Can you keep your strength & lean gains while trying to improve your fitness?
The issue with training for cardiovascular fitness is that it CAN conflict with your strength and muscle building goals if not programmed correctly. Training to improve your fitness while maintaining your gains in strength and lean muscle really comes down to setting a realistic and achievable goal instead of trying to shoot for numerous goals in one plan. Do too much of the wrong things and you’ll end up sacrificing in other areas just to improve your fitness. Here’s some pointers on improving your overall conditioning, while maintaining strength levels and not impacting your lean muscle too much:
- Stay consistent with eating the right amount of food for your exercise expenditure
- Your body WILL drop muscle with excessive low-intensity cardio
- If you do three cardio workouts per week, two of them should be anaerobic work (sprints/HiiT)
- Perform your aerobic workout (low intensity, steady-state) on a day by itself, used as an active recovery day (20–30 minutes at a moderate pace will suffice)
- Do full body strength workouts 2–3 times per week, focusing on your compound lifts (squats, deadlifts, bench press, bent over rows etc.)
- As improved fitness is your main goal, try doing sprints BEFORE you hit the weights (make sure you warm up before). This will allow you to really focus your energy and intensity on the cardio section of your workout.
- Try 15 second sprints with about 40-60 seconds recovery for 6-8 rounds.
- Rest 5 minutes before your strength workout so that energy levels and ATP stores can recover.
