Lifting and Cardio On The Same Day

[Gibblets]

In addition to doing HIIT on off days, would this be a good idea? I'm talking about 30-45 minutes of walking on an incline, or riding the bike.

[MISTERDUDE]

I don't. I know after an intense workout I could not do something like that again in a day, when I have done that, I've always noticed my second workout seemed to suffer.

I guess it depends on you though. I could get away with it sometimes, but not chronically. If you only do cardio and weights on the same day 1 day a week or something because they just happen to overlap, I think you'd be okay, but to have 4 days where you do both on the same day probably would get you overtrained.

But all of this depends on your workouts, etc. If its low enough intensity cardio you could still probably get away with it, but as I'm trying to convey to you, there are a LOT of variables involved. If you can just chill all day, etc, then its going to be easier to pull if off than if do something in between.

[Gibblets]

Well, on days that I lift, here's what I do:

Get Up
Eat
Lift
Eat
Pack Meals
Sit at the office
Come home and eat my meals
Sit around, watch tv, read stuff

Basically, I am not very active at all besides my weight training and HIIT sessions. So that's why I thought it'd be a good idea to get moving a bit when I get home from work. I've lost 12 pounds of fat in less than 2 months, but I still have a little ways to go.

[Matt97TA]

Well i sortof think like MISTERDUDE but in a little different way. I dont know how you could have enough enery to work out more than a few muscles at a time so, I weight train 5 days a week doing different muscles each day. I also do cardio so i has to be on a weight training day although usually i spread the two out by 5-8 hours depending on how long of a day i work. Latly jsut because Im really trying to lean up i have actually been dooing hiit in the morning and some lower intensity cardio at night right after my work out although many people would disagree with that, I dont care. I had my Body fat check and i was at like 17 which shock me being than i was at 9% this time last year, So now im just on a mission to loose fat before school starts again in the fall.

[Gibblets]

This is what I was thinking of doing:

SUN: REST
MON: Chest/Shoulders/Triceps (AM), 30-45 min walking (PM)
TUE: 8-10 min. HIIT (AM)
WED: Quads/Calves/Abs (AM), 30-45 min walking (PM)
THU: 8-10 min. HIIT (AM)
FRI: Back/Hams/Biceps (AM), 30-45 min walking (PM)
SAT: 8-10 min. HIIT (AM)

[US_Ranger]

In addition to doing HIIT on off days, would this be a good idea? I'm talking about 30-45 minutes of walking on an incline, or riding the bike.

Are you a large person? If not, then walking 30 minutes isn't really that big of a cardio workout unless you're a speed walker.

[Gibblets]

I'm 5'7, 180, 15% bodyfat.

I wasn't talking about anything too strenuous here. Just enough to burn some more calories and to speed up the fat loss progress to it's fullest potential. I've kinda hit a wall, and had these options:

1. Add another no carb day.
2. Longer HIIT sessions.
3. Move around more, burn more calories.

I opted for #3.

I would walk, but also walk on an incline, do the bike, elliptical, etc...just something different, and at a much lower intensity than HIIT. I'm a believer in HIIT, but I also wanted to dab into the low intensity cardio world as well.

[Augustin]

In addition to doing HIIT on off days, would this be a good idea? I'm talking about 30-45 minutes of walking on an incline, or riding the bike.

Doing low intensity cardio will do nothing more than burn calories so the impact on the body is negligible. An 8-10 hour window is recommended between any anaerobic and aerobic activity due to the difficulty in shifting metabolic pathways and recovery needed from one to the other.

Your schedule looks good to me, but why only do 8-10 minutes of HIIT? I would bump that to at least 15 minutes. Are you just building yourself up right now?

[Gibblets]

Uhh...I thought 8-10 minutes was as much someone should do! I built myself up from 5 minutes. I don't think I could handle more than 10 min of HIIT!!!!

[cuponoodles]

Your schedule looks good to me, but why only do 8-10 minutes of HIIT? I would bump that to at least 15 minutes. Are you just building yourself up right now?

A lot of the length in HIIT depends on the work/rest intervals involved. Obviously a 1:1 work/rest ratio is going to be a lot more strenuous than a 1:4 work/rest ratio. If he's performing one with a low ratio, shorter times are needed and/or necessary.

[Augustin]

Uhh...I thought 8-10 minutes was as much someone should do! I built myself up from 5 minutes. I don't think I could handle more than 10 min of HIIT!!!!

Remember, HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training, emphasis on the interval. You do not go all out for a full 10 minutes or 15 or whatever number you do. The idea is to have intervals of high intensity.

There is not one person on the planet that can produce enough adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to maintain high levels of intensity for more than a couple minutes at a time, if that long. The goal is to work up to a level that is extremely intense, back off so your body can reproduce ATP, then hit it again.

2-3 minutes between ultra high bouts of intensity should be sufficient to regenerate enough ATP for a solid 1 minute bout. Repeat for the designated amount of time.

That's it. Change it up, you'll be doing yourself a favor.

[Augustin]

A lot of the length in HIIT depends on the work/rest intervals involved. Obviously a 1:1 work/rest ratio is going to be a lot more strenuous than a 1:4 work/rest ratio. If he's performing one with a low ratio, shorter times are needed and/or necessary.

I pretty much figured the ratios were low, hence my last post, but the body needs more than a minute to reproduce ATP for even a short bout of high intensity exercise. The same reason we all have short term recovery (rest) in between sets while weight training. It's very taxing on the body using a 1:1 ratio and probably much more catabolic than it should be.

To each his own I guess.

[Gibblets]

What I'm doing is this:

10 s. sprint/50 s. jog

Repeat for 8 or 10 intervals.

I guess I could make it a 15 s. sprint/45 s. jog

Or since my ratio is very low, simply do more minutes.

Personally, I like keeping the work interval low, as I can focus better, and keep my speed at its max.

[Augustin]

What I'm doing is this:

10 s. sprint/50 s. jog

Repeat for 8 or 10 intervals.

I guess I could make it a 15 s. sprint/45 s. jog

Or since my ratio is very low, simply do more minutes.

Personally, I like keeping the work interval low, as I can focus better, and keep my speed at its max.

Sprints are very taxing and very intense. Your program sounds good. If it were me, I would spend a little more time building up to the sprints and increase them to 20 seconds. This will certainly reduce the risk of injury, as opposed to suddenly going from a steady jog to an all out sprint.

Good luck either way. Good talking to you.

[US_Ranger]

Do some stair runs at a stadium if you have one nearby. After doing 3 or 4 of those, go to the track and hit up some interval runs. Then finish it off with a couple laps at an easy pace.

After that you should feel like dying.....then you know you're done.

[Gibblets]

Good ideas, Augustin...I pulled a hamstring (minor injury) a few weeks ago. I could still run/squat on it though.

[Augustin]

Whether or not your injury is completely healed can only be answered by you. If you still have some tension in that muscle, I would take it very slow and build yourself back up to pre-injury levels. Take injuries very seriously.

If you're running, you're probably okay to do some light lifting.