I have a 4 days a week lifting schedule and try to schedule my runs on days where I DON'T have any heavy intense leg work the next day (especially sprints and stuff that might leave me sore). So sometimes that falls on the same day I've already lifted. I'd say figure out which one is your priority and cut down 1 session of the other to ease back in, then put it back in if you're feeling good. You could also do a 1 day on, 2 days off of lifting. So it'll be 2/3 times a week alternatively. It'll give you a bit more time to recover and more freedom to do more cardio-y things.

In the end it's what works for you that matters, so try a few different set-ups and see what works best. No one said schedules have to be set in stone, either. If you miss a day, just keep going the next as if there hadn't been a break. Make it fit with your other things. Go and have fun!

Your strength may not go up quite as fast, but you're also a little less likely to hit a plateau as well since you're technically giving your body a better chance to recover. With SL being a full body workout you'll still give a good stimulus to your muscles (you could always add a few accessory lifts to compensate for the missing day if you feel like it might help you, but it's in no way mandatory).

As long as you stay active and your nutrition is on point, you'll get leaner and more defined as you go for sure.

At least for me, doing Stronglifts 3 times per week is better than 2. I'd say anything less than 2, you might as well not bother.

I've always heard that 2workouts/week is maintenance, starting from 3workouts/week is training? Don't know if this is true

arabianhorselover wrote: »

crabada wrote: »

arabianhorselover wrote: »

I'd say anything less than 2, you might as well not bother.

What?! Sorry, but I strongly disagree with this!

Any type of resistance / weight training is going to be better than nothing. You may not build a ton of muscle, but you'll at the very least keep more of what you have.

I believe the OP was wanting to make gains. That would be hard with less than two strength workouts per week.

Considering she plans on running/biking which can be relatively demanding activities, she is better off easing into it than doing too much and burning out. It's possible to make gains on 2 days a week, they will just be a bit slower. I can tell you by experience you don't make a lot of muscle/strength gains when you have relatively no rest/recovery in your schedule, either! And I was suggesting something akin to 2.5 lifting sessions a week, too.

When I started, I did a light cardio almost every day but all I did was walk. If I did anything at the gym during a lifting session, I walked on the treadmill after lifting. I tried before but found I liked it more if I did it afterwards as I could put enough energy for the weights and the walk served as kind of a cool down.

Now that I'm training for a 5k run, I do cardio 3 days a week and lifting 3 days a week, which leaves one rest day. I like having them on different days. Also, since I can't rely on my work schedule staying the same (right now i'm working 6 days a week but other times I get 2 days off), having a consistent work out schedule has been nice. I do get a little tired and my feet often ache because I stand on my feet all shift at work and do the other stuff. But overall, it's working so far for me. I am doing NROLFW and before did SL, so I've never done a "leg day" at this point. However, I did move my accessories around because the heavy glute/hamstring ones are not good for late night if I'm going to be attempting to jog the next day. So, I do that set of accessories on Saturday night since Sunday all I have is work.