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The [Fitness] thread asks the hard question: Cardio vs Strength

KyouguKyougu Registered User regular
Which is your preferred workout if forced to pick one?

The [Fitness] thread asks the hard question: Cardio vs Strength 49 votes

Cardio
55%
TayaKarlSolyspKyouguBahamutZEROtyrannusIcemopperBullheadDepressperadoTubularLuggageUrielPhoenix-DDesyElarozekebeauEtiowsaLost SalientIronKnuckleEddyLucedes 27 votes
Strength
44%
MulysaSemproniusRedTidethe wookDouglasTaranisSageinaRageRed RaevynJayKaosXaquinFlarneMortal SkylazegamerJoshPeenMrMonroeinitiatefailureSolarMeeqeRaveSneaks 22 votes
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Posts

  • NaphtaliNaphtali Hazy + Flow SeaRegistered User regular
    where's the both option

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  • KyouguKyougu Registered User regular
    Cardio
    Everyone would pick that if that was an option.

    This is the Sophie's choice of fitness.

  • NaphtaliNaphtali Hazy + Flow SeaRegistered User regular
    i choose larlar then

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  • KyouguKyougu Registered User regular
    Cardio
    Speaking of cardio I was looking over my Garmin data and in 5 years of running I went from 12 min miles to low 8 min miles.

    This is without any speedwork cause I'm honestly "lazy" about running and just get out and run whatever feels comfortable that day.

    This was spurred because my runs after my December marathon gave felt really good. Running slightly faster than I normally would. I think this means that my training for that marathon really was on point, so hoping to carry over that progress into a sub 3:40 marathon by the end of the year.

    Also signed up for my first trail run! It'll be marathon #8.

  • IcemopperIcemopper Registered User regular
    Cardio
    If there was a both option I'd still pick cardio!

    I have significantly cut back on my mileage though. I started teaching in the fall on top of my normal job and on top of other things I do in the community so I've just lost a huge amount of free time.

    I took basically all of December off because I was so exhausted, mentally and physically, and I'm just now starting to get back into it. Slow at first and my dang Garmin tells me I'm "strained" no matter what I do. That's ok though, I'll get back to where I was eventually.

  • SolarSolar Registered User regular
    Strength
    If you're sufficiently strong you go beyond the need for cardio

  • Mortal SkyMortal Sky queer punk hedge witchRegistered User regular
    Strength
    It's easier to build cardio via strength exercises than the other way around, I feel like, though I don't know how much of this is my brain trying to form a bro science postulate

    but my gut feeling is that I could probably more easily get myself faster on my mile time using a barbell than I could get myself to safely deadlift three hundred pounds with a treadmill

    my trainer has been throwing more reps at the same weight at me rather than same reps at higher weight and it's kicking my ass (in a good way, not a bad/painful way), is a big part of why I say that

  • SolarSolar Registered User regular
    Strength
    If you are a runner with weak legs then improving your squat will absolutely help with running to a point, beyond which it is detrimental (where that is is woolly though)

    If you are a lifter having better cardio will build work capacity and recovery. More reps, more sets, less time between, more sessions etc means more gains. But only to a point, and beyond that it is detrimental

    I very much doubt improving my cardio would make me a better boulderer or lifter and even if it did, it's very marginal and time consuming and I don't want to do it, because it's not for me personally. Which is fine, it's all about what you enjoy at the end of the day.

  • JayKaosJayKaos Registered User regular
    Strength
    Strength is easier to throw in a short workout a few times a week and pretend I am making progress.

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  • DouglasDouglas PennsylvaniaRegistered User regular
    edited January 2024
    Strength
    I'd rather be strong, if I had to choose

    I currently cannot find any time to exercise at all, other than shooting my recurve bow a few hours a month.

    I think my appearance would improve greatly with some beefier arms

    Douglas on
  • JoshJosh jmcdonald DC(ish)Registered User regular
    Strength
    strength all the way for me.

    as i walk on my underdesk treadmill at 2MPH for low impact cardio...

