The answer to whether you should do cardio and strength workouts together really depends on the goals, allotted time for workouts and the intensity of the workouts. If the goal is to become a bodybuilder, focus should be on strength training with it being beneficial to alternate days of cardio. For the average person who is trying to balance a family, work and a social life as well as her health and fitness, there are no real disadvantages of doing cardio and strength training together.
What Is Cardio?
The term "cardio" is short for cardiovascular, which refers to the heart and lungs. Cardio exercise, often interchanged with the term aerobic exercise, is any continuous physical activity that increases the heart rate, forcing you to breathe harder and faster. According to MayoClinic.com, good examples of cardio would be running, swimming, power walking, bicycling or skiing.
Benefits of Cardiovascular Exercise
The main goal of any cardio or aerobic workout is to increase the strength and condition of the heart, making the transport of oxygen to the lungs and blood vessels more efficient. The more efficiently this system works, the easier you will burn calories. A few health benefits of cardio are increased metabolism, more energy and lowered blood pressure and cholesterol.
What is Strength Training and Its Benefits?
Strength training, also referred to as weight training or resistance training, is any activity that uses weights, bands or the human body as resistance to build and strengthen muscle. Some examples are lifting dumbbells or barbells and body weight pushups. According to A 2 Z of Health, Beauty & Fitness, strength training builds lean tissue that increases metabolism and aids in burning excess calories, keeping the body looking toned and defined. It also strengthens the musculoskeletal system, which makes the body less susceptible to injury.
Advantages of Cardio and Strength Training Together
The most appealing advantage of doing the two forms of exercise together is that it is time efficient. You can get a total body workout with cardio in the same amount of time you would have spent solely doing cardio or strength training alone. More calories are being burned when strength training and cardio are mixed, according to the Building-Muscle 101 website. If you only have an hour for the gym every other day, your time will best be served by doing half cardio and half strength training at a moderate intensity.
Circuit Training
Defined as quickly moving from one weight lifting or resistance machine to another by Building-Muscle 101, circuit training would be considered an example of cardio and strength training together. The goal of circuit training is to get a total body workout and increase the heart rate at the same time. For example, you would do a seated leg extension for 30 seconds continuously and then, without a recovery period, move to a shoulder press for 30 seconds. Moving from one exercise to the next without rest will increase the heart rate, forcing you to work the heart and lungs as well as the muscles, but in half the time.
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