Many athletes ask questions about combining cardio and strength training, about the lack of progress because of this. These two types of physical activity are diametrically opposite, which does not prevent people from doing both one and the other.
Most fans of sports and a healthy lifestyle believe that cardio develops endurance, strength training - strength, they do not interfere with each other. This is partly true, but there are many nuances due to which such compatibility is often not useful.
Harm and benefits of developing endurance for strength training
It is worth noting that the excessive development of slow muscle fibers - that is, those that are responsible for endurance in the human body, can quite realistically lead to a significant decrease in strength indicators, to a decrease in progress.
The studies contradict each other, with several reporting that people positively reported progress in the gym with increased cardio loads, while others reported the opposite. This suggests that completely different groups of people with different physical characteristics were taken.
If we take the example of experienced athletes - their strength only decreased with increasing endurance, the whole point is in the characteristics of the body of people who have hypertrophied muscle mass. Another example - physically untrained women - their lower body muscle mass increased through regular running.
How to train endurance to maintain strength
One of the best options in this case is high-intensity interval training with a high number of beats per minute. The bottom line is to alternate types of load in intensity from less to more.
The worst option would be monotonous, slow physical work. Strength adaptation and muscle hypertrophy in this case will be significantly slowed down. This type of training process should be included only when there is work to burn fat, maintain mass, and maintain strength indicators.
Training frequency
If you want to maintain good power performance in the "rocking chair", you should pay attention to this ratio: 2: 1, 3: 1. That is, if you have 2 strength training sessions per week, include one cardio workout. It is also worth remembering that while maintaining strength, you should not get too carried away with endurance work, do no more than 30-40 minutes of such loads.
Do not do these two types of workouts immediately after each other, it will not lead to positive results. Try to separate them, preferably on different days in the training week. The thing is that the abundance of lactic acid, the effect on slow muscle fibers can lead to a significant decrease in the result of training in the "gym".
To summarize, observe the periodization of cardio and strength training, while gaining muscle mass, do not overuse the development of endurance. Based on the above statements, select your own training schedule based on your fitness level.
