Strength Training a Detriment to Cardio??

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spring913
spring913 Posts: 158 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm going to try and explain what I'm experiencing without rambling. When I first started exercising at the end of April I was swimming and cycling. In July I added strength training (body weight) to the mix. Up until I added the calisthenics I could feel progression in my cardio, endurance and strength was consistently increasing each week. After a couple weeks of calisthenics I now feel my cardio has stalled. My cardiovascular fitness is improving, but my muscles tire a lot sooner. Last night I went for a 7K bike ride, my route includes mostly hills. By the end, my quads were killing me! While I do normally experience burn after a ride, this was exceptional for me. I've also noticed in the pool, I don't have the kicking endurance I had a month ago. So it seems isolated to my legs. Is it possible I'm overworking them? Is pushing through okay? This morning I have very slight fatigue in my quads but I barely notice.

My workout schedule is calisthenics M-W-F. Swim Tues. Cycle Thurs, Sun. Sat is an off day. This past week life happened and I missed my Friday workout and did it Sat instead. So last night's bike ride was 24 hours after strength training.

Am I doing something wrong? I was always under the impression that things would get easier the longer I did them, not harder! I want to improve my distance and speed, but I'm not sure if it's possible with my muscles being so tired. It occurs to me that I'm just being impatient, but I'm not sure.

Replies

  • rybo
    rybo Posts: 5,424 Member
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    There is going to be a period of adaptation from your body due to the added exercise. Be patient, make sure you are recovering, which is more than just rest days. Also if you only started working out in April, you are very new and still building your work capacity. Patience
  • spring913
    spring913 Posts: 158 Member
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    Okay. Recovery? I know I don't eat enough protein, and I'm working on that. I find it difficult, so it's a process and learning curve for me. I'm getting there though. I rest one day a week. I stretch after every workout. Anything I'm missing? What's the hype surrounding foam rolling? I always assumed that was for athletes, I'm not even an athlete. lol
  • SingingSingleTracker
    SingingSingleTracker Posts: 1,866 Member
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    spring913 wrote: »
    Okay. Recovery? I know I don't eat enough protein, and I'm working on that. I find it difficult, so it's a process and learning curve for me. I'm getting there though. I rest one day a week. I stretch after every workout. Anything I'm missing? What's the hype surrounding foam rolling? I always assumed that was for athletes, I'm not even an athlete. lol

    You might need more recovery between sessions than just taking Saturday off. You might need two days of recovery in your week.

    The three days a week of body weight work might be too much. In many training programs for endurance athletes (cyclists, runners) the weight lifting is done in the "off season" and then during the "in season" for running and cycling the athlete cuts back to only one or at most two days of lifts (one day upper body, the other day lower body) which is usually called "maintenance" where you are only trying to maintain the strength gains and not trying to push too hard. That allows one to recover easier and not interrupt the cardio training.

    You mention your "cardiovascular fitness is improving". How do you measure that improvement?

    Do you ever take rest weeks?

    Again, many training plans have athletes take a rest week either after every three weeks of training, or sometimes after every 2 weeks of training. A "rest week" is a 5 day sequence where you use active recovery (still cycle or run, but at less intensity and shorter durations), and your weight work would be at lesser weight, fewer reps, etc...) with the goal of still exercising during those 5 days, but this "rest week" allows your body to go through repair and builds it back up to be ready to train again at a higher level than your previous block of training weeks.

    I would suggest you read up on the "training effect" and learn all you can about periodized training as it is never a straight line. You have to build in enough recovery between sessions, learn the intensities to target and when to target them so that your efforts lead to growth, supercompensation, and peak performance. In the end, we listen to our body. It lets you know when it is tired and needs more rest/recovery. It also lets you know after enough rest/recovery when it is itching to hammer again.
  • wessx1
    wessx1 Posts: 58 Member
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    spring913 wrote: »
    I'm going to try and explain what I'm experiencing without rambling. When I first started exercising at the end of April I was swimming and cycling. In July I added strength training (body weight) to the mix. Up until I added the calisthenics I could feel progression in my cardio, endurance and strength was consistently increasing each week. After a couple weeks of calisthenics I now feel my cardio has stalled. My cardiovascular fitness is improving, but my muscles tire a lot sooner. Last night I went for a 7K bike ride, my route includes mostly hills. By the end, my quads were killing me! While I do normally experience burn after a ride, this was exceptional for me. I've also noticed in the pool, I don't have the kicking endurance I had a month ago. So it seems isolated to my legs. Is it possible I'm overworking them? Is pushing through okay? This morning I have very slight fatigue in my quads but I barely notice.

