women trying to lean out with strength...how much cardio?

my understanding is that they are both equally important.

strength = muscle > cardio

Hiya i'm following a Jennifer Nicole Lee plan atm >>>> http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/4_week_fat_loss_guide.htm

If you can't be bothered to read it she recommends 2 workout days which include cardio and perform anywhere from 25 to no more than 45 minutes of cardio. She also says try and stay away from the running machine.

Have a search in the womens bit on www.bodybuilding.com, there are lots of plans on there

My trainer has me lifting heavy three days a week. I also do two power sculpting classes twice a week that use light weights, high repetitions. She also has me doing cardio with a goal of 30 minutes per day. I take spinning classes 3-4 times a week and 2 cardio fusion classes as well. My body fat percentage decreased and muscle definition became more noticeable once I increased heavy lifting to 3 days/week.

I do heavy lifting M,W,F and on the T and T I do kettlebells, tabatas and whatever else I want to try. I don't do any cardio machines.The heavy lifting is the only way to go if you want to see body fat drop and get the body all ladies want.

I do both! I keep my entire workout, warmup included, to one hour. The first portion I spend on strength work, one rep max, or a heavy 3 or heavy 5 with several sets building up. (Sometimes replaced with skill work with light weight, especially to break down those olympic lifts.) The second half I do a metcon workout. Circuits are anywhere from 8-25 minutes, and are very intense. When I have lifts in this portion, I typically am working at 50%-60% of my max doing many reps. I combine the lifts with things like sprints, box jumps, burpees, push ups, pull ups, jump rope, etc. I go for speed, but I make sure I have a light enough weight that my form doesn't break down. (If I feel it breaking, I SLOW DOWN! If I didn't pick a good weight, I will actually stop and drop some weight off the bar).

This combination has given me great results in strength, speed, and aesthetics.

With marathon season starting up, I do plan to do some specific running work, and "specialize" a bit more in my workouts

I lift heavy 3 days a week and run 4-5 miles on 2 maybe 3 days if I feel like it. If I have to miss something because life gets in the way it would be running. I have been lifting for one month and I can already see results and it is so much fun to make my teenage son flinch when I walk by:laugh:

bump

I am trying to gain muscle with minimal fat gains and this is my plan, if it's of any help...

Monday
10k training (60 mins)

Tuesday
Abs circuit (30 mins)
Upper body heavy lifting (15 mins)

Wednesday
Rest

Thursday
Legs circuits (20 mins)
Upper body heavy lifting (10 mins)

Friday
Abs circuit (30 mins)
Sprints (15 mins)

Saturday
Yoga (90 mins)

Sunday
Back and bum circuit (30 mins)
Upper body heavy lifting (15 mins)

Thanks for the replies!

If anyone out there does more strength than cardio and wants to share their schedule, I would really appreciate it.

strength, every second day. sports twice a week worked around strength (soccer, volleyball takes care of my cardio)

Your strength training must be real strength training though, not 20 rep low weight, so called "toning". Lift heavy, lift correctly.

Strong this.

Lift heavy, eat good nutrition value/calorie ratio foods.

I am trying to gain muscle with minimal fat gains and this is my plan, if it's of any help...

Monday
10k training (60 mins)

Tuesday
Abs circuit (30 mins)
Upper body heavy lifting (15 mins)

Wednesday
Rest

Thursday
Legs circuits (20 mins)
Upper body heavy lifting (10 mins)

Friday
Abs circuit (30 mins)
Sprints (15 mins)

Saturday
Yoga (90 mins)

Sunday
Back and bum circuit (30 mins)
Upper body heavy lifting (15 mins)

I see that you dont hit the weightlifting everyday, which is good.

To gain muscle you should eat 500 calories over your daily expenditure.
Eat enough protein for yourself. Eat fats (30% of total calorie intake"hemp oil", "flaxseed oil" , they have good ratio of omega3:omega6.) - this is good for your heart.

10 minutes lifting is definately not enough. You should eat pre-workout meal.
To workout every muscle group on upper body it will usualy take 45 minutes.
Give yourself 3min rest between each set minimum.

do not do less than 3 sets of 8rep max. if you can do more than 8 reps, then increase weight by 10% until you reach 8 reps.

Dont forget about back muscles, do chinups or assisted chinups if needed. for lattisimus dorsi.

Eat well! and spend more time weightlifting is definately going to help. Eat enough protein.

You should see newbie gains quicker than you think.

I do both cardio and strength 3 days a week each with 1 rest day. I just wasn't seeing the kind of results I wanted to see doing cardio only (for at least a year).

I'm not very far into the strength yet, but I'm shooting for three days of strength, two days of cardio and two rest days per week. The diet will be important for leaning out too.

I think there is a lot of time wasted on mediocre exercises like "cutting" with high reps and "ab circuits".

unless you want to spend hours in the gym each week, keep it simple and keep it heavy. this builds muscle. IMHO there is no such thing as toning. You are tearing and building muscle or you are doing cardio (high reps). Building muscle = tone.

bodybuilders might need to work on specific body parts for competitions, for the rest of us, complex multi-muscle exercises are all really all that is needed.

On abs - real lifting will build your core naturally, the majors, deads, squats and pullups do this for you - no need to waste time doing 30 mins of crunches.

I do both! I hit the gym 3 times a week, do 10-20 mins of warm up cardio, do my strength training, then to another 20-30 mins of cardio before stretching I think its important to keep it balanced