Mixed Workout Effectiveness?

[Colonel Ingus]

For the past few weeks I've been working one body part each day, and finishing my workout with 20 to 30 minutes of cardio. The cardio must be working because I find my pants fit a bit looser now, but I'm worried that I might be wasting my time with the weight training. I can only get to the gym on my lunch hour (sometimes it's an hour and a quarter or so) so I can't do a whole lot but I'd like to feel like I'm making progress with the weights too. Can I expect to make progress on both fronts at the same time or am I asking too much?

 

[benevolent anarchist]

This depends. If you feel that you are already in good cardio vascular shape and you’re not trying to shed any more weight; try upping the weight training and backing off on the cardio for a little while. Well just do it anyway and tell us how you like it. I think you’ll be surprised. Try doing some 20-rep lower body workouts for a great mix of strength building and cardio all in one. Start by doing 20-rep squats and you’ll be gasping for air and your heart will be pumping a mile a minute.

 

[Dave949]

Or even the been around forever exercise called the clean and press. Works a lot of muscles with one movement. A set of 10 - 12 reps with a weight thats heavy for you will have you gasping and works just about your entire body in the process.

I can literally demolish any particular muscle group in 10 - 20 minutes. And I do mean demolish. There are many techniques one can utilize. I will give you JUST ONE for now. Lets use the bench press as an example simply because its such a popular exercise and everyone knows how to do it but this example can be used with any movement or exercise.

Choose a weight heavy enough that lets you get 8 or 10 reps out max. After each set rest ONLY for 60 seconds. No more, no less. 60 seconds. If you do 5 sets that will be a total of 5 minutes rest time and maybe 4 - 5 minutes of actual exercise time. That is 9 - 10 minutes total and your done. And trust me on this..... your pecs, shoulders and triceps will be thoroughly and intensely worked...... all in 10 stinkin minutes.

You got ten minutes.......... you can build muscle.

And if you think your tough..... drop it down to 30 seconds rest time. Your pecs will be screaming for mercy, your triceps will be quivering and your shoulders will be red hot and pumped to the max.

No.... you are not wasting your time with the weights and no you are not asking too much to make progress on both fronts. As long as you are progressing you are not wasting your time. As far as I am concerned there is no such thing as a bad workout. Some workouts may be better than others but none are ever bad.

Pump on .....

 

[Colonel Ingus]

I've done the short rest period between sets type workout and I seem to only be able to do a few reps on the following sets after such a short rest. I tried keeping the rest under 60 seconds, and even when dropping down in weight I can't do more than about 5 or 6 reps on the second set, then 3 or 4 on the third. (only did 3 sets when I did this)

How about nutrition? Since my cardio follows the weights, I don't get to eat or drink anything until about 40-45 minutes after my weight training. Is that a problem? I was drinking a protien shake every morning and when I got home from work but it seemed to add to my gut, so I stopped with drinking protien. My metabolism isn't what it used to be so I think a lot of that protien was not going where I wanted it to.