Informal cardio survey
For people whose primary fitness activity is lifting or sports: how much cardio do you do? Specifically, what do you do, for how long, and how often?
My primary fitness activity is a sport (recreational, 3x a week), with lifting 2-3x a week. I'm trying to do more LISS cardio outside of these for general cardiovascular health and possibly improved stamina.
Edit: Thanks for all the replies, y'all!
Mountain biking twice a week, lifting 3x a week.
Sounds like a fun way to get your cardio :)
I'm a competitive powerlifter and have been doing CrossFit once a week or so for cardio.
Cool! I'm not familiar with crossfit, is the cardio like a weight training circuit?
Kind of! They usually throw together a mixture of activities for time. So the workout might be something like "20 wall balls, 10 dumbbell snatches, then a run around the building" with 1 minute rest in between rounds. They change up the workouts every time, and it's in a big room where everyone else is doing the workout with loud music. It makes it motivating.
I see!
I have a dog, so I walk 1.5-2hrs a day to keep him happy. I was shocked at how well it improved my stamina in my sport.
Getting a dog is a real life-hack for how much it improves your life! Give your pup some pets from me.
I try to lift every other day. Every time I lift I do 15 minutes of exercise bike.
I also try to walk about 1 hour every day. I don't aim for a step number just be outside and moving for an hour is good for me.
Thanks for sharing!
I try and hit the gym twice a week (where I exercise every muscle group on both occasions), and I try to run twice a week (a 5k and an 8k-10k). I don't really have any goals, just trying to get and then stay healthy.
Thanks for sharing!
I walk. 45-60min per day.
Every single day? That's awesome!
Yes, mostly every day. I have 9500 daily steps goal in my galaxy watch.
I run 3x/week, weight lift 2x/week, and if I have extra time and energy for it I'll also do something just for fun like hiking or step aerobics. I enjoy cardio a lot more than weight lifting, but have accepted that I need to be doing some form of strength training to maintain my health as I age.
Mostly walk anywhere between 20 and 60min per gym session, depending on whether I want to.
That sounds easy and sustainable!
Oh yeah. I focus on strength anyway, the cardio is just there to help keep the belly sticking out less than my chest.
I currently do a ppl split. I'll lift five days a week, do cardio/core for one day, and then rest for one day.
I should probably just do six days of ppl ferda gains, but I really like the change of pace that comes from the core/cardio day.
That day is usually twenty minutes of dedicated core exercise followed by 45 - 60 minutes (depending on how much time I have that day) doing moderate effort work on a spin bike
Do you like the spin bike? Right now I alternate between the row erg and treadmill.
It's good to do core and cardio at least once a week :)
Agreed on core and cardio. It's just always felt like a missed opportunity to not get two full rotations of the ppl in each week, but this is working for me so far.
I like the spin bike. I bought a Sunny off Amazon and used two external wahoo sensors to get cadence and rpm measurements. I don't use that data much though, tbh.
I chose the spin bike because I also just cycle normally for recreation. I have a knee injury from several years ago that keeps me away from running. I do like erg machines a lot, but my gym is a home gym in my garage and I don't really have the floorspace for it.
Sounds good! I asked because my gym has a ton of cardio machines that I haven't tried, so I will try the spin bike next :)
Also lol I do core 4-5x a week.
Physical job, but I run as well and try to do barbell complexes once a week (bear complexes). Can't hack it today though, I'm aching and exhausted. My main thing is lifting, which is based around 531 and I try to do four sessions a week.
Whoa, just looked it up, bear complexes are hardcore.
I run and I have a concept2 rower. Most of the time when I'm doing that stuff it's low intensity steady state. I guess I try to get at least 1.5 hours a week of LISS in some variety. I also occasional ride a bike or go on a walks or other things. My job can be vaguely active as well. In terms of interval higher intensity stuff I do that less often but I will try to do interval stuff with kettlebells once a week usually. I'm not focusing my training on anything in particularly currently just working on increasing my squat and deadlift slowly.
Thanks for sharing! I love rowing too
sometimes I wish I had a fan bike/airdyne because I don't want to put in the coordinated effort for the rowing, and a lot of my exercise is pull heavy so having something low-impact without pulling would be nice, but for the most part I enjoy it immensely. Being able to pace very precisely based on stroke rate and heart rate and speed or wattage is nice to keep me from overdoing it.
I walk at least 3-4 miles every day, often more. That’s usually a 30-45 minute walk, on top of the usual walking around in the apartment and such. Combined with lifting weights 4 days/week, it does the job.
Thanks for sharing!
I play basketball twice a week for 4 ish hours total and get all my cardio through that, it's fantastic.
Also lift 2-3 times a week. Peak I go 3 days consistently but most the times it's just 2 I'm satisfied w the gains and #s I get.
Trail/mountain run once a week (2.5-4mi) just as maintenance, rest one day, which is always after that run because mountain runs kill your legs. Then I just lift everyday.
I managed to start running with a C25K program and finally attained a regular 5k run 3 days a week for a couple of weeks before I injured myself a year ago (bad case of plantar fasciitis and muscle strain). The PF is mostly recovered but I fear re-injury, though I want to start again. My main take away has been: "Go slower than you think you should. Slower!".
While I couldn't run, I started a structured calisthenics program (r/bodyweightfitness) and experienced great results (even though y consistency has been average at best). I took 4 weeks off after a solid 9 months or regular practice and have just begun again.
I'd like to being incorporating running again.
Your conditioning sessions sound interesting! Would love to learn more about your particular routine if you're comfortable with sharing. I'm comfortable with bodyweight stuff like burpees but I'm a bit intimidated by KB swings.
Thanks, I'll check out those books!
This sounds similar to what I do -- a short warmup before lifting and then 20-30 minutes afterward. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for sharing! Walking your dog is still plenty, though, and certainly better than nothing