  • PeenPeen Registered User regular
    Strength
    Strong is strong, all fitness takes hard work and dedication, but it's harder to get stronger than it is to get better cardio.

    I don't know if y'all watched the old Strength Wars series on Youtube but I think this episode is a neat example of the difference actually being strong makes. Both of these guys are ripped and look crazy strong but the strength focused guy is more successful, where the calisthenics focused guy struggles.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gx45nUETmIA

  • TayaTaya Registered User regular
    Cardio
    I haven't found a way to make strength training fun or interesting. Even if it's gamified like Ring Fit Adventures, the strength part always sucks. Cardio can be boring (treadmill or similar machine) but is usually a fun activity that involves running and jumping around.

  • TayaTaya Registered User regular
    Cardio
    Although digging a hole counts as strength so maybe...

  • agoajagoaj Top Tier One FearRegistered User regular
    Isn’t cardio just the strength of one specific muscle?

    ujav5b9gwj1s.png
  • KyouguKyougu Registered User regular
    Cardio
    Taya wrote: »
    I haven't found a way to make strength training fun or interesting. Even if it's gamified like Ring Fit Adventures, the strength part always sucks. Cardio can be boring (treadmill or similar machine) but is usually a fun activity that involves running and jumping around.

    Yeah, that's pretty much it for me. Like running for me is fun, I enjoy being out and even during most of my marathon training I always enjoy the run.

    Strength training just feels like work and something I have to do. That's why stuff like yoga and climbing is more fun to me than just lifting.

  • TayaTaya Registered User regular
    Cardio
    I've never enjoyed yoga, but climbing looks fun. I've never tried it.

  • SolarSolar Registered User regular
    Strength
    agoaj wrote: »
    Isn’t cardio just the strength of one specific muscle?

    It's more like a lot of different things tied into one.

  • PeenPeen Registered User regular
    Strength
    I have the absolute opposite reaction; disclaimer that the most I've ever run is training for a 5k, so ~30 minutes of relatively slow running at most, but it makes me want to die of boredom. I've been strength training for around 12 years, with some breaks for babies, and it's way easier for me to get excited for short intense sets, as well as myriad of incremental ways that you can track and make progress. The trade off is that strength training is incrementally more uncomfortable the more you do it and the heavier things get, but honestly is running any less so? The way people describe marathons doesn't sound like it's exactly comfortable.

    I think all exercise is work, you just need to find the kind of exercise that fits you best.

  • SolarSolar Registered User regular
    Strength
    Yeah I find running very boring as well, personally. To each their own!

  • IcemopperIcemopper Registered User regular
    Cardio
    Solar wrote: »
    If you're sufficiently strong you go beyond the need for cardio

    Yeah I don't sit well with that. It isn't that I need cardio, I just like it. Cycling is my jam, I would love to just sit on the saddle all day in the mountains out here. Running holds me over through the winter until cycling weather picks back up.

    I do strength so I can keep doing cardio in a healthy way. Squats or whatever, it's just not the thing I would like to do. I only do because I have to.

  • schussschuss Registered User regular
    Taya wrote: »
    I've never enjoyed yoga, but climbing looks fun. I've never tried it.

    Join us! It's physical problem solving and sets you up for a crippling addiction to climbing gear and a weird obsession with the pink one in the corner. You'll also stare at various rocks cliffs and start trying to figure out how to climb it.
    As for cardio, the closest I come through being to stand long cardio distance is zwift+smartbike.

  • SolarSolar Registered User regular
    Strength
    Icemopper wrote: »
    Solar wrote: »
    If you're sufficiently strong you go beyond the need for cardio

    Yeah I don't sit well with that. It isn't that I need cardio, I just like it. Cycling is my jam, I would love to just sit on the saddle all day in the mountains out here. Running holds me over through the winter until cycling weather picks back up.

    I do strength so I can keep doing cardio in a healthy way. Squats or whatever, it's just not the thing I would like to do. I only do because I have to.

