How to balance cardio + weights!
Okay… Here me out:
We have to do both strength training AND cardio to keep a happy and healthy system. (And mobility work too… but we’re not going to focus on that here).
I know, I know… A lot of us either love cardio and hate lifting, or vice-versa, we love to throw some weights around but the thought of hopping on a spin bike or going for a jog makes us want to die a little inside.
Here’s the thing though:
-Weights are necessary to put strain on our bones, ligaments and joints to ensure increased bone density and support (this prevents our bones from breaking more easily as we age and increased muscle mass helps us continue to move as we age!).
-Cardio is integral for heart, lung and brain health - again, improving our lifestyle promotes longevity of our bodies and just makes us feel good in the long run, helping us to fight off colds, etc.
-BOTH are shown to help with mental health in the long run as well by increasing serotonin in the brain. We love those happy receptors!
So… How do we do both?
The short answer is: we have to make time for it. The American Heart Association recommends a minimum of 150min of moderate-intensity exercise (think a brisk walk or riding a bike for leisure) or 75min of high-intensity exercise (think going for a run where you cannot talk, a challenging uphill hike, or intervals on a spin bike) as a MINIMUM for heart health. You can also perform a combination of these to make up your time. Example: one high-intensity spin class that lasts 45min (60% of the high-intensity recommendation) plus two 30-minute neighborhood walks (40% of the moderate-intensity recommendation) would fulfill your weekly cardio requirement. For more active individuals: there is absolutely nothing wrong with doubling that number… and I bet a lot of you are getting closer than you think.
You have to find a balance of activities that make your feel good. If you enjoy hiking, that should be your cardio. However, if you enjoy it but you know you won’t make the time to hit a trail every week, sub it out for something else. Variety in your cardio is part of what can make exercising extremely exciting in the long run, our brains thrive on a mixture of doing new things mixed with routine.
For my friends who enjoy group fitness: A lot of what is done in a SPENGA, Orangetheory, Bodypump or F45 class would be considered cardio. If it gets your heart rate up to a point where you are sweating and speaking in full sentences is uncomfortable: it counts as cardio!
So let’s think of it this way:
Lauren (our fictional client) attends 3 60-minute group fitness classes per week. Her heart rate stays in the elevated range for roughly 40min of each of those sessions, making her rough cardio estimate 120min. The cardio is likely a mix between high-intensity and moderate, so this number easily puts her within the recommended AHA guidelines. Lauren is also looking to increase her strength, so she now has added in 2 or 3 45-min strength sessions per week, depending on her work schedule. As a whole, she is still getting a minimum of two days off of exercise per week to rest and recover (more if she chooses to do both a strength day and a fitness class in one day) and her total exercise time spans no more than 5.5hrs per week.
Sophie (our second fictional client) strength trains 5 days per week, with one of her days being our accessory day that is designed to focus on balance, coordination, power and agility. That fifth day absolutely counts towards her cardio total for the week, as it is higher-intensity and she pushes hard. She also lifts relatively heavy, and many of her supersets and giant sets increase her heart rate. In addition to her lifts, Sophie warms up with 10min of incline treadmill walking and takes 3 20-30min neighborhood walks per week. This style of patchwork cardio also fulfills the AHA recommendations, but in a different way.
One more example: My partner, Nick. He fences (yes, with swords… well, foils, but swords makes it more clear what I’m talking about). Fencing is generally cardio because they are essentially holding a lunge position and shuffling back and forth along the strip for anywhere from 5-15min at a time. His practices also include conditioning work that increase his heart rate. Of the two hours he is there, I would say a solid 60-90min of that time counts towards a moderate-intensity cardio requirement, depending on the session. Because he practices 3, sometimes 4, times a week, his cardio output is on the VERY high end: an average of 5 hours (300min), he is a client who needs his strength training to be more compact and solely focus on muscle stimulus. He lifts twice a week, hitting full body to ensure longevity in his sport, with some modifications. NOTE: If you are an athlete who needs specified programming, please reach out to me individually and we can discuss pricing for individual specifications.
There is no right or wrong to fitness: you have to find what works best for you. Regardless, we need that balance of strength, cardio and mobility work to ensure our bodies are happy, healthy and moving well. However, we also need to pay attention to diminishing gains. In Nick’s case: he isn’t able to strength train as hard or progressively because of his high cardio output. That same situation could happen to Lauren as well if she doesn’t rest and recover properly between her sessions. Sophie is probably the client who is most able to push weights because strength is her primary focus at this time. There is nothing wrong with different phases in life: but understand that one form of movement will impact another. If you want to spend you time focusing a little more on heart health, maybe we stick to the 3x/wk strength program and fit in a solid mix of higher-intensity and moderate-intensity cardio each week. If your focus is weights, hitting that 150min minimum of moderate-intensity cardio is absolutely acceptable while we build that muscle mass.
For my BETA Testers: We will chat cardio suggestions the first week of the program so we can all check in together and find what’s best for our bodies!