I’ve noticed recently in posts where people may have high blood pressure or high cholesterol you recommend adding cardio Into their routines. So my question is does cardio have some added health benefits or effects on the body that lifting does not ? Or is it simply because 6-7 days of being Active is better than 3-4, and some light cardio days won’t effect recovery
We actually recommend both resistance training and conditioning for everyone for health purposes.
The only time we would recommend performing only one or the other would be in a situation where an individual is specialized for competitive purposes and is approaching a competition (e.g., to stop doing conditioning 1-2 weeks out from a powerlifting meet, or to stop lifting 1-2 weeks out from an endurance competition).
Otherwise, yes, these two modalities of exercise have complementary effects, which is why they are both included in the 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines (and have been for a while), and why we recommend doing both.
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Thanks for clearing it up for me doc!