How do I fit in my cardio work into my strength training?

In today’s work climate, clients and gym-goers often ask or present the problem of “trying to fit it all in” when it comes to their workouts. Three workouts a week at an hour apiece can be a luxury for most. So how do we go about designing a program given these obstacles?

First we need to define what “cardio” actually is.

In mainstream fitness we’ve divided two distinct populations into the “meatheads” and the “people on the hamster wheels”. Look around a big-box gym and you’ll get the idea. We’ve come to understand cardio as synonymous with treadmills, ellipticals and stationary bikes. It was sold as cardio-equipment, their programs promoted the “fat-burning zone” (which I think exists wherever unicorns come from) and you could do it while watching “The View” and flipping through the latest teen magazine. What’s not to like?

Well, for starters, it doesn’t work. And when I say “it” I specifically mean consistent, low-intensity, steady-state aerobic training with the goal of fat loss. In this case the tool doesn’t match the goal (the “why” to this question is a different article entirely).

So what can you do for a good cardiovascular workout?

Just about anything. Remember, your heart doesn’t know the difference between a treadmill, a bike, or a barbell. It simply responds to the stimulus you impose on it by working muscles; more working muscles (i.e. multi-joint exercises) are going to demand more blood be pumped and in a shorter period of time.

Some other factors that will affect your heart-rate response to exercise include intensity, duration of work and rest bouts (for intervals or metabolic strength circuits), and whether or not the exercise is new to you as familiar exercises will demand less work effort and therefore lower heart rates.

When it comes to fat loss, we know two forms of exercise are going to take priority and give us the best bang-for-your-buck with results. (Disclaimer: Without some improvement in nutrition this all becomes moot!).

How do I design a program that fits in both strength training and cardio?

It helps to understand a few basic principles.

1. Form trumps all. No matter what sets and reps are programmed you are only working to technical failure. In other words, we want to leave 1 or 2 perfect reps in the tank for each set.

2. Order of exercise is important. There are an infinite number of varying designs when it comes to writing exercise programs but all good ones share a few things in common. One is the order in which they do things:

                a. Some sort of massage/foam rolling

                b. Activation (waking up the glutes and/or rotator cuff usually)

c. Dynamic warm-up moving from slower to quicker motions (should include movement in all directions)

d. Core (many do this at the end; since it’s so important for back health, it makes sense to do it early on when you’re fresh. It can be worked into the strength supersets as well)

e. Power or strength work

f. Strength or Metabolic Strength circuits

e. Metabolic finisher

g. Recovery/Stretching/Nutritional component

It is important to do any intense cardiovascular at the end in order to garner any benefit from the strength and power work early on.

If you design a program in that order you are putting yourself ahead of 90% of the general population.

What might a good “cardio” program look like?

First, metabolic strength training should make up the meat of your workouts if you only have 2-3 gym sessions per week. These consist of metabolic circuits that can be continuous, alternating and non-competing exercises with minimal rest. After a sufficient warm-up you may pair together circuits like so:

1a. Goblet Style Squat (lower body-knee dominant) 3x15 (rest 15 seconds)

1b. One Arm DB Row (upper body-pull) 3x15 (rest 15 seconds)

1c. Front plank (core) 3x30 seconds (rest 15 seconds)

 REST 3 MINUTES

2a. One Leg RDL (Lower body-hip dominant) 3x10/side (rest 15 seconds)

2b. Push-Ups (upper body-push) 3x10 (rest 15 seconds)

2c. Bird Dogs (rotational core) 3x10/side (rest 15 seconds)

This is not a comprehensive plan but a snapshot example of what you could use to combine solid strength training along with your cardiovascular work. Counting the warm-up this program could be done in less than 45 minutes. It is based on a primary goal of fat-loss, not strength.

If the primary goal was strength, we would focus at least one exercise if not the entire strength portion on lower rep, higher rest plans and add intervals in later (at the end of the workout, or on alternate days if possible). It may look something like this: 

1a. Trap Bar Deadlift 4x5 (rest 60-90 seconds)

1b. Wall Ankle Mobilizations

2a. Dumbbell Reverse Lunges 3x6/side (rest 30 seconds)

2b. Push-Ups 3x8 (rest 30 seconds)

2c. Hip Flexor Pulse 3x8/side (rest 30 seconds)

3a. ½ Kneeling Cable Row 3x10/side

3b. One Leg Bridge 3x10/side

3c. Side Plank 3x20 seconds/side

4. Intervals: 15 seconds work/45 seconds rest for 12 rounds

Here we have more of a focus on a true strength exercise (trap bar deadlift) at a lower rep range, a mix of assistance strength exercises that cover most functional movement patterns and then a dedicated finisher focused on anaerobic power (short intervals with a 3:1 rest:work ratio).

Again, this is nothing close to comprehensive as far as physiology and programming go but hopefully it gives you a few ideas when trying to fit it all in to your own workouts.