 min max, 30 min minimum, 0 on my highest carb day. Unless I'm cutting in which case it's 45min/day

Based on your comments you know the basics of weight training and cardio traing for overall strength and fitness.
Just keep in mind that too much cardio will have reductive effect on lean muscle tissue. Muscle is very metabolic and the body will consume muscle tissue over fat during periods of high calorie consumption such as long periods of cardio. Be sure to have some fast absorbing protien 30 minutes before your cardio to protect your muscle.
Three days of lifting and there alternating days of cardio is good routine, lift on day one cardio on day two and so on is a basic program. Remember to change it up now and again, it's good for your muscles and mind.
And, what most overlook is the kitchen workout

SarahBeth0625 wrote: »

Lofteren wrote: »

If you want to continue to make strength gains, I would recommend swapping to cardio that uses the same energy systems as lifting. The adaptations you elicit from doing low, slow cardio (like jogging) are counter productive for someone who has primarily strength goals. In short, jogging makes you weak, so if you want to be strong then you shouldn't do it. You can still keep your heart healthy and your fat in check by doing higher intensity cardio exercise in intervals. Sledge hammer slams, keg slams, sprints, sled pulls, farmers carries, kettlebell swings, boxing/kickboxing drills, etc.. can all be effectively used and are a lot more fun than running (in my opinion). I like to do 1 min/1 min rest for 15 rounds when I'm doing weighted drills and 3 min/1 min rest for 12 rounds when doing boxing drills (this could be any combination of heavy bag work, focus mitts, shadow boxing, jump rope or actually fighting with another person).

Hmmm, thank you! This gives me some ideas. I could always go down to 1-2 running sessions a week and start with 1 session where I am doing some of those activities you mentioned. I belong to the Y so don't necessarily have access to a boxing bag (although it sounds like a blast to me!), but I can Youtube some videos of kettlebell swings. I have never attempted it myself, but they do have some there. I think I need to create a new cardio routine with something to challenge myself. To me, running is hard, but I'm going at a pretty good clip (8:16 min mile for my 5Ks). Been at it just about a year since I did my very first run. I just don't LOVE it like I do lifting.

I forgot to mention weighted carries. You can do these a million different ways but they are a great tool for conditioning. Just pick up something heavy (rule of thumb is approximately your bodyweight) and carry it for 20 seconds. Set it down, rest for 1 min and carry it again for another 20 seconds. It could be almost anything heavy, a stone, a barbell, a sandbag, a bag of cement, etc... These also have the benefit of helping you pack on some mass while you are doing cardio and making you look like a crazy person

sexy6pack wrote: »

Just keep in mind that too much cardio will have reductive effect on lean muscle tissue. Muscle is very metabolic and the body will consume muscle tissue over fat during periods of high calorie consumption such as long periods of cardio.

It's probably worth a reality check on the cardio is bad for you line of reasoning. Three recovery pace 5K runs per week is minimal cardio work already, and in terms of energy consumption it's less than 1000 cals per week.

That said, I'd agree with McCloud, doing three 5Km recovery pace runs per week isn't really having any discernible performance improvement effect, it's be worth building in some more interesting sessions to start delivering some benefit.

Identify the objectives, then plan towards that. Be realistic about the various modes of training, none of them are bad, per se, but some are less significant to objectives than others.

I'm not certain I'd agree with the notion that Jogging Makes You Weak.

Photos are all of runners. Serious runners who love to run, and run for long distances.

Look, if you like to run or if you have running goals, then you should run. The "marathon runner" pictures compared to "sprinter" pictures are contrasting people who intentionally lose upper body strength in the interest of faster marathon times against those for whom endurance is less relevant than power. The rest of us are never going to be in the top 1% of finishers, and we don't need to trade strength for endurance like that.

But sprinter or marathoner, pro runners typically spend 80% of their workouts at fairly low intensity -- the equivalent of "jogging" for most people -- and only 20% of their time at high intensity. To skew that toward too much high intensity work is to invite injury. I'm a victim of that philosophy and only got back on track from injury by following a sane, low-intensity plan with periodized, goal-specific high-intensity work.

If you run for 30 minutes a day at moderate intensity -- slowly increasing your speed -- and lift regularly -- slowly increasing your overload -- as long as you nourish your body right you'll put on muscle, build strength, and build endurance. It really depends on your goals, and you'll want to periodize to emphasize certain goals over others at different times of year.

What you prioritize is what you will improve. One mile at a time, one lift at a time, one meal at a time.