Hey, hey STRONG frriend! Happy Thursday!

Let's dive right on in, into this cardio situation!

First of all, no one is not saying NOT to do any cardio.

Two things I want to mention right off the bat…

From my 15 years of coaching experience, I’ve never had to convince any women to do cardio. Most women already do it, and plenty of it, whether that’s in the form of traditional style cardio or circuits, classes that use weights but are cardio-based in nature.

Actual strength training is usually not the priority!

Second, What most of us coaches are honing in on is “your goals!” Most women want to build muscle or, in most women’s language - “I want to tone up!”

So, if you say you want to tone up - that means there needs to be building of the muscle. Most women need a better understanding of what this actually means.

The differences between what cardio and strength training does for the body:

• Strength training builds and retains muscle. Strength training builds your heart muscle too.

• Cardio doesn’t build muscle, though! Cardio doesn’t give the muscle-building signal.⁣ We have to give the body the right signals to build muscle.⁣

• Cardio is for heart health. 

• Cardio for endurance goals - wanting to run races, 5 K’s, 10 K’s, etc.

• This is when you definitely better be prioritizing your cardio. Ain't nothing worse that not being ready for your race. Strength training, specifically for building muscle, will take a back seat. You still lift, but the goal is not hypertrophy. It would be for maintaining ze muscles as best you can through your endurance training phase.

• During your endurance season, strength training will aid in helping you keep your muscles, joints, tendons, and things STRONG to minimize running-related injuries.
   
• Cardio can be used strategically in a fat loss phase. If you’re trying to lose body fat and train for an endurance race, that’s a recipe for disaster though. You might as well burn the whole house down! 😆

• Oftentimes, women and men alike, bite off too much cardio at the beginning of their fat-loss phase. This is a recipe for disaster. 

• You want to use cardio smartly to help with the deficit when needed but it shouldn't be the focus. Let your calorie deficit do the fat burning!

• When you start off with too much cardio at the beginning of a fat loss phase, by the time you get to the end of the phase, you’ll be doing way more than you started.

• Cardio has diminishing returns, if you didn’t know. You have to keep adding more and more to get results! When you add more and more, guess what happens? Increased hunger, low energy, more cravings, just to name a few!
   
• Cardio for fun! We all love a good sweat session, a HIIT workout, some Zone 2 cardio, etc. I love some sprints!
   

There are a few camps of people when it comes to cardio:

• Overusing it to lose weight quickly which results in the skinny fat look

• Using it as punishment or to earn food

• Cardio for toning + light weights- it’s not a thing that actually works. Strength training builds muscle with rest intervals between sets - using weights that are challenging, eating enough food and protein, and then going into a cut to see the muscle definition, the tone, if you will!
   

Don’t be those people. It always ends badly. #IYKYK - Been there, done that!

The problem with doing too much cardio is that most folks are eating too few calories, along with too much cardio and very little actual strength training!

If you’ve been doing this, this is when cardio will rob you of your gains. I have first-hand experience and the pictures to prove it! 10/10, do not recommend!

You can do both, of course, but do it smartly and know that one of the goals will have to take a backseat. And please, please eat enough food to match the activity and honor your recovery.

Otherwise, if your goal is to be strong, tone up, build muscle…

The priority should be actual strength training, not cardio-based circuits with light weights. Again, it’s not to say not to do cardio. Prioritize lifting. Sprinkle in the cardio - it’s the side dish!

I sound like a broken record, lol; I know! But women need to hear what it truly takes to build muscle, get STRONG, and learn all about the benefits of lifting the damn things!

After it's all said and done, it comes down to what your goal is! Figure that out and govern yourself accordingly! Happy Lifting, Happy Gainz!

Thanks for reading, STRONG friend! I hope you have a lovely day!

In Strength & to Your Success,
Xo
Candace