    I was joking really, although I do believe that strength training helps with most cardio exercises! But I also think that one should do what they enjoy, it's not like any of us are pro athletes

  • ShadowhopeShadowhope Baa. Registered User regular
    Cardio
    I’ve been adding more leg focused strength training to my strength work lately, and I think that it’s having an impact. And strength work is more fun than running intervals, though that’s damning with the faintest possible praise. I enjoy running most when I just head out along a trail and putter along listening to a podcast or audiobook or just thinking about life, the universe, and everything. Intervals are pretty much the antithesis of that.

    So far in January I’m on pace for my second best month of running in terms of total volume (I’m on pace for 374 kilometres), and I’m matching my best month in terms of speed (averaging 5:19 per km, with just one fast run a week). This is despite winter running conditions and while at a 750 to 900 calorie per day deficit. Plus the problem that a day of leg exercises makes running the next day an interesting proposition.

    Civics is not a consumer product that you can ignore because you don’t like the options presented.
  • DesyDesy She/Her YeenRegistered User regular
    edited January 2024
    Cardio
    Work opened up their new fitness center. It's really really nice but their "walking track" is just two marked lanes running through hallways. I kinda hate the idea of using it.

    I also predict people will just use the much bigger jogging/running track and I can't really even blame them.
    (Running/Jogging track is three lanes and longer. 0.15 mile per lap as opposed to the walking's .10.)

    The workout areas (one for free weights and one for machines) are way super nice though. So it's a trade-off.

    Desy on
    camo_sig2.png
  • PsykomaPsykoma Registered User regular
    Cardio
    I like jogging specifically because it lets me be braindead for an hour.
    I still try to do some weight training, but most weeks it's pretty well just jogging

  • MrMonroeMrMonroe passed out on the floor nowRegistered User regular
    Strength
    You asked what I preferred, not what I thought was a good idea.

  • initiatefailureinitiatefailure Registered User regular
    Strength
    Oh good I killed the old thread with my probably a low blood pressure spike untethered freakout posting after my last deadlifting day.

    So now I’m going to be very aware of my pre workout food, and my hydration through the workout, and probably need to consider more cooldown than walking home in freezing weather

  • SolarSolar Registered User regular
    Strength
    First proper weightlifting club this morning

    Clean pull, hip clean, hang clean complex, and a push press, split jerk complex. Followed by front squats, rdls, v-ups and tricep work

    Great morning session and so much fun! And it's left my pulling muscles nice and fresh for an afternoon bouldering session on the Kilter Board, fingerboarding etc

  • ioloiolo iolo Registered User regular
    Woo topped my project this morning - a short black (V4-V6) with a full, fun kneebar off a volume at the start, up into some slopy, directional holds and a short dyno for the top. Also polished off the slab orange (V3-V5) I'd been chickening out on in the final move. My son showed me beta that swapped relying on a scary left foot hold for a scary left foot extension to a volume, but that did the trick. Fun session!

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  • SolarSolar Registered User regular
    Strength
    Sick effort. Sketchy slabz

  • XaquinXaquin Right behind you!Registered User regular
    Strength
    I voted strength because my feet and ankles can't handle cardio

  • augustaugust where you come from is gone Registered User regular
    I'm a "doesn't eat enough during the day then eats garbage at night because I need to eat something" kind of guy. Can someone point me at a diet for morons, by which I mean somewhere where I can put in my height, weight and age and get back "eat x amount of chicken and y amount of other stuff every day and you'll be fine, it's science dumbass."

    I'm not getting much exercise atm but I understand I may need to eat more if/when that changes.

  • NaphtaliNaphtali Hazy + Flow SeaRegistered User regular
    august wrote: »
    I'm a "doesn't eat enough during the day then eats garbage at night because I need to eat something" kind of guy. Can someone point me at a diet for morons, by which I mean somewhere where I can put in my height, weight and age and get back "eat x amount of chicken and y amount of other stuff every day and you'll be fine, it's science dumbass."

