Mixing cardio with lifting?

Hey everyone!

Long time lurker, first time poster here

I have a question about doing cardio along with my lifting workout.

Me: female, intermediate powerlifting in the past. Focused primarily on lifting and strength training - neglected cardio.

Goal: strength strength strength, amazing form, posture,muscle tone and eventually building after some more weight loss.

Current training - cardio and free weights. Long runs mixed with high intensity intervals. I can finally run long distances and I'm in love with it

In a perfect world? 40mins of running/jogging followed by 30 mins of compound weight training - back to basics. 3 day split, chest, back and legs. Cardio an abs on non-lifting days.

In the real world? Is that a good way to train or is it really important I keep my cardio and lifting separate? Back in uni getting in for a one hour cardio session and then a 50 min lifting session in the afternoon...much easier

All advice and input is much appreciated! I'm 160cm, 24, female - short little legs so I'm super keen to maintain the running but I'm longing for the bar again lol

Cheers,
Palina

There is no reason why you can't balance cardio with strength training- the key will be to find the balance that matches your goals. In my opinion fitter people have better work capacity and recover better, but the trick is not pushing things so much that it has a negative impact on the strength training. How much is too much? That's an individual thing and will depend on where you are at now. I think an important consideration is how it all fits together as a weekly plan- for eg running is probably not a good thing to do immediately before squatting. So I'd space things out so they have minimal impact on each other. Some very very good powerlifters run and do conditioning work. You can definitely manage both- but planning is the key. Start by working out your priorities and goals then start devising a plan to get there. If it was me I'd be squatting before running, deadlifting before I hammer the abs etc.

when I competed in cycling I'd do cardio in the morning and strength training in the afternoon
the strength training I was doing back then though is not really powerlifting there was practically no spinal loading but I made good progress in both this way

Now I play football I like to do a DE workout before football practice

Thanks for that

I definitely need a good plan that's for sure. Squats before jogging? That actually makes sense...I'm going to use most of my energy squatting and then I can pace my jog depending on what is left in the tank.

Cheers

I think he said running wouldn't be a good idea before squats (which I agree with)

If you can separate it, I would or do a day of strength and then a day of cardio. Keep in mind, you will need to eat more if you want to recover well. (But if weight loss is the goal then that is a bit of a balancing act)

Personally after a big leg session I struggle to walk let a lone go for a run, so if you can do it before or a seperate day this may be beneficial.

Neddy

I believe going for a run with the dingos after a brutal workout is where it's at.

Doing it on the one day, rather than before or a day after is the ticket, even if it is just a crawl.

Isn't that wat HIIT is good for? Complexes etc

Inducer said:

Isn't that wat HIIT is good for?

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There is an argument that was well debated on the internet, interval type aerobic work is better for your heart than steady state work.

I beleive it's all subjective, just hit the road for half an hour, get puffy-puffy, work up a sweat.

Combining that with weights, in that you do both at the same time is the essence of H.I.T.
That's not easy to do.

And why Arthur Jones H.I.T was not popular.

Not optimal. All these PTs in Parks are so numerous because it's a low cost start up business. I call a lot of em crooks.

Like the Goose said, best you can do is tack cardio on the end of resistance training.

We're talking Strength and Cardiovascular improvement ie NRL, ARU even some AFL or NFL player type training.

How many of them do a set of Benches run 400m another Set of Benches another run. That's more conditioning NOT Strength and Cardio improvement.

Stiff 2G said:

We're talking Strength and Cardiovascular improvement ie NRL, ARU even some AFL or NFL player type training.

How many of them do a set of Benches run 400m another Set of Benches another run. That's more conditioning NOT Strength and Cardio improvement.

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pretty good work out if you ask me though stiff. Those NRL fellas like to keep it a bit secret squirrel about what they are up to,you get snippets about how this player can bench 180 or something but generally they keep a tight lid on it.

bannedgerry said:

pretty good work out if you ask me though stiff. Those NRL fellas like to keep it a bit secret squirrel about what they are up to,you get snippets about how this player can bench 180 or something but generally they keep a tight lid on it.

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Yep, but what I'm getting at is they don't mix cardio and strength. They keep em separate.

If you are a cardio junkie and want to start weightlifting here are ways that might help you in lifting
Run or bike or do on the elliptical for about 10 to 15 minutes and then take a five-minute break and do some squats also do some stretching
Cardio is primarily concerned with how to burn calories by doing exercise and increasing the number of muscles that you have in your body.

Good to know your struggles In my opinion, Both workouts are helpful in gaining strength. If you want to do both at the same time it's okay too but if you want to get stronger you should do cardio and strength workout separately.

lamarclark09 said:

Good to know your struggles In my opinion, Both workouts are helpful in gaining strength. If you want to do both at the same time it's okay too but if you want to get stronger you should do cardio and strength workout separately.

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Whether you do cardio or lifting the recovery needs to come from each activity.

Far more beneficial if you keep those two activities as close together as possible even better if incorporated together