How to balance cardio with strength training.
To find the right balance, one must understand priorities.
In terms of cardio and strength training - what do you want to achieve?
Do you want to have more endurance in your chosen sport?
Do you want to prioritise building muscle mass?
Or is the goal to go hybrid and be a jack of all trades?
Your goals dictate your action.
CARDIO + Strength
If the goal is to prioritise cardio then your workouts should predominantly train this system.
For example, if you want to be a faster runner your week can look something like this:
Day 1: Long Easy Run (Level 2 Heart Rate Training)
Day 2: Upper Body Workout (Bench Press/Barbell Rows/Military Presses)
Day 3: Long Easy Run (Level 2 Heart Rate Training)
Day 4: Lower Body Workout (Squats, Deadlifts, Lunges)
Day 5: Long Easy Run (Level 2 Heart Rate Training)
Day 6: Tempo Run
Day 7: Rest
STRENGTH + Cardio
If you want to prioritise building muscle your focus should be on the big compound movements in the gym supplemented with steady state cardio and HIIT workouts.
A sample week can look like this:
Day 1: Chest and Back Workout
Day 2: Legs, Deadlifts, Core
Day 3: Long Easy Run (Level 2 Heart Rate Training)
Day 4: Shoulders and Arms Workout
Day 5: HIIT Workout (e.g. Tabata ERG Rows - I like these as the Concept 2 is also a full body workout in itself)
Day 6: Rest
Day 7: Home workout (Push-ups, chin-ups and pike push ups)
Cardio + Strength
If you’re not training for anything in particular and just want to improve overall fitness, then hybrid training may be for you.
This involves an equal mixture of both strength and cardio training. The trade off is that you won’t be getting the most out of both. Jack of all trades, master none type of scenario (not necessarily a bad thing if you’re just training for life!).
A sample week can look like this:
Day 1: Upper Body Workout (Bench Press/Barbell Rows/Military Press)
Day 2: Long Easy Run (Level 2 Heart Rate Training)
Day 3: Lower Body Workout (Squats, Deadlifts, Lunges)
Day 4: Long Easy Run (Level 2 Heart Rate Training)
Day 5: Full Body Workout
Day 6: Tempo Run
Day 7: Rest
How you balance cardio and strength training into your fitness regime needs to start with an understanding of your goals.
From there you can dictate the optimal split between cardio and strength.
