Cardio or Strength Training??

It's funny, but I have flip-flopped! I used to love cardio and hate weight training, then I went through a phase where I hated cardio and loved weight training! Now, oddly, I'm finally at a balance where I love doing both! I think the running helped with that along with Cathe's great variety in cardio workouts! She's a great motivator and keeps you going through all the tough spots!
 
I have a totally mixed up relationship with both cardio and weights.... I dread cardio beforehand, because huffing and puffing and sweating sounds so unpleasant, but during it I feel great and have fun. I look forward to weights beforehand, because it seems easier than jumping/stepping/kicking/sweating, but during it I am working so hard and my muscles are burning and I can't wait for it to be over!
 
When I am stressed to hell, cardio is the only thing that does it for me. So on those days, I love cardio! Nothing blows the cobwebs of anxiety away and helps me put the world into perspective quite like it.

I also enjoy resistance training for the lower body. I like to feel myself getting stronger, and I love the lean look in my jeans that it gives me. It also helps me deal better with the aches and pains of getting older. I think it really does help me stay younger. I am 45, but I just don't feel it!

I do not enjoy weight training for the upper body. It just doesn't make much sense to me. I do it religiously for a while, charting the increase in weight loads, etc, and then one day it hits me, why I am I doing this? Just so that tomorrow I can lift a heavier weight? My upper body does not need sculpting for aesthetic purposes because it already has it. So, I do it sporadically because the only upper body exercise I really like is overhead shoulder presses/Arnold's press! Who alone knows why!

I don't mind core work because finally, aged 45, I have visible definition in my core region, with oblique definition and everything. I credit all sorts of planks for this. I adore doing planks and will happily hold all sorts of different plank poses forever and a day, if I have a good sound track going in the ear buds.

So, does this answer your question?!?!?

Clare
 
Much prefer weight training. Depending on what cardio I'm doing, I range from total dread (but always feel better afterwards) to OK, let;s just do it! But, what I really dread is core/ab work!!!
 
I like both, but cardio has a slight edge I think. I dread push-ups and leg presses, so if I am doing a strength workout that incorporates those moves I DEFINITELY do not look forward to it!
 
I used to hate cardio, but since joining a gym really like it...I realized that I didn't like cardio at home, but LOVE machines...I could lift weights 7 days a week...

MJ in MN
 
I typically prefer weight lifting, but I'm really enjoying doing premixes that involve both cardio and weights... like KPC/L&G premixes and 4DS, etc. I kind of feel guilty when I do just a weight workout and no cardio now -- especially if it's upper body weights (when I tend to not sweat as much). I feel like I get a total workout when I do some of both. :)
 
Clare, I hate you! :p

Not really! How lucky you are not to have that dreaded jiggle under the upper arms when you reach up! :eek: If I don't do upper body weights, it's really scary!

Also, I double hate you! ;);) My abdominal area still has a wad of fat around it, so no six-pack or any pack there! Of course, it doesn't help that I abhor core work! I really have to make myself do it!

Are planks really all you do for your abs? I've been doing some reading and there are some programs that only do things like planks and mountain climbers, but no traditional core work.

maddiesmum said:
When I am stressed to hell, cardio is the only thing that does it for me. So on those days, I love cardio! Nothing blows the cobwebs of anxiety away and helps me put the world into perspective quite like it.

I also enjoy resistance training for the lower body. I like to feel myself getting stronger, and I love the lean look in my jeans that it gives me. It also helps me deal better with the aches and pains of getting older. I think it really does help me stay younger. I am 45, but I just don't feel it!

I do not enjoy weight training for the upper body. It just doesn't make much sense to me. I do it religiously for a while, charting the increase in weight loads, etc, and then one day it hits me, why I am I doing this? Just so that tomorrow I can lift a heavier weight? My upper body does not need sculpting for aesthetic purposes because it already has it. So, I do it sporadically because the only upper body exercise I really like is overhead shoulder presses/Arnold's press! Who alone knows why!

I don't mind core work because finally, aged 45, I have visible definition in my core region, with oblique definition and everything. I credit all sorts of planks for this. I adore doing planks and will happily hold all sorts of different plank poses forever and a day, if I have a good sound track going in the ear buds.

So, does this answer your question?!?!?

Clare
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syzygy314 said:
Clare, I hate you! :p

Not really! How lucky you are not to have that dreaded jiggle under the upper arms when you reach up! :eek: If I don't do upper body weights, it's really scary!

Also, I double hate you! ;);) My abdominal area still has a wad of fat around it, so no six-pack or any pack there! Of course, it doesn't help that I abhor core work! I really have to make myself do it!

Are planks really all you do for your abs? I've been doing some reading and there are some programs that only do things like planks and mountain climbers, but no traditional core work.
Click to expand...

No, planks aren't the only core exercise I do, but they are the ones I love.

I do that stability ball roll up move that Cathe does on one of the Intensity series DVDs (roll up, touch ball to feet, roll down, then roll up fast and kick ball with feet). I also do Russian twists, seated. I like crunches on the ball with a 10 pound weight. Also, I do a side plank move with hip lowering and raising, with elbow bent and arm resting on the floor, and with feet stacked on a bosu or soft wobble disk. Three sets of 15 reps each side. It's a killer. This is the move that has my obliques showing. I also like the stability ball core roll ins Cathe does in the I-series before she does the full up pike. I find that all these moves help work the upper body also, maybe this is why I don't have arm jiggle? But also, it's genetics, there isn't a whole lot to my arms which works for me since I hate working upper body but makes it tough when I decide to work it because it takes forever to build any strength. I made it up to a 10 pound dumbbell for tricep kick backs......ONCE!

