Ok, ice cream fitness 5x5. It's full body 3 days a week rest of week off (Sunday - Thursday is my workout week, Friday and Saturday off). On days between (Monday and Wednesday) I'm doing 1 -1.5 hours of cardio On Stationary Bike Until spring then I'd be doing on mountain bike (~10 mins of hiit rest steady state). Anyways is this ok? Honestly by end of week I'm out of gas, legs especially. But don't know if this is expected or if I'm doing too much on bike wearing my legs out then finishing them off with squats etc. Should say I push it on bike high resistance, try to keep rpm 70 or above. (Until I can't then I slow down)

I want to maximize strength gains and minimize fat gain and keep cardiovascular system in good shape (is lifting enough for this?). Would it be better to do 10-15 mins of hiit after 5x5, on my days between (Monday and Wednesday ) or all 5 days, or keep doing what I'm doing? Thanks everyone just trying to get it right.

Well, I've never tried ice cream fitness, so I'm not really sure...

But 1-1.5 hours of cardio is quite a bit. I, personally, would aim for maybe a total of 60 minutes-90 minutes of cardio throughout the whole week. And that would be mostly HIIT...maybe you could throw a bit of long distance in there.

Here's my question...Can you squat as heavy weight as possible? Or do you need to lower the weight because your legs are so fatigued?

I would spread your cardio out across the days a bit more. Maybe like 30 minutes on three days, and see how that goes.

Lifitng will improve your cardiovascular system, but so will cardio. HIIT especially will minimize fat gain AND improve your cardiovascular system, so keep them both.

Thanks for reply and advice.

Last Thursday I had to lower weight from 135 to 120 because I realized I was supposed to start at 75% of 1 rm. Anyways I struggled on 120 where 135 was easier on Tuesday of last week.

I don't know even felt weak today on my squat (125# 5x5) (everything else felt good.) But don't know might just be that squats are a lot of work lol. Distance goals were to see how far I could go/how many calories burn but want strength more I'm going to back off so much cardio. Stick to hiit for ~10mins, with little steady state 20 mins or so. I'm going to use treadmills more too and see how it goes.

Do those 30 mins after weight training the 3 days I lift? Or make it 30-45 mins Monday Wednesday?

Tony,

Jordan (JoeHurricane) is correct. Too much cardio combined with a 5x5 program can be too stressful and halt gains. 5x5 is very intensive. Long bouts of cardio may burn fat but they also cannibalize muscle. I would do no more than 2-3 HIIT sessions of 20 minutes a week in conjunction with the 5x5 workouts. That should be enough to reach your goals.

John

Thank you John, and yes, I think I was doing too much and why I asked. I'll shoot for 20 mins hiit 2-3 times a week. Use jump rope etc to get a good quick session in. I'll feel like a bum lol but at this stage I'm more interested in building muscle.

Thanks for great answers to both of you.

Trust me if you do 20 minutes of HIIT you won't feel like a bum...you might feel like throwing up if you put in an epic session.

Answering your earlier post about when to do HIIT, do it on the two days that you aren't lifting, and if you do a third or fourth then add them in after your sessions. Either directly after or later in the day.