Even though I have addressed this topic before (a-hem, at least twice before), I’m circling back because A) I keep getting asked, “I did strength training today, what should I do tomorrow?” and B) I keep getting asked, “Is it okay to do both strength training and cardio on the same day?”

If you want to cut to the chase, check out: “Cardiovascular or Weight Training: Which should come first?”

Otherwise, stay right here, ’cause I’m about to WOW you with…pretty much the same thing I said before. ;0)

Here’s the thing – you need to know what it is you want to get out of your workouts. Are you trying to increase overall strength? Are you training for a marathon or similar endurance event? Or are you working towards improved general fitness and a combination of both strength and cardiovascular improvements? You need to know.

If it is your goal to gain strength, then I advise doing cardio on a separate day rather than doing both ST and cardio on the same day. This will allow you to go into your ST routine with fresh legs, and you’ll have the energy and time you need to focus entirely on strength training. Likewise with cardiovascular training – if your main goal is to improve this area, then I suggest doing ST on a separate day.

But, if general fitness is your goal, by all means, attempt the ST/Cardio combo in any order you wish, BUT, don’t overdo it. Use common sense and listen to your body (i.e, an hour and a half on the treadmill PLUS an hour of ST might be overkill. It would be for me, and I do this for a living. Just saying, don’t go overboard ;0)

Fulling realizing not everyone has the time to separate their workouts by a day or two, I recommend the following:

If your goal is ST, then do ST first, stretch, and do light cardio last.
If your goal is cardio training, do that first, stretch, and follow-up with light strength training.

Keep safety in mind. After both cardio and ST, muscles will be fatigued. By combining workouts, especially if you are new to fitness, you may increase your risk of injury by overworking fatigued muscles that, quite frankly, are probably more used to going from sitting to standing than from treadmill to squat press. Listen to your body and pay attention to how you feel. If something hurts, stop exercising. And if you are too fatigued to give your best during your workout, then it is best to focus on the part of your workout that will help you reach your goal (strength or cardio training), and bag the rest for another day when you are rested.

How do you like that creative title? Sometimes, all you need to say is all you need to say. More to the point…cross training is super important, and after a quick look at my post log revealed a glaring lack of information about this super important topic, thought I’d better hop to it and tell you why, CROSS TRAINING IS IMPORTANT!

Think about this for a minute – if you spent all of your day walking forward and that is all you did (no sitting, no bending, no lunging, squatting, or even stooping, no climbing…okay, you get the picture), what do you think would happen to the muscles getting perpetually used? Yep- they’d be over-worked. And the muscles not getting used? They would be under-worked, under-developed (i.e, weak). The end result? Muscle imbalance, over-use injuries, and a host of other problems. The morale of the story: mix up your movement.

The temptation to do the same type of workout (heck, maybe even the same exact workout), is strong, and hey, I get it. It is easier to do the same thing – it takes the thinking (and planning) out of it. But, alas, variety is the spice of life, and also the ingredient that will help you achieve the results you want to achieve.

Let’s pretend for a moment that you are training for a running race. Most plans call for 3-5 days of running at various distances and speeds with a day or two of recovery built in, as well as a day or two of cross-training. the purpose of cross-training in this case (and in all cases, really), is to balance out the program by providing resistance to the working muscles different from the normal method; to strengthen muscles not typically used during the training program; to stretch tight muscle groups; and to reduce impact to overused muscles. There are many other reasons, which I’ll circle back to in another post.

Examples of cross-training in this scenario (i.e, for a runner), might include: swimming, cycling, elliptical training, strength training, yoga or Pilates, dancing, or rock climbing. Once you break free of the idea that doing something different is hard, bad, a step backward (and it is NONE of those things), you’re free to experiment and have fun! Chances are very good, in fact, that you’ll improve at your sport because you’ll have balance in your routine. Odds are even better that you’ll be able to enjoy your favorite sport even longer, because cross-training truly does help prevent overuse injuries.

I’ll leave off here. Next post…the nitty-gritties of cross-training, how to do it, when to do it, and how often to do it.

Stay tuned…

I won’t bore you with the 7 million reasons why I loathe the treadmill. (I can hear your sighs of relief ;0) ). BUT, on those occasions when an outdoor workout isn’t in the cards, a treadmill sometimes must be fired up. So that I won’t stab my eyes out, I create workouts that aren’t already part of the treadmill’s set of pre-programmed workouts.

1) Time goes more quickly when I manually adjust the speed and incline for pre-determined intervals.

2) I can adjust the workout to be more or less challenging, depending on the kind of day I’m having. This way, no two workouts are ever the same.

I have designed treadmill workouts for clients and they are beloved workouts (or so I’m told) – again, probably because you are actively involved in manipulating the workout, versus hopping on the machine and mindlessly jogging like a hamster in a wheel.

Any hoots, I thought I’d share a popular walking routine (for those non-runners), but this workout could easily be adjusted for runners – simply increase the speed.  This workout is called a pyramid…you increase either speed, incline, or both, for a given number of intervals until you “peak,” then you put it all in reverse. Be sure to stretch well after this routine, especially if you aren’t used to walking with an incline, and most of all, have fun!

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