Is a Rotation of Wts 2x/Wk, Cardio 3x/Wk Set in Stone?

S

Soosan

Cathlete
I know the answer to this questions depends on your goals, but I've often read that, for general fitness, you should weight-train each body part twice a week and do a cardio session 3 times a week. So, is this set in stone? Can anyone cite relevant research?

I've more or less been doing this for several years and, aside from flabby and weak (but slowly getting stronger!) abs, I feel and look healthy and fit. I've also been consistently doing yoga for the past two years, prioritizing weights and cardio, but fitting in yoga wherever I can. That usually means one power yoga session a week and 15 min add-ons after a Cathe workout.

Last week, while visiting my parents, I didn't have access to gym equipment, so I alternated power yoga and Pilates. It made me realize how much more of these types of exercise I'd like to do. Being consistent with a "full" Pilates workout for that week seemed to make it finally click with me and my form was the best it's ever been.

So, instead of doing my normal routine of weights 2x/wk and cardio 3x plus a little yoga/Pilates, would it be equally beneficial to stretch my "week" into two weeks and do something like this?

SUN: Weights
MON: Pilates
TUE: Cardio
WED: Yoga
THU: Rest
FRI: Weights
SAT: Pilates
SUN: Cardio
MON: Yoga
TUE: Weights
WED: Pilates
THU: Rest
FRI: Cardio
SAT: Yoga

I feel like this would inhibit strength/cardio capacity gains so am afraid to try it. What do you all think? For the cardio, could a circuit workout (e.g., BC) be used?

I'm getting tired of seeing my workouts getting longer and longer by trying to fit it all in!
 
Hello, Sooooooooooooosan (if that is your real name) . . .

There are no absolutes in fitness dogma and one of them is this: nothing is set in stone.

The 2X weights and 3X cardio dictum does not tell you the duration or intensity level of each session, does it? Duration and intensity, as well as frequency, are at least as important, and I'll bet you'll find 10 exceptionally fit people, fit in the cardiovascular and musculoskeletal areas as well as body composition, and they'll recite 10 completely different schedules. Some periodize their schedules week by week, some every 10 days, some every month, what have you. It does depend on your goals, but even if you have set goals, I'll bet there are a dozen ways to get close to them. IMHO you can decrease the duration of a workout bout while increasing the intensity, and get the same benefits.

As far as a circuit routine counting as a cardio workout, IMHO if it is a leg-circuit routine, in which only the legs perform resistance cycles with heavier weights, then that would count for me far more as a cardio routine. Cut out the legs and you cut out a great deal of the cardio benefit for that particular resistance cycle.

As far as your proposed schedule, alas because I'm not really a yoga or Pilates person I can't judge. Neither yoga nor Pilates does much for the cardiovascular system, so you'd have to value its other benefits more.

Just in passing, I submitted a new class format to my club where I instruct: "Squirrelates". Will let you know how it turns out. Give my regards to Rocky -

A-Jock
 
RE: Is a Rotation of Wts 2x/Wk, Cardio 3x/Wk Set in Sto...

Thanks so much for the reply, A-Jock. I agree that you can get the same benefits by increasing intensity and decreasing duration. It's hard for me to compare the intensity of a yoga vs a weight session, though, because, although yoga helps to improve strength, they're different in so many ways. I haven't done Pilates long enough or with good enough form to speak to strength gains, but, aside from strengthening the core, I don't see how it can compare to weight- training in any way. At any rate, I'd never use either to replace my weight-training, and certainly not my cardio.

I have a feeling this ecto needs more weight-training than just 3 times every two weeks. Rocky laughs at my going-nowhere pushup sessions. So he can do 1152, big deal! He did one of your mish-moshes with a flaming dumbbell (2 oz) the other day. He really is incredible!

"Squirrelates" sounds interesting. Was Joseph Pilates' pet squirrel, Heinrich, the founder?
 
RE: Is a Rotation of Wts 2x/Wk, Cardio 3x/Wk Set in Sto...

Actually, it's a dirty secret of the fitness industry and the Pilates Empire that Heinrich was the true inventor of the discipline that came to be known as Pilates. Joseph STOLE THE MOVES from Heinrich, and then took advantage of some mickey-mouse loophole that said rodents couldn't apply for copyrights but humans could. You know the Pilates 100 move? Heinrich. The Pilates Reformer? Heinrich.

"Squirrelates" simply gives nod to Heinrich's species. Heinrich never was proud enough that he was a squirrel. Maybe that's why Joseph felt okay with stealing his innovation.

Who knows.

A-Jock
 
Soosan:

you love your yoga and you are keen to improve your practice with pilates, so you should follow your heart.

The CTX series here could be your best friend.

Why don't you consider doing a CTX cardio before a pilates, yoga or weights session? It would allow you to add more cardio to this rotation, because that's the element that has been cut and your muscles would be beautifully warm for stretching deeper into poses right from the get go.

Consider also incorporating more workouts like Bootcamp and Circuit Max that double as weights and cardio, which would give you more space to play around with for inserting more pilates.

