How to balance strength training and cardio

Q: How does one balance strength training and cardiovascular exercise?

A: Exercise is like a two-sided coin, with one side representing strength training, and the other side representing cardiovascular exercise. Strength training involves direct stimulation of skeletal muscles by causing them to work against some form of resistance (weights, body weight, etc.) for the purpose of making them stronger. Cardiovascular exercise is exercise that requires a greater need for oxygen by your body and therefore increases your heart and breathing rates.

Both types of exercise are beneficial. Strength training allows us to maintain posture, to retain and to increase healthy muscle mass, and to continue to maintain an independent lifestyle as we get older. Cardiovascular exercise helps to ensure that our hearts and lungs continue to work properly and more efficiently, protecting us from ailments such as heart disease.

With that groundwork set, let’s talk a little more about balancing both sides of the coin. First, you definitely should be doing both types of exercise every week.

Some of you who are distance runner-types, who would much rather stay out of the weight room, really ought to consider doing some sort of strength training. Why? Because engaging in a lot of high-intensity cardiovascular exercise, which consumes a lot of energy, while neglecting to directly train the muscles, causes your body to get rid of muscle. Such a decrease in muscle mass not only makes you soft and un-toned, but it also puts you at a greater risk for losing your independence later in life since some level of muscle loss occurs naturally with age.

If you’re an “iron junkie,” who lives and breathes weights and who scoffs at cardio, you need to think again. Heart disease is a leading cause of death in America, so it is important that everyone engage in regular activity that causes your heart to pump a little harder — something that you sustain for at least 10 minutes, several days per week.

Such activity, especially when combined with the right diet, helps to prevent heart disease. Strength training, unfortunately, doesn’t count most of the time because it requires a lot of rest breaks.

So what’s the best way, in my opinion, to balance strength training and cardiovascular training? Combine the two. That way, you don’t have to think so much about having “strength” days and “cardio” days.

A good strategy for the cardio-leaning person is to engage in interval training, a concept I mentioned in a recent column. For example, if you’re a runner, you could choose a hilly area where you can sprint up hills and jog slowly down the other side. Sprints increase the load on many of your muscles and therefore count as strength training, and by keeping it moving, you are still getting your cardio in.

Weightlifting-leaning individuals can try circuit training, which is where you set up four to five different exercises that target different muscles. With little to no rest in between, you perform one exercise after the other. The fact that you’re using different muscle groups will keep you from totally gassing out, and trust me, your heart will be pumping.

If you’re neither of these types, don’t fear. Many common day-to-day activities that you might do at home — such as gardening, landscaping or even in-house chores — can be a great way for you to do strength training and cardio since they often involve much lifting, pushing, pulling and moving around. Make such activities more vigorous, and you have yourself a comprehensive workout.

This story was originally published January 20, 2017 at 11:47 AM with the headline "How to balance strength training and cardio."