cardio vs. strength training

If you're exhausted after 30 minutes of walking, I hope you mean to gradually work up to 60 minutes, not go out for 60 tomorrow.

If you're working up to it, I would say 30 minutes of cardio and strength training every other day and 60 minutes of cardio on the opposite days.

Best of luck.

Productive in terms of what? What are your goals regarding cardio and strength training? Which one is more important to you?

Generally having a varied routine that includes both cardio and strength is more balanced. Now if your fitness goals are mainly cardio (run longer, cycle faster...etc) you would be doing the cardio first then the strength training to augment it. If you decide gaining strength is more important to you, you would do strength first. It's not cut in stone but that's how I would do it because being tired after cardio may affect your strength performance and vice versa, so you may want to start with whichever you want to have the best performance in.

Alternatively, you could just dedicate days to cardio and days to strength. This way you get to recover from either better.

carader47 wrote: »

I've been walking 30 minutes a day without any strength training at all. I'm ready to increase my cardio to 60 minutes. BUT my question is, would it be more productive to do 30 minutes of cardio and strength training every other day and 60 minutes of cardio on the opposite days?

Also, after my cardio I'm exhausted...should I do the strength training first? Or does the order I workout in matter at all?

I swim so I get both cardio and strength in one exercise.

I have read articles that say cardio after strength training is more effective. I'm working myself up to a workout that has 1 min of high intensity cardio between weight lifting sets. I personally do 15 mins on the elliptical at the end of my strength training and I have seen results ( lost inches ). The articles I read are on www.bodybuilding.com. Hope this helps

Yeah, probably not a good idea to lift weights after cardio if your exhausted. Maybe strength training first (30mins) and walk afterwards (30mins) to finish yourself off lol. It's also Ok to do just cardio one day and strength the next and repeat. Ideally, you want to be giving it your best effort for both and not compromise one for the other. Your cardio will improve from the strength training and vice versa. Try it out and see what best suits your schedule/fitness level. But definatley do both cardio and strength.

galgenstrick wrote: »

dbomb76 wrote: »

Why not do both? Check out some HIIT workouts. Might be your thing. I know it helped me a bunch when I was starting out.

I agree HIIT is awesome, but I don't think it is the right advice for someone who gets exhausted after 30 minutes of walking. OP needs to get in better shape before attempting HIIT.

That is why I suggested swimming. You do both cardio and strength at the same time, plus you can tailor it to your fitness level. Granted, you need a pool and time to shower, etc afterwards so it isn't practical for everyone.

HIIT has its place as well as advantages, but isnt the answer for everything. Steady state has plusses as well.

If you are exhausted after 30 minutes walking, then you really need to build your fitness up first, it will come quite quickly, but id get to a stage where you feel a bit more in control. Slideaways approach seems fine.

Its not really cardio v strength as they both do different things that complement each other. in that sense i would do both during the week.

Cardio or strength first? It does depend on your priorities, but if its just weight loss, then id be oing for strength becayse I want to be at my best for correct form to get the most out of it and avoid accidents. Catdio I might have slower times but i can live with that.