Cardio + strength 2 times a week plan?

I'm not sure what type of cardio training you're interested in based on the post. Is your preferred approach to do both workouts on the same day at a gym, or something else? You could certainly get some benefit by doing cardio work in the gym, whether on an assault bike, a rower or a treadmill. As a cardio focused guy, I do lots of it and almost all of it outdoors during the warm weather(swim, bike, run) then indoor bike/swim in the cold months.

With that said, a 2 day/week plan would help to build cardio fitness over time. Depending on how much
cardio work you want to do, a third day that increases workout time and/or intensity would be beneficial. For example, many beginning run programs are based on 3 days of running, starting out as a run/walk approach.

Retroguy2000 wrote: »

Are you still progressing weight with SL? It may be time to switch to a more hypertrophy targeted program or something else if so.

https://www.characterstrength.co.uk/post/what-to-do-after-stronglifts-5x5

As you probably know, two workouts a week looking to progress both strength and cardio are somewhat conflicting goals.

Anyway, do sprints. Doesn't mean running or treadmill. Any cardio of your choice. Sprint at 80% max effort for 30 secs, go slower for 1-3 mins to recover, repeat several times. Optionally vary the sprint intensity, increasing to 90% or 100% effort, or adding time to the sprint. You should be able to get a decent amount in at the end of your strength workout in maybe 20 mins.

Ehhh, I dunno. That's a potentially great approach in the long run, I agree - and I usually agree with most of your (Retroguy's) fitness advice.

With OP saying "my cardio fitness is crappy and I get winded climbing multiple flights of stairs", I'd suggest he start with a few weeks of longer duration, more moderate intensity steady state cardio to build base CV capability and endurance, then phase in interval work gradually as longer-duration moderate steady state gets easier.

OP reports being willing to spend some time on the workout days. Base work would both burn more calories overall for X time period (in most cases, especially for someone deconditioned - because able to continue longer duration) and accumulate less fatigue (which could interfere with the weight work more recovery-wise, as well as fatigue being more unpleasant for most people and potentially bleeding calorie burn out of daily life activity) .

Base for a while, then introduce intervals or intensity: That's pretty standard advice IME for building CV fitness, at least in my sport.

OP: 100% yes to the "whatever cardio you enjoy" idea. Things we enjoy are more likely to actually happen, vs. unpleasant things (even if theoretically "better") we tend to shortcut or put off with the slightest excuse.

I'd suggest a mild bias in favor of some cardio that doesn't stress your less robust current capabilities, to complement your strength work. My priorities are different by far from yours, but I don't do much leg strength work in season, because it doesn't play well with my priority, on water rowing - I don't recover properly, though that's in a context of more than 2 days a week.

Doing both strength and cardio in one session twice a week, as you seem to a have in mind, I think the cross-effects may still be a relevant consideration, especially as you ramp up total volume across all the exercise modalities. Different cardio types do stress the body in different ways.

Just my opinions, though.