Cardio while doing 5x5?

[Khryz]

Hey everyone. After reading so much about 5x5 and it's background, theories, etc - I've decided I want to give it a try. This week I'm currently finding my 5RM for the core lifts and am gonna start the 19th. However, come the start of February I will begin dieting down, and to do so I'm going to start incorporating in a lot of cardio, such as HIIT, regulard medium-paced cardio, some walking, etc. Would I be able to do this? Incorporate cardio the off-days? I know this would mainly affect the recovery and progress of my legs and with the squatting 3 days a week and deadlifting, and I really would like a program that will give me strength gains even while dieting. Would cardio ruin the program?

I would assume if this program was popular with althetes they would be doing lots of cardio with this too right? Or was this strictly an off-season program.

- Chris

 

[musketeer]

I just did my cardio workout - I train like 5x5 too - and it looked like this:

10 min jog - real jog not stupid treadmill
5 min eliptical
20 min olympic speedwork with light barbell
10 min bike
10 min abs session
10 min jog home
15 mins stretching

2 of these a week is great for recovery and fitness and staying lean whist growing.

 

[Khryz]

That sounds great but I'm not interested in staying lean, I need to GET lean first. I'm probably around 15-16% BF now and I want to get down to atleast 8-9% starting the beginning of Feb and ending the middle of May, around 3 months. So I would need to incorporate a lot more cardio than that.

Basically my question is will doing lots of cardio negatively affect the progress of Squats or make my legs shrink from the continual pounding from running? What form of cardio would everyone recommend for the off-days. Thanks

 

[Guinness5.0]

You can lose fat w/out cardio. Diet should be your number one priority. Cardio will help the 'Calories in : Calories burned' ratio. Nothing more.

That said, HIIT 3x week would be fine. I like it b/c it's quick - 15 mins./session is probably all you need.

 

[Protobuilder]

I'm in your boat. I've been "cutting" for the past 5 mo's (don't laugh, it's true). I've dropped 30 pounds and about 8% BF. Anyway, just started the single factor 5x5. I can say that I've had to watch my cardio now b/c it can affect my leg strength (which sucks anyway). For instance, I can't do sprint intervals the day before my leg workouts . . . or my weights will suffer some. I can do medium-distance jogging a day before and be "OK." Basically, any of the leg intensive GPP stuff like hill sprints, or even just tabata rounds of air squats can affect my leg strength the next day. It makes it tough. I've found 35-60 minutes of medium-paced steep incline walking works pretty good. doesn't affect my legs much and gets my heart rate up.

To address G5.0's point -- cardio affects the calories in vs. out ratio, but I think it can also help in general w/ your muscle building goals. I don't know the science but have heard it helps insulin sensitivity, etc. Also, using cardio + cals in conjunction can help you keep your cals up rather than sending them into the basement, which is where they'll eventually wind up if you rely on them alone to cut weight.

 

[Khryz]

Last year I tried the Diet Only approach to cutting and was only able to get down to about 10-11% BF, definately not as low as I wanted - mostly because I hated cardio. But this year will be different. It's much more effective to eat 2,500 kcal daily and burn 500 from cardio, than it is to just eat 2,000 kcal. Metabolism will stay higher with the 2,500 kcal + cardio as well as other benefits from the cardio, and it'll take much longer for me to plateau with dieting (something I didn't realize last year).

But thanks for the help everyone. I guess I'll just have to accept that my leg strength won't be optimal during that time. Later.

 

[anotherbutters]

You don't have to run to do cardio. You could use a bike, stepper or rowing machine. Caloric deficit will still affect strength gains, but it won't be compounded by the extra recovery needed by your legs from running.

 

[kiosk]

swimming is awesome for cardio...kicks my ass and is easy on the joins