But, as many have said before, core definition only shows when body fat drops to a certain percentage and this is as true for me as for anyone else. I currently weight 126 pounds. If my weight goes up to 130 and beyond, bye bye core definition! So, nutrition and calories are part of the equation.

I have to tell you though that it has been my experience that running and all the fast power walking that I do (between 5.4-5.8 mph) also really works the core. I propel my body forwards with my whole body, not just the legs and the core is braced the whole time to deal with the speed and keep going while the treadmill belts along. So, you don't necessarily have to do traditional ab work to see definition.

In addition, I do several moves to work the lower body and for stability that include trunk rotation (including walking lunges, no weight but hands at either side of your head and after each step forward there is a rotation over the lead leg to that side, this also makes you unstable as you lunge, so it works the core more than a traditional lunge). There are many ways to get core definition.

Clare
 
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I'm a 'step' junkie. Could happily step all day long. Once its all over and I'm hosed down and had the nose-bag on - I want to get at it all over again!!!!!!

I spent about 15 years in the gym busily giving myself minor shoulder and back injury gripes to be enjoyed in later life and even though I lifted heavier and heavier I never really achieved the definition I sought. So have to agree with Clare on that one - its all about genetics.

I've been doing so much cardio the last six months. I was wondering if at 51 perhaps I'm pushing it a bit, but just lately I've begun to realise how happy I am!!!!!! I read the post yesterday from the lady who has moved back in with her parents and is very sad and I wondered if it would seem a bit naff and simplistic to suggest "try Dr Cardio", but its done it for me like I couldn't believe. I've certainly got my share of financial restrictions (as doubtless many of us face) + relationship problems and disappointments (and even though my weight is not co-opeating and disappearing as fast as I would like) I can't remember if I've ever felt so completely content. Weird.

My new DVDs came this week - I've snatched a quick look-see and just cannot wait to get at it and learn those new routines.

I still do upper and lower body conditioning once a week (+ abs daily) but gotta love love love it when that sweat flies. :D
 
Great question! I go back and forth. For a few months I will love cardio and dread weights. Then I will be sick of cardio and love weights. This seems to happen when I am doing longer cardio workouts for a while, like Body Max 2 and Low Max, Kick Max. Right now I am doing 4 DS and I am loving it. I love that the cardio is not an hour or more long and the weights are heavy and concentrate on a few muscles a day. I am getting really toned in the upper body from this, which of course, I love!

Kristin
 
Thanks for the info, Clare on your favorite core work! I do a lot of the same things, like running and lunges with the arms up. I need to add that twist though! I can't imagine losing more weight! I'm already down to between 121 and 124! I could stand to drop a bit more BF, but I'm concerned that it may bring my weight down more and be too much. I'm on the fence and trying to make that decision now as to whether I want to put forth more effort on my diet to focus on reducing BF more. I've talked it over with my DH, just because I like his input, not to make the decision for me. Haven't decided yet. I'm pretty happy where I'm at, except for my abdominal region.

Thanks again! :D

maddiesmum said:
No, planks aren't the only core exercise I do, but they are the ones I love.

I do that stability ball roll up move that Cathe does on one of the Intensity series DVDs (roll up, touch ball to feet, roll down, then roll up fast and kick ball with feet). I also do Russian twists, seated. I like crunches on the ball with a 10 pound weight. Also, I do a side plank move with hip lowering and raising, with elbow bent and arm resting on the floor, and with feet stacked on a bosu or soft wobble disk. Three sets of 15 reps each side. It's a killer. This is the move that has my obliques showing. I also like the stability ball core roll ins Cathe does in the I-series before she does the full up pike. I find that all these moves help work the upper body also, maybe this is why I don't have arm jiggle? But also, it's genetics, there isn't a whole lot to my arms which works for me since I hate working upper body but makes it tough when I decide to work it because it takes forever to build any strength. I made it up to a 10 pound dumbbell for tricep kick backs......ONCE!

But, as many have said before, core definition only shows when body fat drops to a certain percentage and this is as true for me as for anyone else. I currently weight 126 pounds. If my weight goes up to 130 and beyond, bye bye core definition! So, nutrition and calories are part of the equation.

I have to tell you though that it has been my experience that running and all the fast power walking that I do (between 5.4-5.8 mph) also really works the core. I propel my body forwards with my whole body, not just the legs and the core is braced the whole time to deal with the speed and keep going while the treadmill belts along. So, you don't necessarily have to do traditional ab work to see definition.

In addition, I do several moves to work the lower body and for stability that include trunk rotation (including walking lunges, no weight but hands at either side of your head and after each step forward there is a rotation over the lead leg to that side, this also makes you unstable as you lunge, so it works the core more than a traditional lunge). There are many ways to get core definition.

Clare
Click to expand...
 
It really depends on my mood, but if I had to say which I favor more often...weight training. :)
 
I wish I liked cardio more, I do it because it is important. I could do strength training everyday and nothing else.
 
I have a love/hate relationship with each of them depending on the day, the time and my mood. Can't say I prefer one over the other. Just depends on what I am more in the mood for when I work out.
 
I was in the best shape of my life when I wasn't doing any cardio at all, only weights and moderate walking. I figure it this way: strength training done vigourously will raise your heart rate and have a cardio effect, while cardio is only going to have a minimal and specific strength effect. So strength training gives you better bang for your buck. I alternate between loving weights and loving cardio (mostly running and dancing and plyo). At the moment I'm in love with running.
 
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