When you go to the gym, you’d often find people having trouble choosing between going for a strength or cardio-focused training program, as there’s a common opinion that strength and cardio training shouldn’t be mixed. Furthermore, people are afraid that adding a focus on one of the two will give you trouble on the other.
It’s due to common myths and misconceptions that strength and cardio training shouldn’t mix, but that couldn’t be even more wrong, as there are more than enough reasons why you should consider doing both strength and cardio training. In reality, people don’t mix the two only because they don’t know the best way to have the two work together for you to achieve your health and fitness goals.
If you’re wondering if strength and cardio training should mix, this article will tell you all you need to know.
The misconception around combining cardio and strength training
Usually, most people go to the gym to lose weight and build muscle. So, naturally, their first goal is to lift weights to do both. While it may be right, two main misconceptions are popular in all kinds of gyms that hinder the progress of those looking to boost their body fitness in gyms.
First, when people lift weights, they are afraid that adding cardiovascular training to their workout plan will be detrimental to building muscle. It’s because they think performing cardiovascular training exercises can “burn” muscle, which is pretty much a popular myth you can hear in many gyms.
However, the said misconception might root from the fact that when you use too much energy working out, the body may burn some muscle for energy, but it will only be like that if you do things wrong. When you overdo working out, you risk your body entering the catabolic state in which your body will start burning muscle to supply energy, but you can avoid it.
On the other hand, people looking to lose fat or slim down avoid lifting weights, fearing that they may develop a bulky body build. However, you don’t become bulky just by doing that because to be bulky, you need to have a well-designed workout and diet plan. It doesn’t just happen quickly. Lifting weights doesn’t give you a bulky build.
It’s actually quite the opposite as weight training can strengthen and give your muscles more endurance, which can help cardiovascular efficiency, helping you lose more weight in the process.
Basically, to say that combining cardio and strength training ruins your chance of achieving your body goals is false. Yes, cardio can burn your muscles, but it won’t reach that point if you do it right. Weight training can make you bulkier, but it will only be the case if you do a workout and diet plan designed to make you bulky.
The proper mix
So, now you know that it isn’t bad to combine cardio and strength training, what’s next? If you plan on doing all the cardio and strength training exercises you can, you’re wrong. Even if mixing them isn’t a bad thing, you still need to remember that for the two to work well and complement each other, you need the perfect mix of cardio and strength training.
To make sure you do it correctly, set your goals first. Do you want to lose weight or gain muscle? Combining cardio and strength exercises can do both, but you’re much better off taking it one at a time. It’s because trying to do both will make you progress slowly, and you can even risk overtraining, which can result in injuries or your workout not being effective enough.
Here are some things you can do to ensure you find the right balance:
- Make sure your training includes both cardiovascular and strength training workouts to ensure that you optimize the combination to achieve your desired results. For example, if your goal is to build muscle, you can try doing a strength training workout 3 days a week, and then perform some cardio sessions when you don’t have strength training.
- If you have a sport, make sure to pick the right strength and cardiovascular training exercises for your workout plan, as the results can highly affect your playing performance. For example, if you’re a swimmer, you need to focus on a workout plan that leans more toward cardiovascular training.
- You also have to consider your body type. For example, if you’re a mesomorph or someone with a rectangular bone structure, thinner bones, flat rib cage, and long limbs, your body type makes it easier for you to build muscle, which means you need to have a different workout and diet plan than someone with a different body type.
Find the right balance and get the best possible results with a personal trainer
Getting the right balance between cardiovascular and strength training contributes a lot to make sure you get your fitness goals. However, getting the right balance isn’t easy, as planning for your workout and diet plan can be complex. Once you get it wrong, you won’t get the results you want, and you may even be at risk for workout injuries.
If you want to avoid this and you want to have the best workout and diet to achieve the results you want, having personal training Mandurah can provide you with all the information and assistance you need.