Incorporating High Intensity Cardio Into A Strength Program
As I was enjoying my rest day yesterday thinking about my week of training ahead. I had to think about how to incorporate my cardio work in to my strength training. I know what I am going to do as I am still limited with my foot injury. It’s still a little hard to push off and drive off that foot and toe. I am going to do some high intensity rounds on the assault bike.
I have to progress my way first back coming off an injury but also progressing up in intensity. So this week the challenge is to start that uphill climb without injuring myself and get me on the right path.
There’s a lot of people that will tell you to do your cardio in the beginning of the workout and a lot that will tell you it’s great to do it at the end after a lifting session. I like doing a little at the beginning and the end. I find that is what works best for me. At the beginning I am fresh and ready to push myself. Even though I feel good physically, mentally I may hold myself back knowing I still have a full workout ahead of me. So that’s why I like to start and finish the workout with cardio. That way when I go back and do another round at the end I don’t hold anything back. I empty the tank and try and push myself to beat the time or output I did at the beginning of the workout.
For me it’s another way to gameify the cardio because it’s not something I thoroughly enjoy. Therefore, I have to find ways to make it fun or challenging so that way I stay consistent and continue to push myself each and every day.
That’s my plan for cardio this week in terms of my own workouts. That’s in addition to classes and rolling time. That’s the direct correlation to conditioning for the tournament is practice. You have to set your mentality to push yourself each class and try to make the practices harder than any match you’ll come across. If you make the practice harder than the matches you have nothing to be afraid of and you can go in confident knowing your conditioning is where it needs to be and you won’t see anything you haven’t already seen in practice.
Using my off days which are Sunday’s for the time being, to plan and schedule my workouts for the week really help me. It helps me to know what to expect and set my mindset for the week. I know what’s going to be needed in terms of planning, preparation, and execution. This has really helped me in my workouts rather than just going with the flow. Not having a plan causes me to be lazy in my workouts and maybe just blowing one off or doing another one half-assed. I can’ afford to do that right now. Especially with a tournament coming up.
Thanks for reading!
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Until tomorrow,
David Banko
david@elitemilehighfitness.com