Make your cardio days that you do include really work for you by having them all include intervals of some kind: say, one IMAX or Imax 2 per week, and/or add the Bootcamp cardio only premix at the end of a different cardio routine to rev up your metabolism.

I also know nothing about what benefits or disadvantages yoga and pilates represent to the strength of the body, but neither of them does anything for the cardiovascular system, that's a general truism. So, just as Annette is concerned about you cutting cardio, so would I be. I would keep cardio *3 per week, and play around instead with the pilates or yoga elements.

If I were going to re-write your 2 week cycle of workouts, this is how it would look:

day 1: weights
day 2: CTX 10 10 10 + 30-40 mins pilates
day 3: cardio = IMAX
day 4: yoga
day 5: rest
day 6: Bootcamp (incl weights, go heavy as poss, even if it means 2/2 count)
day 7: pilates
day 8: cardio = Imax 2
day 9: yoga
day 10: weights
day 11: rest
day 12: cardio = Circuit Max (heavy as poss)
day 13: pilates
day 14: CTX Power Circuit + 30-40 mins yoga.

See what you think

Clare :)
 
>
>As far as a circuit routine counting as a cardio workout, IMHO
>if it is a leg-circuit routine, in which only the legs perform
>resistance cycles with heavier weights, then that would count
>for me far more as a cardio routine. Cut out the legs and you
>cut out a great deal of the cardio benefit for that particular
>resistance cycle.
>

This is where I tend to get confused. I was under the impression that weight training of any kind was not a good source of cardio exercise because of the difference in the way the body (at a cellular level) provides energy for cardiovascular exercise vs. strength training; even when that strength training cause the heart rate to go up.

The info on this that I have read came from one of Douglas Brookes' Personal Trainers text book.
 
RE: Is a Rotation of Wts 2x/Wk, Cardio 3x/Wk Set in Sto...

A-Jock: Joseph STOLE Heinrich's invention?!? Can those Germans stoop any lower? Why haven't I seen this in "Squirrel Fitness?" I don't know how I'm going to keep this from Rocky. He's gonna flip.

Clare: Thanks so much for your input! I agree that the cardio element is missing, but frankly, I'm more concerned about losing precious muscle. I think doing short, intense cardio before a yoga or Pilates session is a great idea. I also like the idea of using BC or another circuit for maximum efficiency. When I do BC or CM, I always go as heavy as possible anyway. I never tried using a 2/2 count, but that's a good idea, too.

I think I might try this "get-it-all-in" rotation after I finish Cathe's June rotation, which I started today: http://69.0.137.118/dc/dcboard.php?...&topic_id=386&mesg_id=386&listing_type=search. I've added yoga and a little Pilates, of course.:)

If anyone else has any ideas, I'd love to hear them. For those who regularly do yoga and Pilates in addition to Cathe, please tell me what you do!:)
 
RE: Is a Rotation of Wts 2x/Wk, Cardio 3x/Wk Set in Sto...

Oh my gosh! A-Jock! I just read somewhere on the internet that Franz Heimlich stole the "Heinrich" maneuver from Joe's poor insecure, unsuspecting little pet and had it patented, using the same Mickey Mouse loophole you were talking about. Check out heinrichmaneuver.com.

I'm speechless.
 
Hey Soooooosan and A-jock!

I don't mean to gnaw in on your Squirrelates discussion, but I did want to add a related piece of interesting trivia that, I think, really corroborates the terrible truth of A-jock's story of Joseph Pilates' treachery.

I've read and heard (and I can't tell you where or I'd have to kill you) that in addition to his many other talents, Heinrich was a visionary rodent and foresaw the possibility that, because squirrels are known to have to eat nearly continuously in order to support their super-heated metabolisms, some Squirrelates participant might choke on a nut or two while performing a move. (And actually, Heinrich called the Squirrelates -- what we know as Pilates -- moves "maneuvers" -- a small but very significant difference in nomenclature, as you shall soon see.) So Heinrich invented a maneuver designed to allow the ever-vigilant instructor to intervene with aid, should a participant ever have, shall we say, a nut problem.

You see where I'm going with this? Yes, you're right.

Joseph Pilates stole that move from Heinrich, too -- but in an act of supreme betrayal, cavalierly wagered it in a poker game with a German pal and lost it. The German, ever shrewd, slightly altered the name of the move so that the world would never know its true origins (and so that his family could collect the royalties forever.)

That's right. Heinrich is, in fact, the father of ... the Heimlich Maneuver. And now you know the rest of the story. ;-)

http://www.click-smilies.de/sammlung0903/sport/sport-smiley-003.gif Kathy S. http://www.click-smilies.de/sammlung0903/spezial/spudniks/spudniklifter.gif
 
RE: Soosan!

What a riot, Kathy! When I logged on this morning and checked out this thread, I just thought you had taken my "Heinrich maneuver" post ingeniously further. As I scrolled further down, I realized you hadn't even read my post. Great minds think alike, you know.:)
 
RE: Soosan!

Stealing moves, modes and methods is a time-honored tradition in the fitness industry. But usually, fitness pros have the courtesy to steal from among their own species. And they usually have the courtesy to rename them names you can pronounce.

A-Jock
 
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