Its that time of year...

by MARVININDY on May 13, 2009 11:56 AM EDT Comment 5 comments

Greetings!

i just found this blog a few days ago on SB Nation and im pretty excited about it!

ok i got that out of the way, on with whats on my mind.

Every year around this time, i shift from doing small amounts of cardio and heavier lifting, to a large amount of cardio and more moderate lifting.....as do lots of people who exercise.

here's my dilemma......

i always struggle to do my normal leg workouts and keep up a cardio schedule. i end up in a situation where i have to choose my cadio over squats because i always just get too sore for both. ive had this problem even when i cut back on the weight. then over the summer of little to no heavy lifting for my legs i lose my gains i worked hard for all winter.

so its either, dont ride my bicycle to the gym and do the cardio that i want. or continue the never ending cycle of making some gains, then going back to square one on my squats etc.....

im sure someone out there feels my pain. anyone find a good plan that allows them to have their cake and eat it too?

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cardio v. squats

I can think of three suggestions, but since I have absolutely no professional cred I ask wiser minds to comment on my ideas, whether approving or disapproving:

1. Work up to doing lots of sprints (HIIT) in your cardio (running or biking.) That makes the running or biking more of an explosive, muscle-building exercise, while also burning lots of calories and satisfying your urge to run or bike. True, it’s not the same as squats.

2. Rather than run or bike, do your cardio in the gym by cutting rest periods between sets. It’s just as cardio-tastic as running or biking.

3. I think I read in Lou Schuler’s New Rules of Lifting that if you have to do both, you should actually do your running/biking immediately after squats/leg workouts. And that the running/biking should be in the form of HIIT/sprint intervals.

But you may have to accept the fact that you can’t optimize both squats and lots of running. If memory serves, I’ve read in ‘New Rules of Lifting’ (and elsewhere) that if you do BOTH heavy cardio and heavy lifting something called the “interference effect” (?) will cause the human body (you’re human, right?) to favor the cardio adaptation and basically eat the muscles you’re trying to build through squats. But please, smarter people, comment on my comments.

by paul202 on May 13, 2009 9:13 PM EDT reply actions

thanks for the input

1. i really need to give sprints another shot. last time i tried to integrate them into my cardio routine, they had almost the same effect as squats(from a soreness perspective, though not as intense). i had sore muscles im not sure i had ever used! that in turn led me to lay off the cardio since i was sore for a few days afterword. maybe i should have stuck with it. somehow i had the thought in my head that if i continued to do sprints all out, that i would just continually get too sore to do it on a regular basis. especially running like a grizzly is after you every time. =)

2. normally when i do a more moderate lifting routine i take a watch with me and keep the rest periods as short as possible to increase the calorie burning effect of the workouts. time has become my enemy…..im approaching 30 and fat burning for me is slowly becoming more cumbersome. i think im stuck with additional cardio along with a circuit training style weight lifting routine in the springtime.

3. this is something i have not tried…….ill have to look into it.

yeah….im human. and honestly youre probably right. at this point ive decided in my head that this is just how my body works. but there’s always the possibility of something new out there that someone has tried.

by MARVININDY on May 14, 2009 5:30 AM EDT reply actions

If you're going to go heavy on squats,

I would recommend no sprinting whatsoever, not even with interval training. Heavy lifting and high impact cardio don’t mix very well. Instead, try doing low-impact eliptical work, setting the resistance really high so you’re not moving all that fast even though the intensity will be through the roof.
Also, try to do whatever low-impact cardio you chose to right after leg day, as it will help alleviate some of the soreness.

by dakoose on May 17, 2009 8:06 PM EDT reply actions

i have noticed

that when i ride the bike for 30 minutes or so after squats my legs arent quite as sore.

if i go heavy on leg day im limping around for a few days after that so i know better than to try any cardio too intense =).

looks like im stuck choosing one or the other.

by MARVININDY on May 18, 2009 11:54 AM EDT up reply actions

Intensity isn't so much the issue, rather the impact.

Running is considered to be high impact, while swimming, eliptical training and sled dragging are said to be of lower impact and much less stressful on the body and the CNS. Elite lifters, like those over at Westside Barbell, do pretty intense sled pulls/drags the day after leg work for both conditioning and alleviating leg soreness. Try doing some high intensity-low impact cardio the day after you work legs. It makes a difference.

by dakoose on May 18, 2009 3:20 PM EDT up reply actions