Balance of cardio v strength

[Anonymous]

I’m an overweight 46 woman trying to get in shape. I’ve made dietary changes and the weight it starting to come off, I am now adding in working on fitness.

I have 1 hour per day to go to the gym. Up until now I’ve tried to maximize steps with a fast treadmill walk for most of the time, plus some stretches. I think I think should spend time on weights and can reduce the cardio but I don’t have more time. Would you do half weights half cardio? Not sure where to start.

[Anonymous]

I would spend at least half the time on weights, if not more. When I worked with a trainer, we did about 40-45 minutes of strength training and finished with 10-15 minutes of HIIT cardio (something like alternating sprinting and walking on the treadmill). Then finish up with stretching.

[Anonymous]

Here's how I would break up your time:

35 minutes on the treadmill, working in moderate inclines. You can do intervals - experiment your revovery and hard work periods. Do NOT hold on to the treadmill at all. Let your arms swing/pump naturally. An incline will fire up your glutes, thighs, and core muscles much more than a flat walk.

20 minutes on upper body. Arms, shoulders, back, chest, etc.

5 minutes of stretch.

5 minutes of light walking (not fast, not with incline). I feel like this helps your blood flow keep going, but slow down, and gently calm your muscles.

[Anonymous]

Strength for sure. And you should do first what is priority which should be strength training at this age. So do strength first and then finish with the cardio.

Break up the days for legs, arms, etc.

[Anonymous]

I struggle with this so much, I just love cardio and don't like strength and I go through periods of trying to add more strength and end up working out less.

So my first piece of advice is that the best exercise you can do is the exercise you will do consistently. It is great to try to get strength in, but cardio is way better than doing nothing.

I would sign up for a free month of peloton and use their strength classes. I do a 5-10 minute core, a 10-20 minute arms class or a 20 minute legs class on any given day in addition to the cardio and it makes me feel like I'm doing something but its contained and I don't dread it. And honestly doing a whole bunch of their classes has educated me a lot about what exercises to do, what form is needed, to the point where I think I could do my own routine in a gym now. But prior to that I would have been doing it pretty blind just hoping I was doing it right.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for these helpful suggestions, I appreciate it

[Anonymous]

Honestly if you are trying to shed pounds increase the cardio for a month. Then switch it up and focus on weight for 30 minutes with say 15-30 minutes of cardio and of course stretching and foam rolling. Then after the second month do 2 weeks of cardio then 2 weeks of strength. Keep changing it up to keep your body working.

Eventually throwing in some HITT classes or pilates/yoga/cycle would be fun.

[Anonymous]

I do not like to do a lot of heavy weight lifting because it really does make be bulk out too much. I find cardio plus body weight bearing workouts best for me.

[Anonymous]

Strength. Warm up in treadmill 10 mins. Stretch. Mat work for core. Lift. Jumping jacks, jump rope between sets. Hit the step mill halfway through work out. Finish by fast walk treadmill or elliptical. Stretch again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would spend at least half the time on weights, if not more. When I worked with a trainer, we did about 40-45 minutes of strength training and finished with 10-15 minutes of HIIT cardio (something like alternating sprinting and walking on the treadmill). Then finish up with stretching.

This is the right advice. I'm 44, and have always been super active, but much more focused on cardio. In the last 5 years, I've flipped this completely by doing much more with weights, and the changes in my body have been pretty dramatic, even though I didn't have weight to lose. If you want to lose pounds, the obvious path is through diet. But in terms of bang for your buck in the gym - weight-bearing exercises all the way.

I like the peloton stuff, but you absolutely do not have to pay for this stuff. There is a ton of good, free content on youtube. I recommend you start with Heather Robertson, who has a bunch of good programs that incorporate light cardio, weights, stretching. Juice & Toya is another great program as well.