Strength aint bad.. Cardio is seriously worrying.

Hedge

Hedge

Hedge

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
19,578
Location
Somewhere in the middle.
Ive been going to the gym for about 5-6 months now, quite regular. My strength has came along quite well and I can lift good weights for my size.

On Friday I had a fitness test at work, Level 9.10 on a beep test is what I needed. I managed to make level 9.10 but on completion I was absolutely ruined. I was struggling so badly.

I did Pushups and Situps to finish and I passed. Bare minimum really. Now 6 months ago I didnt do great, but I did better than this.

I was easily the worst person running on Friday, after it was all over it took me about 30 mins to get my breath back. Terrible.

I naively assumed doing weights was helping a little with my cardiovascular side so Ive not bothered...

Until now!.

Guys I seriously need a pointer into implementing cardio into my Stronglift 3 day split.

How should I introduce running to myself without almost dying and hating it every time.

Thanks
 
Choose another exercise other than running?

I've never been a fan of running if it's going to be more than 20 minutes. I like quick paced runs but long stints I don't really like.

I've always favoured the x-trainer or the rower because of this. No/low impact exercise, it's very easy to 'sprint' on which makes them a good choice to do some HIIT.

To begin with I'd just start with 2 or 3 20 minute moderate intensity stints after your stronglifts workout or on your off days.

I see drastic improvements in my fitness & recovery with HIIT so personally would recommend this route.
 
Thanks for the reply benny.

I hate running too and the Crosstrainers are a lot less soul destroying I find. However my Dad was a big running fan and he swears running is addictive. Im yet to find that lol.

My crosstrainers have hill settings which ive tried. Do you think this is a good idea. A level 15 (1-30) on Hills for 15 mins x 3
 
I prefer the xtrainer to the rower, if only because when knackered and stopping on a rower I'm likely to fall off the rower!
 
What kinda level to I need to sustain my heart rate around?. im assuming thats what increases cardio ability yeah?
 
Hedge said:
Thanks for the reply benny.

I hate running too and the Crosstrainers are a lot less soul destroying I find. However my Dad was a big running fan and he swears running is addictive. Im yet to find that lol.

My crosstrainers have hill settings which ive tried. Do you think this is a good idea. A level 15 (1-30) on Hills for 15 mins x 3
Click to expand...

If you don't like running then quite simply don't do it. There's nothing magical about it that will change your composition or increase fitness any quicker than any other form of good CV exercise.

If you want to spend 10 minutes running and the rest on the x-trainer then this would be fine.

The level is all relative to the machine in question but try to keep between around a 60/65% effort or a 6 out of 10 on a difficulty scale. Heart rate could be anything between 120 and 150bpm all depends on you. You should find the level when you're unable to keep fluid conversation (where you have to pause for breath) around the right level.

Once you've spent 3/4 weeks with steady state and feel ready I'd start intro-ducing some intervalls so say every 3/4 minutes have a mnute where you really go for it and then eventually get going with some HIIT.
 
Skipping is good relatively low impact CV exercise. Of course you can do some conditioning work outs at the gym which will task your CV system quite hard too!
 
Do remember that whatever cardio you do will improve your performance in... that type of cardio. Not completely exclusively, but if you're running for cardio, your ability to maintain a high heartrate in other sports like cycling won't be as impressive as just... err... running.

You'll notice you recover faster, but that's it.
 
Cycling.

I took it up in 2008 and I've quite simply never been fitter. My work requires a high degree of fitness ( firefighter ) and there's no doubt cycling allows me to maintain it. I also absolutely love it to bits and at this time of year despite using a turbo trainer, I miss it hugely.

I got so into road cycling that in April of this year I bought a hardtail mountain bike and now mix up my cardio training between road and trail. You could say I'm hooked!!.

Never been a fan of running tbh and I'll admit I tend to focus more on cardio than strength as I'm not a huge fan of the gym but give me an open road or a challenging trail and I'm there.

Honestly, consider it. Look into it at least. You won't look back. :cool:
 
If you're not a fan of running then go for the cycling. As Benny says start with something light and easy, get used to cycling your body won't be used to it at all. Then move onto HIIT, you'll be amazed it's a brilliant form of exercise. :)
 
Ergo + practise at your technique!

Love the things, great for a long paddle or a manic HIIT session.
 
i think i'm in the same boat as you. Like you i've been training on weights for a long time now well over a year without any cardio and the first time in a long time i was running around on saturday having a snowball fight and felt exhausted after only 5 minutes.

Considering i used to be a cross country runner at school and always in the top 3 it was a shock! So will definately be starting some cardio tonight. Just a question though by incorporating cardio into your weekly routine and still doing the normal weights routine will that effect the amount of weights that you can do?
 
Do running but mix it up

Long steady runs
1.5 mile runs as fast as poss
Interval training like sprinting between lamp posts
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom