Usually after my lifting I run for 1/2 hour, but guys are telling me cardio should only be done on non-lifting days if muscle gain is the goal - however some say light cardio is OK. So what should ity be NO cardio at all or what. Please advise.

I've heard many of the JSF guru's say cardio PWO is not a good idea. They've said it's ideal to keep them several hours apart. However, on non-lifting days, cardio is definitely a benefit. But if your cardio sessions are much longer than 45 minutes, you'd be better off to put in more effort so your getting pretty worn out by the 45 minute mark.

You might want to take a step back and re-evaluate why you are specifically setting aside time for doing "cardio" at all.

If your goal is to get bigger and stronger, then doing the thousands of low resistance repetitions involved in traditional "cardio" really isn't going to help you there.

Are you just doing it because you think it is good for your heart? If that is the case, are you sure that you aren't getting enough of an elevated heart rate just from lifting?

Or are you doing it just for the sake of burning extra calories? If that is the case, maybe you should just not be eating those extra calories to begin with. Or maybe you should just let them be and hopefully go toward building new muscle mass.

Edit: I just put this in another thread. It is relevant here too. By Alwyn Cosgrove...

We still divide training into "strength" and "cardio" portions. It's still an integrated system. We shouldn't be thinking about dividing muscular work and metabolic work or programming them separately. I mean, if I had you do front squats and push presses as a combination for 40 seconds with 40 seconds rest, it would be very metabolic. And on the other end of the continuum, walking a mile is really nothing more than 1500 low resistance reps, right?

When does a side lunge stop being a mobility exercise and start being a strength exercise or a metabolic exercise? They are artificial categories that the exercise community has created. We need to start realizing that a total integration approach is the next step.

Tim

IMO it doen't matter how much cardio a trainee does or when he does it providing he doesn't get too fatiqued to lift and has enough calories to provide extra energy for the cardio.

I've heard many of the JSF guru's say cardio PWO is not a good idea. They've said it's ideal to keep them several hours apart. However, on non-lifting days, cardio is definitely a benefit. But if your cardio sessions are much longer than 45 minutes, you'd be better off to put in more effort so your getting pretty worn out by the 45 minute mark.


So, from this could I gather that let's say you do Cardio in the morning right when you get up, go to work or whatever for the day, and come home that night and do weight training, this would be ok? Or would it be better to completely seperate Cardio and weights on seperate days.

I've read a lot of conflicting information on this. Some say you should do cardio 5ish times per week regardless of weight training, some say to completely seperate them by days.

So, from this could I gather that let's say you do Cardio in the morning right when you get up, go to work or whatever for the day, and come home that night and do weight training, this would be ok? Or would it be better to completely seperate Cardio and weights on seperate days.

I've read a lot of conflicting information on this. Some say you should do cardio 5ish times per week regardless of weight training, some say to completely seperate them by days.

The right or wrong is more a matter of one's goal, opinion and personally expirence, so the real question is what do YOU think.

I personally do a very similar routine. I lift 3 days a week full body, but after lifting tack on anywhere from 20-30 mins cardio, but my goal is to lose some fat. I lift weights to maintain what muscle I have, and I lift heavy compound type exercises as they will hit all the major muscles groups and get my heart rate pretty elevated. My cardio lasts until my body poops out pretty much. I also tack on about 45mins of cardio on non-lifting days with one full rest day built in there. I've just learned this is the best combination for losing the fat for me.

When I'm looking to gain strength, I switch to a 4 day upper/lower split for my weight training and cut back the cardio to 3 days a week. One of the days the cardio and weights do overlap, and my schedule requires that they been done back to back. Never seem to stop me from making strength gains and allowed me to keep my cardiovascular endurance up to par for the sports I play.

But that's me.

Like Tim said.. I think you need to take a hard look at your goals and ask yourself "why" you feel you need so much cardio. Will it slow down muscle growth.. possibly. Doing so much "work" of any kind is going to fatigue the body which may slow down the muscle repairing (when the growth takes place). It also reduces the amount of calories availble for the tissue repair, which can also hamper the process.

But say you have a goal of running a race, or play a sport, or some other goal where keeping a higher level of cardio may be neccesary. Then the advice of the lighter/shorter cardio on lifting days is your best bet to minimize the impact the cardio may have on the muscle building.

But say your goal is much more just about overall fitness.. maybe you just need to adjust your lifting routine to do more of a compound circuit style lifting, which frankly will leave you body too wiped out to even consider cardio immediately following!

We all have opinions, but there really are no hard and fast rules other then eat clean and to the amount of the goal in mind, lift heavy and enjoy life!

If you're in shape you don't need to worry about where you put your cardio. As long as your strength workouts are brisk enough, you can skip cardio altogether if you want.

Usually after my lifting I run for 1/2 hour, but guys are telling me cardio should only be done on non-lifting days if muscle gain is the goal - however some say light cardio is OK. So what should ity be NO cardio at all or what. Please advise.

You can still make progress doing this, but running (a highly catabolic activity) immediately after weight training is certainly not optimal. Personally, I would split them up....doing cardio on non-lifting days and eat plenty of clean calories.

Some of us can't afford the gas to get down to the gym 2 times in one day. And hey, I like HITT after lifting weights. I just make sure to have a quick protein powered snack after the workout and a protein shake before I go to the gym.

But then again, being a hefty individual, as much exercise possible is best. Hehe :tu:

Some of us can't afford the gas to get down to the gym 2 times in one day. And hey, I like HITT after lifting weights. I just make sure to have a quick protein powered snack after the workout and a protein shake before I go to the gym.

But then again, being a hefty individual, as much exercise possible is best. Hehe :tu:

Do you mean HIIT? Yeah, this would probably be a much better alternative than going on a 30 minute jog. It is short and intense, and doesn't prolong the catabolic period immediately following weight training.

Do you mean HIIT? Yeah, this would probably be a much better alternative than going on a 30 minute jog. It is short and intense, and doesn't prolong the catabolic period immediately following weight training.

Yeah, I meant HIIT. Whatever you youngsters call it nowadays ;)

Some of us can't afford the gas to get down to the gym 2 times in one day. And hey, I like HITT after lifting weights. I just make sure to have a quick protein powered snack after the workout and a protein shake before I go to the gym.

But then again, being a hefty individual, as much exercise possible is best. Hehe :tu:

This is what I do. 18 minutes of HIIT immediately post workout. Every lifting day except leg days. I aint going to the gym twice. :nono: I have a job and a life.