Cardio, or strength training?

[jp1957]

Now that my back has healed up enough and I'm back to weights again, I have a question. (and I'm in week 6 of my osta/gw cycle, down 4pds, up abit of lean muscle(around 2-3 from measurements)

For cardio I do elliptical at full resistance. I'm now finally able to get back into humping stairs with lead on (only 155pd right now, from my previous 185)((I'll get back there, but not risking dead lifting that 140pd vest)).

My question, is the steps considered cardio, or weight training. As those 8-9 flights of stairs after doing the elliptical keep my heart rate in that range as well.

I was just concerned if its more like strength training, doing it 4 days a week might not be a good plan. But if its cardio, no problem'o.

 

[RickRock]

It depends on the level of resistance. If you are able to do many "reps" or steps without extreme fatigue or failing, it's still considered cardio. No different than cranking up the resistance on a stationary bike

 

[jp1957]

I dont know about many, each flight is 14 steps each way (up/down).

As for fatigue, I'm ready to get that damned lead off of me now. Sometimes I'm just hobbling back to get that stuff off of me. No failure though.

But I see your point, not substantially different if I could crank up my elliptical to even higher resistance.

I just dont wanna overtrain my legs, as I cant get the damned things to grow (They get stronger, but no size)

 

[RickRock]

I dont know about many, each flight is 14 steps each way (up/down).

As for fatigue, I'm ready to get that damned lead off of me now. Sometimes I'm just hobbling back to get that stuff off of me. No failure though.

But I see your point, not substantially different if I could crank up my elliptical to even higher resistance.

I just dont wanna overtrain my legs, as I cant get the damned things to grow (They get stronger, but no size)

Are your legs sore afterwards? Do you get DOMS? If there is soreness you may want to cut it down to allow recovery and growth. That's one thing you can use to determine it.

Another thing is how is the intensity? If your HRis pretty high, it's more like HIIT and that also needs to be limited to no more than 2-3 times per week in my opinion, and I'd say really no more than 2if that's the case. That also puts extra stress on the CNS and will spike cortisol, which can also come in to play.

 

[jp1957]

Define Hi HR? My resting HR is 52, about the max I can get on the elliptical is low to mid 130's and thats only after awhile. On the steps, stays 118-128 after I get the weights strapped on, and get some steps going.

And no legs aren't really sore, but worked out. I dont see it as HIIT though, as its pretty steady state for almost 10 minutes, as there's no rest, only thing being it gets abit slower as the the number of flights increases and fatigue is setting in. Arguably you could call teh down the stairs a rest interval, but with that much weight on, its not much of a rest.

 

[RickRock]

Define Hi HR? My resting HR is 52, about the max I can get on the elliptical in low to mid 130's and thats only after awhile. On the steps, stays 118-128.

And no legs aren't really sore, but worked out. I dont see it as HIIT though, as its pretty steady state for almost 10 minutes, as there's no rest, only thing being it gets abit slower as the the number of flights increases and fatigue is setting in. Arguably you could call teh down the stairs a rest interval, but with that much weight on, its not much of a rest.

Ok, that helps clear it up a lot then. I don't really see an issue from my perspective with your frequency doing it. It sounds more moderate intensity cardio based in my opinion, and I don't see it interfering with anything

 

[DylanGemelli]

Now that my back has healed up enough and I'm back to weights again, I have a question. (and I'm in week 6 of my osta/gw cycle, down 4pds, up abit of lean muscle(around 2-3 from measurements)

For cardio I do elliptical at full resistance. I'm now finally able to get back into humping stairs with lead on (only 155pd right now, from my previous 185)((I'll get back there, but not risking dead lifting that 140pd vest)).

My question, is the steps considered cardio, or weight training. As those 8-9 flights of stairs after doing the elliptical keep my heart rate in that range as well.

I was just concerned if its more like strength training, doing it 4 days a week might not be a good plan. But if its cardio, no problem'o.

i dont necessarily consider the steps total weight training but clearly they are training your legs but in a different way than just tearing them down doing weight training... it is "in a sense" but i do stairclimbing 20 minutes, 5 days a week with an hour of elliptical... its kept my legs very very nice because im very limited on what i can do for weights with them considering how fucked up my back is so i feel you are good to go