    My workout schedule is calisthenics M-W-F. Swim Tues. Cycle Thurs, Sun. Sat is an off day. This past week life happened and I missed my Friday workout and did it Sat instead. So last night's bike ride was 24 hours after strength training.

    Am I doing something wrong? I was always under the impression that things would get easier the longer I did them, not harder! I want to improve my distance and speed, but I'm not sure if it's possible with my muscles being so tired. It occurs to me that I'm just being impatient, but I'm not sure.

    Change your timings ,resting your body and muscles is a must ,try energizers 30 mins before excersising i use (monster drink OR vega one energizer) the help a lot during workouts
    https://myvega.com/products/vega-sport-sugar-free-energizer/
    Try new workouts make excersising more fun ,one of the reasons to my good shape is playing tennis and rope skipping ,i also in my free time (you might find this a bit funny) do hula hoop.
    Don't let you body get used to a certain routine ,trick your body it's a key.
    All the best!
  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
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    In addition to what's been said, is your strength training geared toward improving your distance and speed (since that's what you said you want to improve)?

    For example - as a powerlifter, and at least for me - running distance probably wouldn't be the best cardio exercise. Speed-walking, the occasional sprint, and rowing work well for me to increase my work capacity.

    If you're not training properly for your goals, yes, it could be (although not necessarily is) detrimental.
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
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    Another vote for not enough recovery time..... I should know better but I've been more consistent with my strength training (Stronglifts 5 x 5 which includes squatting 3 x weekly) for the past 8 weeks and had awful 10 mile run yesterday. Learn from my fail........ B)
  • Michael190lbs
    Michael190lbs Posts: 1,510 Member
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    I lift weights 75 min 6 days a week( each body part twice a week) and ride a bike 17-21 miles everyday push (500 miles every month) you will adapt eventually. I removed alot of muscle from my body on purpose to be more agile, flexible, generally healthier while in an attempt to keep strength via my calories and Macro's and it worked. I suggest you eat to train my 2 cents
  • iplayoutside19
    iplayoutside19 Posts: 2,304 Member
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    Lots of good replies here. One thing that caught me was this line:

    "endurance and strength was consistently increasing each week. After a couple weeks of calisthenics I now feel my cardio has stalled."

    I've started and restarted lots of different routines. Each time I start them I make significant gains for the first few weeks. Then once my body adjusts the gains stall and they come in smaller increments. Swimming, lifting, running, cycling, doesn't matter what it is. So, there maybe some correlation to you increasing your body weight exercise, but it could be your at the end of your beginner curve and it's time for the harder gains to begin.



  • janettles
    janettles Posts: 69 Member
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    Many of the posts above touch on the possibility of overtraining. I have a tendency to overtrain, and my symptoms include thoughts like:
    -- "I've been doing this forever, why is it suddenly so hard?"
    -- "I'm so, so tired, but I'll push myself and get it done"
    -- "Why am I still so tired today when I got a good night's sleep?"
    -- "I'm not sure I have the motivation to keep doing this."

    I have no real answers for you, but for me, I am starting to do some heart rate and heart rate variability training. Some say that paying attention to heart rate can prevent overtraining.

    Good luck!
  • spring913
    spring913 Posts: 158 Member
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    @SingingSingleTracker I measure cardiovascular fitness by how I feel. I no longer have to stop at the top of every hill and die before continuing to ride, I can swim 4 lengths without stopping to catch my breath instead of 1. lol I don't have a heart rate monitor yet, but do plan on getting one at some point.

    I have A LOT of weight still to loose. So, strength training right now is an attempt to maintain as much muscle as I can. And, I'm really enjoying it. Maybe twice a week will be enough for now, until the winter when I won't be able to get out on my bike anyway, then I'll drop cardio down to swimming only and increase strength back up. I'll do research on the training effect and recovery. I think you're right and I'm not allowing my body the time it needs to recover.

    @TR0berts and @Michael190lbs and @janettles I'll look into your suggestions and do some research. thanks.

    @iplayoutside19 Newbie gains didn't even occur to me. That makes sense too.


    I didn't think this early on that I'd hit a stumbling block aside from being too fat. ha. Thank you all for your advice. I have a lot of reading and research to do!!
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
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    You need more recovery between strength sessions, every other day imo.

    And more protein will aid muscle repair and build strength which will help your endurance.

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