I love weight lifting, and i also love daily cardio. I am trying to find a balance so as to not spend hours at the gym while still leaving feeling satisfied. Anyone else struggle with this?
side note: anyone else find that bb.com slows their browser down a lot?
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09-20-2021, 08:49 PM #1
Finding balance: cardio and weights
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"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
Matthew 22:36-40
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09-20-2021, 08:53 PM #2
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09-21-2021, 12:57 AM #3
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I guess you need to be clear about what you want from exercise. You say you love both of them - well then that can only be your choice how much of each you do. If you are driven by a particular goal - say body recomposition - then you will have to make weight training your priority. If you want to win marathons, then weight training will have to take a back seat in a major way.
For example, I target general strength and body composition - so I only do weight training. The heavy lower body stuff gives me a decent amount of CV conditioning, I'm not going to be an endurance athlete but I am healthier and fitter than most average couch potatos.
This article could help
https://www.strongerbyscience.com/pr...g-and-lifting/
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09-21-2021, 10:03 AM #4
Yes, struggling with the same thing. I've been an enthusiast cyclist for the last 3 to 4 years. Riding 5,000-6,000 miles a year. Starting lifting weights, and really like it, specifically the improvements in body composition. I was already on the thin side, but now have even less body fat, and just look better, especially the upper body. MEaning, I've added a little muscle, but definitely more definition.
It is a juggling act to find adequate time to do both. But, I'm thinking it ends up like this. In general, work out 5 days a week, 2 rest days. Breaking the year down into 2 seasons. Summer is for cycling, and winter for lifting. During the summer, it's ride the bike 3 days a week, lift 2 days a week. During the winter, it switches, lift 3 days a week, and ride 2 days a week. Of course, it could go to 4 day/1 days a week during "peak" seasons, or depending on what I feel like.
I think part of it is trying to understand what you want out of it. Are the body composition improvements from lifting, worth the potential loss of "peak" conditioning from cycling less? Honestly still struggling with that.
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10-31-2021, 03:32 AM #5
Many body builders don't enjoy doing cardio and will latch onto any "study" that says it is bad.
If you do cardio well past glycogen depletion, it will eat muscle. And if you do more than you are fit enough to recover from, you can overtrain. And high intensity intervals need to be counted as leg sets on some sliding scale so you don't exceed total sets for the week.
Other than that, just separate the workouts with enough meals to replenish glycogen and have a bit of rest, keep volume reasonable, and enjoy working your slow twitch muscles that are not fully stimulated during weights.
My lifts are going up fast, and I do 2 hours of cardio per day.
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10-31-2021, 03:38 AM #6
Also, if you have big upper body muscles, that will worsen your marathon run times. But that is the wrong way to look at it. Look at how many watts your legs can output for an hour. Quit comparing yourself to others in an arbitrary race standard and instead look at your actual power output, and whether you can enjoy running as transportation even with a fit upper body.
I did have trouble scheduling all my workouts, but I got it figured out.
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10-31-2021, 08:56 PM #7
I normally don't answer questions in here, but I saw the thread title on the main forum page. It's the answer I recommend for everyone with this problem and utilize myself.
https://www.amazon.com/Tactical-Barb.../dp/B0143HDCWS
Literally the best book on balancing strength training and conditioning work out there. I wish I had it when I was in the Marine Corps. It's how over the span of a week I did a timed ruck march on a Saturday, set a new PR in the gym on a Monday, and then on a Wednesday took part in a military selection style event where we essentially got beaten down for 7 hours straight with various exercises, heavy carries, and challenges (12 showed up, 7 of us finished). I still use its philosopy to this day.
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11-01-2021, 05:45 AM #8
Do you get a commision if people buy that book via the link? If not. say what the book teaches, at least in precis form.
Anyhow, my recommendation is weightlifting in the afternoon and cardio, flexibility, mobility, stability and loaded carry exercises in the morning.
EDIT: Unless you run outside in the Winter. Then, the afternoon is your friend.
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11-01-2021, 10:30 PM #9
No commission. The book teaches you how to maintain one aspect of endurance (aerobic/anerobic) while improving the other at the same time. It recommends an eight week "Base Building" routine of regular LSS runs and strength-endurance circuits, building up to max strength work and introducing anaerobic work in the last few weeks. From there you choose one of two templates to progress - Black (focused more on anaerobic endurance and work capacity) or Green (focused more on endurance work, e.g. marathons).
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11-02-2021, 04:14 AM #10
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11-02-2021, 08:08 PM #11
Yes. The first one is periodization for the minimalist - get really strong on a few lifts, with plenty of time left for other activities you might need to do. The second is the one I recommended. The third is adding muscle mass while still maintaining the physical standards you need to keep up for your profession (e.g. military). The fourth one is how to use the TB system for the higher mileage athlete.
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