Order is everything: how to mix weights and cardio for optimum results

details matter. Getting the fit and lean body you want requires attention to all the details, not just some of them. The order of your strength exercises, and when you do your cardio and strength portions of your workout, are critical details that affect your results.

If your goal is to lose fat and firm up your muscles, then you would be wise to follow a whole-body workout. Training your entire body in one session is the best way to maintain a high caloric bum after the workout. And burning calories while you're watching television is the smartest way to attack those fat cells when they least expect it. When you're trying to lose fat, cardio exercise is another important component--it's the best way to burn calories during the workout.

When it comes to cardio, two main points should be considered: What and when? For the most part, whatever you prefer--bicycling, jogging or jumping rope--is really the best choice. However, a recent and interesting find in our laboratory indicated that intense step aerobics was a great complement to a whole-body weight training program and provided maximum calorie burn in minimal time. This is important, because other studies have shown that prolonged cardio training can actually diminish the muscle-building effects of resistance training.

In essence, weight training increases metabolically active tissue, but cardio breaks it down. With step aerobics, you get the calorie burn in 30 minutes, without sacrificing much muscle. In fact, it can enhance lower-body muscle.

Increase Your Efficiency

Heavy resistance training doesn't reduce endurance training effects. In fact, heavy resistance training actually enhances them, resulting in greater peak oxygen consumption and the ability to maintain higher levels of maximum aerobic effort. Another boon is that it improves function during such activities by increasing your running efficiency (provided you're a runner). This means that you can expend more energy with less wasted effort.

The Solution

We found that by combining resistance exercise with an intense step aerobics program, the amount of time spent on aerobic conditioning can be cut by almost 50%, while still providing the same cardiovascular benefits. However, we also found that the key to minimizing negative effects of intense cardio on muscle growth with resistance exercise lies in the order of exercises in your program. Thus, the sequence of exercise type and mode is important.

The solution is to properly order the resistance exercises around your cardiovascular workout. This will increase the time efficiency of your training sessions, and with this approach, you'll improve upper-body strength and power along with the total-body conditioning. The best part of this program is that it doesn't work against itself--you can develop cardiovascular fitness along with the lean tissue mass that's so important.

REFERENCE

Kraemer, W. J., et al. Resistance training combined with bench-step aerobics enhances women's health/fitness profile. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 33(2): 259-269, 2001.

RELATED ARTICLE: The Program

The key to the program is to place large-muscle-group exercises (1) first in the workout. Follow up with the cardio program (2) and conclude with small-muscle-group resistance exercises (3). This is simple, but effective. Perform three sets of 8-10 reps (75%-80% of your one-rep max) with 1-2 minutes of rest between sets and all exercises.

1

* Squat

* Bench Press

* Seated Row

* Military Press

* Lat Pulldown

2

Cardio

Do 25 minutes at 80%-85% of your heart rate maximum

3

* Biceps Curl

* Triceps Pressdown

* Calf Raise

* Hamstring Curl

* Abdominal Crunch

William J. Kraemer is a professor in the department of kinesiology at the University of Connecticut, Storrs, and editor-in-chief of the National Strength and Conditioning Association's scientific publication, the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research.

BY WILLIAM J. KRAEMER, PHD. CSCS

COPYRIGHT 2003 Weider Publications
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group