    I'm not getting much exercise atm but I understand I may need to eat more if/when that changes.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LekBg-o9Cp0

    fwiw I enjoy a lot of this guy's meal prep videos; i'm the same way in that I have to make sure I have stuff already prepped for meals otherwise I will eat like crap, so that helps a lot for me personally.

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  • JoshJosh jmcdonald DC(ish)Registered User regular
    Strength
    Third workout since my three week rest. I think I’m going to keep weight lower (the level I’m lifting now after the rest) and try to keep frequency higher. With the volume I was lifting before I could really only recover 1x week, but with this last W/F/M I feel fine. Part of that is likely the three weeks off, but I suspect part of it is the 20% drop in weight per rep as well.

  • KyouguKyougu Registered User regular
    Cardio
    I'll preface this by saying I'm in Texas so I'm a wimp for the cold.

    We hit before freezing temps recently and yesterday I decided to go for a run. I gotten pretty good and knowing what I should wear for temperatures and since I over heat easily I know I don't need to wear tons of layers.

    6 miles of misery. Realized I need to get some good gloves for running cause that was the second worst part. The worst part was my asthma killing me since my insurance has yet to approve my usual prescription.

    I then went climbing and the gyms heat was off. 53 degrees is not the best sending temp.

    I swear my body temp dropped so much that I was shivering in my car with the heater at full blast..

  • ShadowhopeShadowhope Baa. Registered User regular
    Cardio

    I'm a big fan of these running gloves from Decathlon. They work well enough for me down to about -10º C (14º F), and they're super-cheap.

    Civics is not a consumer product that you can ignore because you don’t like the options presented.
  • PellaeonPellaeon Registered User regular
    edited January 2024
    I remember one track practice in high school going for a run on a particularly cold and rainy day, like kyougu I quickly generate the heat of the sun so just a long sleeve shirt, but no gloves, I don't need those!

    When I got back I had to have one of my teammates to open my locker because I couldn't get my hands to operate the combination lock.

    Stupid dumb "tough" things teenagers do

    Pellaeon on
  • schussschuss Registered User regular
    53 is a great sending temp! Friction is always better in the colder temps. We did some red rock stuff at 39 with 20 mph winds (I will note that this is, in fact, too cold)

  • ShadowhopeShadowhope Baa. Registered User regular
    Cardio
    august wrote: »
    I'm a "doesn't eat enough during the day then eats garbage at night because I need to eat something" kind of guy. Can someone point me at a diet for morons, by which I mean somewhere where I can put in my height, weight and age and get back "eat x amount of chicken and y amount of other stuff every day and you'll be fine, it's science dumbass."

    I'm not getting much exercise atm but I understand I may need to eat more if/when that changes.

    This is a challenging thing to answer, because there are a lot of levels that it can be answered on.

    At one basic level, most people's caloric needs are going to be within about 10% of the numbers suggested by a Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) calculator, assuming that they're accurate with the inputs. That can still leave some variance - for example, a person with an estimated 2,500 calories out per day could easily be actually burning 2,750 or 2,250, but it's a good place to start. You figure that out, you count calories on the nutritional labels or by looking stuff up, you tally up the calories in, compare it to the predicted calories out, you do that for two to four weeks, and then you compare your weight on the scale to your expected weight. You then adjust the calories in as needed, and repeat the process every few weeks, since as you lose or gain weight your TDEE changes.

    But there's also the even more basic way of looking at things and going "avoid ultra-processed foods" (basically, foods that come wrapped in plastic and contain ingredients easily not found on supermarket shelves), and follow the Michael Pollan quote "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

    Or you can add a bit more complexity and figure out what macronutrients best satiate you, and build your routine around those. You could, for example, find a chilli recipe you like, a Thai chicken recipe you like, and a Parmesan chicken recipe you like, with protein and fibre to match your targets, prepare them in large batches, and then freeze them in appropriately sized and weighed portions. Then each day you just pop open your fridge and get a meal you made the previous week and reheat it.

    Civics is not a consumer product that you can ignore because you don’t like the options presented.
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