Can Too Much Cardio Negatively Impact Strength Gains?

[AllysonKendal]

Off the top of my head I can think of 2 possibilities…

1. You’re simply overdoing it. Your body could be fatigued.
2. You aren’t consuming enough calories. You could be burning off a lot of calories, and not consuming enough to build or sustain muscle.

I’ve been guilty of both at different times. So I know how frustrating it can be.

[polegramma]

I couldn’t agree more about the issue of overdoing it. Whenever I start losing strength it’s because I’m not taking enough rest days! Rest is a very important part of training. And for me, eating enough protein is also important. That’s tough cause I am a pasta person.
Something else to think about is what competitive athletes call “periodicity”. This actually applies to training for a specific event in a sport, but something I’ve noticed in a a few training plans is that the bulk of the hard strength training comes during the early phase of endurance (cardio) training, then when the endurance training enters a phase of more intense or longer workouts, the strength training plan moves to more of a maintenance program. Now that’s an oversimplification of the opinion of some folks who write training books, but something to keep in mind.

[Veena]

Yep, what they said! Sounds like over training.

[StrangeFox]

Thanks ladies!! I have incresed my activity level quite a bit, and come to think of it it’s not only the cardio I’ve added but the flexibility training, too, which involves some more cardio for warm up as well. Since I increased my activity level I have lost 5lbs, which sounds like the opposite of a problem, but it’s probably a sign that I’m not eating enough. Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been stressed over a family member’s health, and I know I wasn’t eating properly or listening to my body the way I should. Fortunately, everything is OK and things are returning to normal.

Also, about a week ago I did attend a bunch of workshops at the studio with zero rest days between them from Wednesday to Friday, and on Saturday I did an aerials class (silk and hoop, it was free so I couldn’t say no) followed by a 14K bike ride. Usually for my cardio I run about 5K a day. For the past few days I’ve been much gentler on my body and I’ve put a few more rest days between my pole sessions. I’m also eating more protein (I’m a pasta person to polegramma!) so I’ll see how that goes. I hope it is just over-training, because I’d hate to have lost so much strength in such a short period of time. I worked really hard to get my invert controlled and it would suck to have lost it.

[LatinPoler]

Clearly sounds like overtraining. I’ve been guilty many times too. Last year, I was training for a half marathon and I was learning to invert on the pole. I was exhausted all the time, so I put pole aside until I ran my race, then reduced the running to a heathy level and focused on pole. Flexibility training can be exhausting too. Stress also impacts. So rest a little and it will probably get better.

[dustbunny]

What everyone has said!!! I doubt that the cardio increase specifically has cauaed you to lose strength but remember that too much of anything is bad for you. Rest days rest days rest days!!! 😍

[MdawWat]

I agree that after you give your body a nice rest it is likely that your invert will be stronger than ever.

If you feel like you are still struggling after an appropriate amount of rest, one thing that normally works for me is to retrain myself by going back to basics on moves. Sometimes I find that I tend to over rely on certain muscle groups after I have done a move for a while and going back to basics helps me think more critically about all the muscles involved in a move. If you are a visual person a video of yourself doing the moves then vs. now might also help.

Also have you considered how much you may be working your muscles during your flexibility sessions? Flexibility is my weakest area, but I find it can be quite exhausting to my muscles. Before I really started thinking critically about my flexibility, I think I underestimated how a strong opposing muscle contributes to the ability of another muscle to lengthen.

[StrangeFox]

Thanks so much everyone! I’m going to take some real rest days and hold off on doing any tricks until my next pole class this Wed. Hopefully my invert will be stronger.

LatinPoler – I am training for a half marathon in October, but I might take things a little slower and do the 10K instead. 🙂

dustbunny – I’m guessing a rest day doesn’t include flexibility training? 🙂 I try to do flexibility and strength every other day, but it doesn’t always work out. I need to get better at planning my schedule so I can make sure I get those rest days!

MdawWat – I’m doing splits training, but for some reason my back bend is getting deeper, and I can now fully forward fold which I couldn’t do before, so it’s possible I’m fatiguing some of my invert muscles in my core.