Best cardio to accompany SL 5x5

[ScottB]

I've just recently started stronglifts and I'm wondering whats the best cardio to be doing along side this program? I have a fair bit of fat to shift and figure a good cardio sesh after SL or on one of my "rest" days could help me trim down a bit.

I was going to ask one of the "trainers" in my gym, however as most are aware, these people can sometimes be the source of bad information.

So what do we think...Rowing, Treadmill, X trainer or Spin Bike?

[ukgenius]

I used to train SL on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and would go for cardio on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays by going for 20-30 minutes on the treadmill. However I found once I reached around the 100kg mark, I had to stop as it affected my squats and now just go for cardio on a Saturday

[Big Lench]

Sprinting. Preferably hill sprints if you have a decent hill near you but if not it doesn't matter. Sprint the distance and then walk back, take a few seconds rest to catch your breath a bit and then sprint again. something like 20-50 meters for 10 sprints to begin with. I would start with shorter distances and about 10 reps to begin with (but it depends on the person) and then up the distance and reps as you go along and get a feel for it. And we are talking full on all out sprints not half effort or anything. Sprints affect your lifting a lot less than long duration less intense cardio things, as well as not taking as long and burning the same or more fat (apparently)

Prowler/ sled pushing and pulling is also good if you have access to one but most people don't.

Doing them after workouts works pretty well and so does doing it on off days. When you do it isn't that important really, just make sure you warm up properly. Also going for brisk fasted morning walks before you eat for 30+ minutes burns fat really well too supposedly. Im starting the morning walks tomorrow as i too have some fat to shift

[ukgenius]

Not too sure I agree with the idea that hill sprints are the way forward. I experimented for a while with HIIT training on rest days while on the SL 5x5 training program and found it definitely had much more effect on my ability to lift weights that longer lower intensity cardio. Sprinting uses the same type of muscle fibre as weight lifting I believe which lower intensity cardio does not so sprinting will have a greater effect on the ability to squat and deadlift. Bearing in mind he's squatting 3 times per week I don't think sprints are the way forward. They definitely weren't for me

[ScottB]

Thanks for the replies folks. I had been getting into running over the last 4-5 months which i had started to enjoy. However, was a bit over enthusiastic about a week and half ago and seem to have done some damage to my right leg - pain is like intense cramp in my calf muscle.

Going to do do some time on the Spin Bike as much as possible, see if that helps me recover. Time for a journal postl me thinks!

[Elvis]

You'll probably find the lowest stress is the cross-trainer. I mix my cardio up, because I'd get bored doing one thing every day.

I rate rower very highly (concept2 I assume?), because it hits more muscles than most other forms of exercise: Concept2: Muscles Used While Rowing

Excessive cardio is not a great thing, you'll be wanting to do it to improve/maintain conditioning, 20 minutes at a moderate intensity (80% mhr), three of four times a week is good. A few harder sessions won't hurt, but you don't want to be flogging yourself regularly, it won't help your training.

If you're on a bike that has a heart rate/cardio program, set it to 80% and record your distance/calories. If your fitness is improving so should these numbers.

[ScottB]

Quote

You'll probably find the lowest stress is the cross-trainer. I mix my cardio up, because I'd get bored doing one thing every day.

I rate rower very highly (concept2 I assume?), because it hits more muscles than most other forms of exercise: Concept2: Muscles Used While Rowing

Excessive cardio is not a great thing, you'll be wanting to do it to improve/maintain conditioning, 20 minutes at a moderate intensity (80% mhr), three of four times a week is good. A few harder sessions won't hurt, but you don't want to be flogging yourself regularly, it won't help your training.

If you're on a bike that has a heart rate/cardio program, set it to 80% and record your distance/calories. If your fitness is improving so should these numbers.

I assumed the bike would have been the best bet as my legs wouldn't be under the stress of my full weight... Concept 2, correct - quite a lot of them in my place. Think i will work along the same lines as yourself and mix it up a bit (probably depend what machines are free).

The bike i've been using is one of the "spin class" bikes. It doesn't have any sort of display to monitor what i'm doing, however i prefer the set up as it feels more like a "real " bike instead of the usual gym set ups.

I'll probably try a bit of both tonight, see what's best. Kind of missing the running as I felt my body got more of a workout in the time spent on the treadmill than say x trainer, bike etc.

[Elvis]

I find the bike makes my quads burn, it definitely hits them harder than the x-trainer. I do a couple of 20 minute runs in the week, I am not sure how hard you are running, but the day after a hard one it is my calves that feel it too. See how it goes after a rest I don't see a reason to cut it out entirely, but you will want to keep an eye on the intensity in any case.

Also try to find one thing a week you can get some kind of numbers from, it's a good thing to track your progress!

I go through swimming, running, bike, rower, x-trainer through the week.

[AJax]

If your looking to shift fat then your best bet is probably be some long low-intensity stuff, say 60mins at 60%-70% of Mac HR twice a week with a day of HIIT thrown in.
It depends what you prefer, but swimming would be brilliant as it wont hinder your strength gains too much, whereas Biking/Rowing target the same muscle used predominantly in SL, so even if its low-intensity, your not getting maximum recovery.
For HIIT, sprints are brilliant (about 20mins).

[Elvis]

I have to disagree, don't do cardio to shift fat, certainly not in a calorie/fat burning sense.

At a low intensity you'd burn around 400 calories in an hour, easier just not to eat those calories in the first place.

It is however worthwhile maintain/improve fitness and as long as you don't over do the the duration or intensity it works well.