Cardio help

[5ltretr]

Im starting a new work out schedule. This will consist of strength training with 2 different routines, routine a on monday and thursday, routine b on tuesday and friday. Cardio will be on wednesday, saturday, and sunday. The routines consist of different lifts, reps and weights. Also on the mon, tues, thurs, and fri workouts I will be doing flex training to keep range of motion. My question is, is it ok doing the cardio back to back on sat and sun. The cardio I do consists of wed-3 sets of 10 minutes running stairs with a weight vest, Sat is 120 minutes of riding a bike, and Sun is 2 30 minute sets of the eliptical machine. Should I move the sunday cardio to another day and have a day off.

[voyager9]

IANA_Trainer, but you should probably fit in a rest day in there somewhere.

Its okay to have two days of cardio back to back as long as their not high intensity. I'd be careful about having your two lifting days back to back, though. In general you don't want to work the same muscle group two days in a row. Give them a chance to recover.

When I had talked to a trainer a while ago she recommended not trying to force the workout schedule into 7-days. Use a two-week (14-day) schedule instead and incorporate a couple rest days.
M T W Th F S Su
W1 a c b r b c a
W2 r c a c b c r

[edpmedic]

What does your weight training consist of, and what are your goals? Are you doing whole body workouts, which are effective but very draining, or are you doing bodybuilding splits? If you are doing splits, maybe you can do cardio after an upper body workout, or at a different time of day, giving you an extra day of rest.

[westchester47]

Good info by voyager 9 and edpmedic.

Here’s how I would split it up based on the info you provided.

M/ Day1:Strength and Stairs (interval training)
T/ Day2: Active Recovery (10 minute bike ride flush @ 60%Max HR, foam rolling, static stretching)
W/ Day3: 2 hour bike ride followed by static stretching of hip flexors and foam rolling the legs
TH/ Day 4: Strength Training
F/ Day 5: Passive rest (just chill, catch a movie, read etc)
S/ Day6: Elliptical workout plus core work
Su/ Day 7: Active Recovery (10 minute bike ride flush @ 60% Max HR, foam rolling and static stretching)
M/ Day 8: Begin weekly schedule again
Tues/ Day 9: Active Rest

Firefighters try and squeeze into the 7 day trap and all it does is lead to overtraining. We don’t work according to the weekly 9-5 schedule so we shouldn’t keep to that schedule when it comes to our physical conditioning.

With this cycle you get 4 rests days in a total of 9 days, with one being a total passive rest and 3 active ones. You’re doing something on your days off, but you’re not burning out or overtraining.

I like 9, 14 or 21 day plans where you plan rest as much as you do training and are able to spread your training out so you don’t have a density problem. It also allows for all the other responsibilities in life we all have...like surfing, golfing, hunting, fishing etc.

Goodluck

JC
http://ultimatefirefighterworkout.blogspot.com

[edpmedic]

Surfing is good for the soul! Excellent split, I'm also all about foam rolling, mobility exercises, and active recovery. Check t-nation.com, they have several great articles in reference to training splits. Also, for your strength training, I recommend whole body splits. I like a combination of olympic weightlifting, powerlifting, and kettlebells. Check out crossfit.com for some great whole body workouts. I frequently use the workouts titled grace, fran, cindy, linda, and the bear complex.

[5ltretr]

I cant get the plan copied from excel without it being messed up on here. Basically it is a full body workout here are the lifts that I transfered from excel, I couldnt get the sets and everything else. There are two lifts on each because if I wanted a change it would work the same group. As I said above Wed is stairs, sat is the bike, and sun is eliptical machine. As far as my goal from this, its mainly my cardio thats why Im more focused on it.
Monday Squats/Lunges
Step ups/Standing Kickback
Standing Calf Raise/1 Leg Calf Raise
Seated Curl/Standing Curl
Triceps Press/Kickback
Sit-ups/Leg Raises
Reverse Leg Raises/Bridge
Side Leg Raise

Tuesday Bench Press/Incline Press
Incline Press/Fly
Cable Row/Bent Row
Bent Row/Pullover
Lateral Raises/Shoulder Press
Rear Lat Raises/Upright Row

Thursday Squats/Lunges
Step ups/Standing Kickback
Standing Calf Raise/1 Leg Calf Raise
Seated Curl/Standing Curl
Triceps Press/Kickback
Sit-ups/Leg Raises
Reverse Leg Raises/Bridge
Side Leg Raise

Friday Bench Press/Incline Press
Incline Press/Fly
Cable Row/Bent Row
Bent Row/Pullover
Lateral Raises/Shoulder Press
Rear Lat Raises/Upright Row

[5ltretr]

Also something I forgot above, Im really wanting to hit every muscle group not leave anything out. While really focusing on cardio and legs. Thanks for your opinions guys.