It depends...are you sore? If you are sore, to the point of pain or discomfort, skip the cardio or replace it with auxiliary core work. Personally, my legs rarely get sore unless I perform some heavy lunges or split squats. However, I have found that doing some cardio the day OF leg day helps with soreness. I read it somewhere and I will need to go back to find the research.
Other things to consider...what is your training goal? Size or conditioning? What is your calorie intake like?
Whatis your fitness level currently like? Are you able to recover faster than someone your age?
With all my clients, we contiinoulsy make adjustments in the program depending on what life throws at them. Some can take a beating and smile, some complain of a little clicking. All in all, monitor your progress.
I have often wondered this same thing. My legs rarely get sore except after some heavy lunges or heavy RDLs. I feel that I'm average in the recovery category, but sometimes not fully recovered like I should before lifting again.
For example, I'm currently doing a full body lifting routine 3 days a week and I am trying to put on some muscle and add strenght over these winter month. I'm very strict in my diet and am trying not to gain too much bodyfat. Right now, I'm at approximately 10-11% but just lack muscle mass.
I do cardio on my non-training days, which lately constist of a warm up and intervals on a rowing machine (12-15min) followed by intervals on a stationary bike for around (12-15min.) I'm completely shot after this workout. The intervals are usually 30-45 sec. bursts of 80-90% effort at a high resistance level, followed by a 60-90 sec slow recovery pace.
I feel as if I'm eating enough because I have started to gain a little weight, but am I hindering my progress with the cardio 3 days a week?
I'm pretty beat after my leg workout, minimal soreness. More like the day after my legs are heavy, not really sore. I'd like to gain some size, but with my health issues probably not going to happen, so I guess it's more conditioning.
Calorie intake is above maintance, I don't track it at the moment but did for years so I have a pretty good idea. I am high on carbs, but am not too concerned as I'm a hard gainer.
right now I'm on a 4 day split, which I like. It's intense (at least for me) and 2 of the days I'm on daycare duty for 3 of my grandkids, so no time for cardio on thsose days.
OK, looks like it's doable. I'll get my butt down to the gym on wed's! LOL
Thanx for the input, guys!
I just have the tendancy to push myself a lot harder than I shoulder for longer periods of time during my cardio sessions and really wonder if I am giving my leg muscles enough recovery time before lifting the next day.
I really need to incorporate more cardio into my workouts. This hit me last nite as I walked the dog. I hadn't done much but yesterday, after back/bi's, I did 30 minutes on the treadmill. I've had the 'blahs' lately, not feeling bad, but not good either. As I came back home it dawned on me that I felt really, really good. Better than I have in a few weeks. Guess that whole endorphen thing is a reality!
LOL
Leg day.....and cardio question
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