Cardio & Strength Training Question

Going to start lifting and try to put on a lot of size and strength when the gym opens up this Friday. Considering myself a beginner because I never made meaningful progress in the past and took over a year off due to COVID. I also want to train for a marathon that's going to take place in September. My cardio is piss poor where if I run for more than a few minute, I start to get cramps. If I walk for like half an hour, I start to get cramps. What's the best way and how often should I do cardio training? I'm thinking of doing HIIT on the treadmill at the gym once a week, and then twice a week for 30 minutes, then 45 minutes.

You shouldn't be doing non-specific cardio if your goal is to run a marathon in the fall. Your training should be geared to long distance running. Walking and HIIT will not help you.

[QUOTE=geokilla;1642893913]Going to start lifting and try to put on a lot of size and strength when the gym opens up this Friday. Considering myself a beginner because I never made meaningful progress in the past and took over a year off due to COVID. I also want to train for a marathon that's going to take place in September. My cardio is piss poor where if I run for more than a few minute, I start to get cramps. If I walk for like half an hour, I start to get cramps. What's the best way and how often should I do cardio training? I'm thinking of doing HIIT on the treadmill at the gym once a week, and then twice a week for 30 minutes, then 45 minutes.[/QUOTE]


Putting on lots of size and strength while training for a marathon, and actually successfully preparing for the marathon, probably won't happen.

That doesn't mean don't lift weights, but lower your expectations for your results in the gym (muscle and strength) if your main goal is training for a marathon.

I think there's a sports training section on here. I'd go there for advice on how to train for a marathon. Or a different forum/Internet search. A bodybuilding forum isn't the best place to go for advice on marathon training.

This is what I’d try with the goals you have.


Monday- fulll body lift
Tuesday- slow steady long run/ stretch
Wednesday- run with fast, hard intervals, including hills
Thursday- full body lift
Friday- slow steady long run/ stretch
Saturday- run with fast, hard intervals, including hills
Sunday- rest, focus on stretching

* gonna be tough to add mass while burning all those cals unless you eat 3500-4500 cals a day.

Well to me it's a marathon, but realistically it's a 5km or 10km run lol. I just know that if I wanna keep up with my friends, I gotta do some cardio. Otherwise I'll be walking most of the time.

If you've never made meaningful progress in the gym and your cardio is piss poor, I'd recommend reining in your immediate goals instead of "trying to put on a lot of size and strength" and running a marathon, and ramp up gradually instead.

Beginners tend to go from 0 to 120% when they start training, then quit for while, and do this continuously in cycles. You have 2 months to train for your race so IMO for realistic purposes focus on long distance training now to get you in the habit of consistency and discipline, maybe with some weight training, then once you impress your friends during your race get on a proper weightlifting program and cardio can be your side piece at that point.

[QUOTE=geokilla;1642898293][B]Well to me it's a marathon, but realistically it's a 5km or 10km run lol.[/B] I just know that if I wanna keep up with my friends, I gotta do some cardio. Otherwise I'll be walking most of the time.[/QUOTE]
Which is it? What is the actual length, measured in some standard units that others use, preferably km or miles?

If the goal is merely to complete 26.2 miles of jogging, then "a lot of size and strength" seems like the far harder goal that should be prioritized. It's many times easier to build up the ability to jog long distance than to add "a lot of size and strength" (depending on your definition of "a lot". To complete a long distance run, you need to run continuously and gradually build up your endurance. You'll need a fair number of weekly miles, but that's about it.

Legs will get soooore from all that running, so you'll need to coordinate leg day at the gym and runs. I'd recommend running on leg day, and also running 2 days after and 2 days before leg day. You might have to deal with some knee and/or foot pain so don't do too many miles out the gate. That amount of cardio takes a lot of calories, so you'll need to eat a lot, and probably need to track calories out and in along with scale weight every day to make sure you are eating enough. You'll also need a lot of protein for the gym gains and a lot of carbs to fuel running. Long steady cardio burns fewer carbs than intense bursts, but still burns a lot of carbs over time. You need to carb load in the days leading up to longer runs because your body burns more carbs than you can digest during long aerobic sessions. You'll need to prioritize sleep as well, likely a solid 9 hours per night to recover properly from all the training.

Lastly, be sure to play "Eye of the Tiger" on repeat.

[QUOTE=geokilla;1642893913]Going to start lifting and try to put on a lot of size and strength when the gym opens up this Friday. Considering myself a beginner because I never made meaningful progress in the past and took over a year off due to COVID. I also want to train for a marathon that's going to take place in September. My cardio is piss poor where if I run for more than a few minute, I start to get cramps. If I walk for like half an hour, I start to get cramps. What's the best way and how often should I do cardio training? I'm thinking of doing HIIT on the treadmill at the gym once a week, and then twice a week for 30 minutes, then 45 minutes.[/QUOTE]

Follow this guys videos. Sounds like a fit for you.

[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vS5ErdcwnOg[/url]

[QUOTE=jademonkey;1642909223]Which is it? What is the actual length, measured in some standard units that others use, preferably km or miles?[/QUOTE]

I meant it'll probably feel like a marathon to me. We haven't decided on the distance as we still have time to choose 5km or 10km. I'm going to assume 10km because I'm the type of person that expects the worse.