Reconciling Cardio + Weight-Lifting on Same day

[Alic88]

Hi all:

I am an avid swimmer, used to be extremely lean, and then started weight-lifting as well because everyone thought I was weak, and I do want to build. I swim 6 days a week, and do weight-lifting on the same days as well (schedule detailed below).

I know for a fact that the elongated swimming on my part hampers some of my muscle growth from weight-lifting, but I am too paranoid about not swimming, because I have a huge appetite, so I eat a lot (on the very healthy side though), and I am always scared that I may lose my lean-ness if I remove my cardio, or switch it to alternate days instead of every day.


My routine is as follows (Monday-Saturday):

Morning:
6:00-6:40: Abs workout (Athlean X ab routines)
6:45-8:40: Swimming (According to my apple watch I consistently burn 900+ calories)

Evening (Between 6:30-8-30 pm):
M,Th: Biceps and Triceps
Tu, Fr: Chest + Shoulders
Wed, Sat: Legs

Recently graduated to using 14 KG dumb-bells for biceps, making decent gains with weights, and improving form all the time.

Can I strike the delicate balance of gaining decent muscles, while remaining lean, by keeping this routine up? Or do I need to sacrifice something (e.g., swimming time)? This routine has been going on for 3 months now, and while I have made decent muscle gains (and shoulders), I feel like it's not complimenting the efforts I put in on a daily basis. I feel like my abs are not as refined as before, and my body-muscles, while gaining, are not reciprocative of the effort I put in (yet).


Any advice would be appreciated on what/how/whether to alter my routine, because my goal now is to gain more muscle, but desperately want to keep my abs (not 6-pack), but at least some semblance of lean-ness.

Thank you

[getbigordie18]

Hi all:

I am an avid swimmer, used to be extremely lean, and then started weight-lifting as well because everyone thought I was weak, and I do want to build. I swim 6 days a week, and do weight-lifting on the same days as well (schedule detailed below).

I know for a fact that the elongated swimming on my part hampers some of my muscle growth from weight-lifting, but I am too paranoid about not swimming, because I have a huge appetite, so I eat a lot (on the very healthy side though), and I am always scared that I may lose my lean-ness if I remove my cardio, or switch it to alternate days instead of every day.


My routine is as follows (Monday-Saturday):

Morning:
6:00-6:40: Abs workout (Athlean X ab routines)
6:45-8:40: Swimming (According to my apple watch I consistently burn 900+ calories)

Evening (Between 6:30-8-30 pm):
M,Th: Biceps and Triceps
Tu, Fr: Chest + Shoulders
Wed, Sat: Legs

Recently graduated to using 14 KG dumb-bells for biceps, making decent gains with weights, and improving form all the time.

Can I strike the delicate balance of gaining decent muscles, while remaining lean, by keeping this routine up? Or do I need to sacrifice something (e.g., swimming time)? This routine has been going on for 3 months now, and while I have made decent muscle gains (and shoulders), I feel like it's not complimenting the efforts I put in on a daily basis. I feel like my abs are not as refined as before, and my body-muscles, while gaining, are not reciprocative of the effort I put in (yet).


Any advice would be appreciated on what/how/whether to alter my routine, because my goal now is to gain more muscle, but desperately want to keep my abs (not 6-pack), but at least some semblance of lean-ness.

Thank you

If you are trying to make gains, I would recommend lifting over anything and do your swimming after your lifting. You won't lose your abs if you remove cardio. I would still do some cardio but focus more on heavy compound lifts like deadlifts, squats, bench press variations, rows, and pull ups. Fine tuning exercises like bicep and tricep work as well as rear belt face pulls should be a good amount of basics to make gains. Lifting an hour a day for 3-5 times a week is generally a good recommendation. Good to hear your continuing to make progress. Any other questions I will try to answer when I log into my account on here. Another good thing to do is to look at a video on my youtube channel about beginner workout.

[Alic88]

If you are trying to make gains, I would recommend lifting over anything and do your swimming after your lifting. You won't lose your abs if you remove cardio. I would still do some cardio but focus more on heavy compound lifts like deadlifts, squats, bench press variations, rows, and pull ups. Fine tuning exercises like bicep and tricep work as well as rear belt face pulls should be a good amount of basics to make gains. Lifting an hour a day for 3-5 times a week is generally a good recommendation. Good to hear your continuing to make progress. Any other questions I will try to answer when I log into my account on here. Another good thing to do is to look at a video on my youtube channel about beginner workout.

Thank you so much for your insights. Yes, various fitness videos have stated (e.g., Greg Doucette), that cardio has to be kept to a minimum if it's gonna be simultaneous to weight-lifting. MY issue is that I can only swim in the mornings, and I lift weights in the evening, so i'm not giving real time for muscle recovery since swimming is an intense aerobic/cardio exercise.

I'll try to discipline myself to limit my swimming to 30 min-60 min a day. I get paranoid because I do not want a mass surplus of calories consumed in a day, and swimming for 90 min 2 hours helps me eat big meals (all healthy), but in amounts where I feel full.