Balancing Your Cardio and Resistance Training

Whether your goals are fitness based or performance based, there is an optimal level of balance between how much cardio exercise versus how much resistance training you should do. The easiest, and hardest, exercise program changes Longevity trainers make are when we see someone who has a severe dominance in their program. The change is usually easy for us to see and recommend, but harder for our clients to change. Why? … because endurance people LOVE cardio exercise and weight trainers LOVE resistance exercise!

There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a favorite, unless it’s holding you back from progress and results. Now I’m not saying that if you are a endurance athlete, you should change your program to a 50/50 split between cardio and weights, but I haven’t met a runner yet that couldn’t use a little more stability exercise to assist their running performance. Even the large weight lifters could benefit from some cardiovascular system enhancement…. IT’S TRUE!

One of the most common ways we see this expressed in exercisers’ programs, who are looking to lose weight and fat, is an over-abundance of their exercising time spent on low intensity cardiovascular exercise. Once you have gotten a cardiovascular base, this low intensity needs to be progressed to higher levels and resistance training included to spike your metabolism to help make you a fat burning machine. One of the ways to conserve on time and get both benefits is to use circuit training (or some form like Tabata training).

Regardless of your favorite type of exercise, an optimally balanced exercise program will help you achieve greater success and have a more completely conditioned body. If you think you need help finding your balance in your program or making that difficult change, contact us anytime for assistance.

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