Losing strength when focus is on Cardio?

F

FirmNurse

Cathlete
I did the S&H series for about 8 weeks and LOVED my results.

I knew that it was time though to melt some fat, and so with my limited time this summer, I worked about 2 months on mainly cardio with some weights, usally PUB and SJP.

Well, last night I tried to do some Slow and Heavy again and I felt so weak. I could not use the weights I was using just a couple of months ago. I was sad, because I had worked so hard to get to that point.

I cannot work BOTH cardio and strength to 100% each day. Are you supposed to? Or is it normal and okay to focus on one and then the other?

I think I need to go back to strength again, because I feel more "smooshy" than I did back in March and April. How do you do it ALL?
 
Hi Firm Nurse! Unless you are training for a specific event, I think for overall health and fitness benefits, it is a better and more balanced approach to do some of both each week.

Some weeks you can put more emphasis on weight training and other weeks on cardio. Or an even split between the two. If you are really short on time or days on a given week, you can do circuit tapes like Boot Camp, High Step Training Advanced, Circuit Max, Body Max, and Cardio and Weights to get a bit of both within each workout.

Good Luck!
 
Hi, Jackie. One of the things I have noted is when I go off heavy and intense strength and change the emphasis to cardio, I may feel less strong at first. But it returns very quickly! S&H llustrates this very effectively. It's such a focused workout that I'm ready for something very different after several weeks. Cardio is often just the thing and when I return to emphasisizing strength, it will often be moderate strength and THEN heavy. I think your strength is there and you'll be surprised how quickly you get back to super strong if you start more moderate and increase incrementally. Don't jump right back into heavy and expect the power to be there. If you start in the middle, I bet you will be ready for heavy very quickly. Muscles DO remember. And while they may balk at going straight to your heaviest weight, they will probably be ready for heavy very quickly if you go moderate first. Then, if you switch the emphasis every few weeks rather than months, you feel you've lost less strength and you'll gain it back pronto.
Bobbi http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/chicken.gif "Chick's rule!"

Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

- Mary Oliver
 
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