Balancing Strength Training and Cardio
Does anyone else struggle with this? Historically, I’m a cardio person. I run marathons and since I do such a ridiculous thing, I don’t generally have time for strength training. I know it would complement my running regimen, but when I’m on a training schedule, strength training always gets put on a back burner. And when I’m not training for a big race, I’ll find myself doing strength training and neglecting cardio (usually because I’m trying to go to the gym on my lunch, and I hate getting overheated from cardio, then going back to my desk for the rest of the afternoon). How do you manage a balance?
I’ve been backing off my running a little bit in the last few weeks as I try to resolve an ITB issue and so have been looking for other forms of exercise. Walking and yoga have been good go-tos, but last week, inspired by Leandra (and by the massively cool Groupon deal in my area) I signed up for a boot camp. The first session was a special Labor Day two-hour extravaganza (several of the regular attendees told me I was crazy to have that be my first class; they’re usually one hour).
Oh my hell.
Four days later, and I can finally lift my arms above my head again. I don’t remember the last time I was that sore, and I loved it. Except for the part where I honestly did have trouble carrying my 25 pound son around for a few days. The first hour consisted of drills, so lots of HIIT type stuff (which happily I managed to survive puking or passing out…), followed by half an hour on the TRX. Which I LOVE. I want one in my house. And then we finished with half an hour of boxing, wherein I was essentially told I punch like a girl. Good times!
The awesome part is its motivating to be better about my runs (and about stretching everyday whether I run or not). My Groupon package is for six sessions, and I’m planning on going twice a week. So I need to decide how to motivate myself to continue with the strength stuff once these three weeks are up. Short of buying a TRX system for my house…
So, how do you manage to find a balance in your workouts? Or do you?
September 14th, 2010 at 6:15 am
In the summer I’m like you and make cardio (in my case mountain biking) my priority. But once fall/winter comes and I’m unable to ride after work, I really try to balance things out – three sessions of full body weight training and three spinning classes (or cardio intervals if I can’t take a class). If the weekend allows I’ll do an outdoor ride on top of this, but I’m also kind of insane. It usually looks like this:
Monday: weights
Tuesday: spin class
Wednesday: weights
Thursday: spin class
Friday: rest day
Saturday: weights and spin class
Sunday: outdoor ride or rest day
September 14th, 2010 at 6:19 am
I have recently been doing a 4-day split where the first half hour is high intensity cardio, and the second half hour is weight training on a specific push/pull muscle group (chest/back, bis/tris, etc.) It’s different than working the entire body with weights every session and I can definitely see an increase in strength for that muscle group by concentrating on it the entire workout. But then that group doesn’t get worked again for a week, which feels neglectful. So I usually do the split every other time, alternating with a cardio/full body weight workout, sometimes as a circuit, sometimes with cardio first then weights, sometimes with weights then cardio. I’m not a runner and I never do only cardio — weight training is incorporated in every workout.
September 15th, 2010 at 8:49 am
Call me crazy, but I think boot camp is strength AND cardio! I am training for NYC (I’m Julie from Mommy, Did You Win) and while I am still doing about 30-40 miles per week (up to 20 miler on the weekend), I still do a boot camp class once a week (I don’t run that day) and then one strength class and one kick boxing class per week – and I often do an easy run on those days (run in am and class over lunch). Since I don’t lift free weights – I count pilates and strength class and boot camps as “weight training” – I figure they are still good sources of cardio…not sure this helps, but good luck!
September 15th, 2010 at 9:37 pm
Thanks for the feedback and examples of what you’re doing, Adrien and MEP.
Julie, the boot camp totally is both; that’s what got me thinking about finding a way to maintain both after my boot camp is done. What I’m finding is that I like the pacing and the mix of stuff we do in boot camp. I tend to get bored pretty easily, which is probably what has happened with previous strength training efforts.