Community Forum

Forum Home  /  Physical Training  /  Legwork and Cardio.

Legwork and Cardio.

Posted on 03/15/2004
by Personnel7-47

In anticipation of taking some PATs this year I have bumped up my cardio and was wondering how some of you mix your legwork and cardio. On my normal workout schedule I do weights three times a week on a push pull rotation and I do at least 30 minutes of cardio at least three days usually combined with my weight days. My problem is I like to do legs and squats with every workout but it makes it hard to do 30-60 minutes of cardio that I am trying to do to get in maximum shape for any PATs. With the leg muscles being the biggest and able to take more abuse I have no trouble working them everyday. Any suggestions?


Posted on 03/16/2004
by Rob1

I would recommend not working your legs everyday for one, the muscles need time to recover. If you are lifting heavy weights with your legs 2 times a week that is a good routine, especially if you only lift 3 times a week. On the 2 days you do legs, try lifting the leg weights for a good 15 minutes, other weights(bis-tris, shoulders, back, etc) for 20-25min, then the cardio for the other 30 min. The other day that you let your legs rest up, you can maybe do more cardio and a strong upper body workout. Remember, you do need a upper body strength too, but your cardio must be in great shape to be a FF. Also, if you are trying to add more to your workout routine you might have to cut down your recover time between sets. This way you will also be working out a lot harder. You might also have to stop chatting in the gym if you do that too. Get yourself a good MP3 player and your own tunes and start pumping that iron. Hope that helps.



Posted on 03/22/2004
by cbutrainer

I know that a lot of men like to pump the iron, i am one of them. But i think the most important thing for training for these tests is to stress your body to the max anarobically. The biddle and the CPAT are only 6-9 minutes in length depending in what kind of shape you are in.

I think the best thing to do is do circuit workouts in the gym. Hit it all in a short period of time. An example would be...
circuit #1
Squats 3 sets of 20 fairly heavy
Jump rope 3 sets of 1 min
push ups 3 sets of till you can't do another one

circuit #2
Rows 3x20 fairly heavy
walking lunges with dumbells 3x1 min
jumping jacks 3x1 min

circuit #3
lat pulls 3x20 fairly heavy
Big Step Ups (step up onto a bench and back down) 3x20
jump rope 3x1 min

If you did these 2 to 3 times per week on top of your regular "Pump You UP" get big work out, you would fly through your biddle etc. Again the reasoning behind it is you are stressing your body anarobically just like the test does. If you are not breathing hard through the whole routine you are resting too long between sets and circuits.

For what it is worth, I have a master's degree in exercise science, this is my own workout, and it is working for me. If anybody has any questions feel free to email me or send me a personal message.
mr_sullivan91@hotmail.com

Tim Sullivan



FC Community