Mark Brown
January 15, 2022
Now that I have laid out what conditioning and cardio are and aren’t, it’s time to talk about getting them into a lifting program. A lot of how these two are attacked will depend on what the other 22-23 hours of the day look like for someone. If one has a job that is essentially steady state cardio and/or conditioning based given changes in circumstances like I do, then they are primed to get right to work on their lifting sessions. I average between 20,000 and 25,000 steps at work every day I’m there and add 4,000-5,000 more after work during lifting sessions. They are not the meandering type of steps, either. Whatever conditioning I do at the gym or garage, not including regular lifting, is icing on the cake and dependent on if I feel I can recover in time for the next day’s lifting session. The more active one is at work or during the day makes it easier to concentrate on strength and muscular development when the time comes to get it done. For people in this boat, conditioning and cardio is already covered so 5 day or even 6 day a week programs are possible if one’s recovery is good enough. I usually roll with a 5 day program with 2 rest days. One of them is a rest day I am at work so it counts as an “active” rest day and the other is “passive” rest day on the weekend where I do house stuff and just relax.
Programming these two things becomes harder when dealing with a person whose job or lifestyle is more sedentary than active. They will eat into the lifting session’s time because they have to get done. That means 5 or 6 day programs will become untenable very quickly unless time isn’t an issue. A 4 day lifting plan would allow all of the muscle groups to be hit twice a week and get the requisite cardio/conditioning in. The lifting program itself would be heavily impacted, especially if the goal is strength development because it is generally heavier load-wise. I can say from experience that moving from a 5 day program down to 4 required me to completely rejigger my entire lifting plan in November. A possible solution is getting conditioning in through lifting weights but the challenge of working cardio into the program would still be looming. That isn’t necessarily a difficult solution if one has enough time to implement a plan that gets it done that way. I heard Stan Efferding’s statement of 10 minutes of walking after every meal for the first time on Dave Tate’s Table Talk Podcast #90 and it made a lot of sense. Time is normally not on anyone’s side so cardio in this case is going probably going to be done at least at a moderate pace like a constant jog, the interval training or doing HIIT. Training is full of tradeoffs. The one here is that both conditioning and cardio will be done at a higher intensity. That higher intensity one works out with causes greater strain on the body, especially joints. This is one major reason why swimming is a great form of cardio. The weightlessness of water makes it very easy on joints while doing the work.
CrossFit programs specialize in dealing with time crunched individuals, or people who just like a more active session, through mashing conditioning and cardio into an extremely intense workout. It’s one of CrossFit’s main selling points. The other selling point is the use of Weightlifting being the main conditioning tool. I personally have never done it and have never expressed any interest in doing it. My oldest brother, Mike, did it a couple years ago and give it a good couple year run, if I recall. He did it because he wanted to vary up training. As lifters go, I get more into back and legs than he does but upper body our approaches are similar. He told me what he did when did CrossFit so I have at least a window size look into it. It seems crazy to me to ask someone to sprint or run any kind of long distance immediately after hitting a deadlift or squat of at 70% 1RM but if the goal is to get in and get out, then that part of it at least makes sense to me. Recovery is always the thing that boggles my mind. I would not recommend doing this right out of the office chair, so to speak. It is quite one extreme way of getting conditioning and cardio in. The concept behind CrossFit could very well be applied to a hypertrophy based lifting program instead of the high intensity of Weightlifting. While it wouldn’t be the same from a results frame, cardio and conditioning could be delivered that way. Executing that type of plan would work better and be easier for home gym owners as opposed though who go to commercial gyms. Supersetting two lifts that are within 5 feet of each other is hard enough when the place gets busy.
Learning how to breath is a skill that every lifter needs to learn to get stronger and lift heavier loads over time. This is skill is more important for powerlifters or weightlifters more than people going to the gym to put a moderate workout in. I can attest that learning how to breath helps keep the body rigid during heavy lifts. It’s not as easy as it sounds to learn. Conditioning in a program is designed to help develop wind capacity. That makes conditioning an extremely important part of strength training programs. A lifter who has more wind capacity is one who will be able to put in more reps more often. That will lead to better results over time and perhaps quicker, too because one is able to work further after fatigue starts to set in. One of my primary strategies for individual sessions is to work as deep into fatigue as possible. Cardio will help develop better wind by forcing the lungs to do more, even if it is just a simple walk, in addition to its primary function of burning fat. Just don’t do it before lifting. A gentle walk is probably fine to get blood flow into the legs but there is no reason to pre-fatigue a lifting session. I made the mistake of doing my normal big leg day after walking 18 holes of golf only once. Years ago. That lesson was learned quickly and fully.
The big thing to remember is that the less time one is going to devote to conditioning and cardio, the more intense it has to be done in order to get enough of it in. Working any kind of training program means managing tradeoffs is necessity. I prefer the steady state approach to cardio because it allows me to focus more of my energy on where I want to spend it. I am fortunate that I have a job that is conducive to allowing me to do it the way I do. I know plenty of people at work who view work as the gym, and have no desire to lift or run or whatnot after they are done working. I like to think my lack of injuries at a place where they have been common over my nearly 11 years there is related to my lifting after I’ve punched the time clock. My recommendation here might look like a cop out but screw it because I think it’s the right answer. One has to evaluate the time and sport specific goals they have to accomplish the mission of getting conditioning and cardio into their strength program then make a decision on how to get it done. What should that person choose: Whatever mentally stimulates them the most. Why? The body follows the brain. When mental stimulation starts to fade, the motivation to find something else to fill the gap increases. If one is able to work through the fading motivation, then the only thing keeping the activity going is one’s discipline. Finding what most stimulates mentally will help motivation and disciple work in tandem to keep one on their chosen track. This is essentially finding what you want and need at the same time. This might take some time figuring out you like pushing weighted sleds, medicine balls over the shoulder, constant jogging, or any of the dozens of ways to get this done the most. Once it’s been found it, attack it but don’t forget to find the stop sign along the way.
Life Through Lifting 