Balancing cardio with strength
Hi. Lately I’ve been running into an annoying problem of trying to do a challenging cardio workout but the endurance of my muscles fails before my cardio feels challenged. For example, if I am running, my legs feel tired before I feel my heartrate has been raised significantly, I do a lot of martial arts and do a lot of rounds on the heavy bag but I feel my legs and arms get fatigued faster than my heartrate and breathing. I’ve tried bouts of steady state training, as well as various intervals including HIIT. I think I’ve been blessed with good recovery when it comes to cardio, but is there something I’m missing here? Should I be working on muscle endurance? Or do I just need to find a different type of workout that I’ve never experienced before? Any insights are welcome!
Hi Melanie,
Assuming this is not a medical issue, there are a few questions I would ask you….
Are you sufficiently warmed up at a lower intensity before your workouts?
Are you sufficiently fueled and hydrated? Is running or martial arts new to you for workouts? It may take working out at a lower intensity first to build muscle endurance–before you increase the intensity. If you are currently doing anaerobic (high intensity) bursts of exercise, your muscles will fatigue faster because it is different than muscle endurance.
Also, when you change modes of exercise, you will work your muscles in different ways and it could take some time to adapt. Hope some of this helps!
Christine