How to add cardio to strength training
Chris Verehhotti
(famous?) books: Starting Strength and Practical Programming for
Barbell Training. I'm happy with the routine and the progress I've
made, but one of the points in Practical Programming is that cardio
can be detrimental to making progress in strength training -- I don't
think it meant to say "don't do any cardio ever", but what _should_ be
done isn't addressed. (I tried searching this forum, but my searches
turned up "cardio vs. weight training", or "cardio before or after
weight training?", neither of which is my question.)
Does anyone have any recommendations? I'm currently doing approx.
half and hour of jogging or treadmill (based on weather) a couple of
times per week on non-lifting days.
- Chris
Steve Freides
news:7e56b583-29c0-42ad...@l64g2000hse.googlegroups.com...
Many of us from the kettlebell side of things practice a hybrid called
strength/endurance training. It's a much better fit for a strength
athlete or bodybuilder, IMHO. E.g., take a 24 or 32 kg kettlebell and
perform lots of swings or snatches with it. For most people, it's too
hard to do continuously but doing an on/off format, e.g., 30 seconds of
swings followed by 30 seconds of rest, you can work up to 10-20 minutes
or longer and have all the cardio you'll ever need.
Another approach is Bryce Lane's "50/20" - take a heavy weight and a
big, compound lift, e.g., clean and press, squat, power clean, even
deadlift, choosing the weight so that you can get a total of 30 reps
performed in 20 minutes by whatever rep/set/rest combination you like.
Then work on increasing the reps to 50 in 20 minutes.
Yet another approach is Tabata - just google "tabata protocol" to read
about this, which is a few, very-high-intensity sprints on short rest
periods.
All of these approaches are, IMHO, superior to traditional cardio for
anyone interested in strength and/or muscle size. Frankly, I think
they're superior for any purpose other than becoming an endurance
athlete.