{"id":798017,"date":"2026-10-10T11:10:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T11:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/798017\/"},"modified":"2026-10-10T11:10:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T11:10:13","slug":"your-strength-workout-can-double-as-cardio-experts-explain-how-to-get-both-benefits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/798017\/","title":{"rendered":"Your strength workout can double as cardio \u2013 experts explain how to get both benefits"},"content":{"rendered":"

There’s a lot to juggle in life: work, family, bills, sleep<\/a>, stress<\/a>…the list goes on. It’s no surprise that lack of time is the number one reason people give for not exercising regularly, according to a study published in Sports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And when you do find time to work out, another question often follows: should you prioritise strength training<\/a> or cardio<\/a>?<\/p>\n

But what if you could do both at the same time? And would it actually help you get closer to your health and fitness goals?<\/p>\n

Strength training and cardio each serve different purposes. Resistance training<\/a> helps keep your muscles strong and your joints healthy, while cardio challenges your heart and lungs. The American College of Sports Medicine and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend adults complete at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity each week, alongside at least two strength-training sessions.<\/p>\n

That’s a significant time commitment. The good news? Depending on how you structure your workouts, you may be able to tick both boxes at once.<\/p>\n

Can strength training count as cardio?<\/p>\n

The short answer: yes.<\/p>\n

The longer answer: yes \u2013 but it depends on how your heart responds during your workout.<\/p>\n

‘Cardio, or aerobic exercise, and strength training have different primary goals,’ says Aja Campbell, CSCS, owner of ATTAGIRL.<\/p>\n

‘Aerobic exercise is defined by a level of sustained effort or intensity over a duration of time.’<\/p>\n

Traditional strength training asks your muscles to generate a lot of force for relatively short bursts, while cardio requires your heart to work at a sustainable intensity over a longer period, Campbell explains. <\/p>\n

Strength training performed at an intensity high enough to maximise strength gains generally can’t be sustained long enough to double as cardio.<\/p>\n

Think about it: could you complete 150 minutes of heavy squats every week? Probably not.<\/p>\n

That said, there are ways to structure your strength sessions so they also provide a cardiovascular challenge.<\/p>\n

\"strength<\/p>\n

Justin Steele for Women’s Health<\/p>\n

When strength training becomes cardio<\/p>\n

‘Where strength training starts to overlap more with cardio is when it’s structured to keep you moving,’ says Rachelle Reed, PhD, an exercise physiologist based in Athens, Georgia.<\/p>\n

One common approach is circuit training<\/a>, where you move between several resistance and cardio exercises with very little rest.<\/p>\n

The resistance exercises are usually performed with lighter loads, allowing you to keep moving continuously. According to Reed, this style of training can improve cardiorespiratory fitness while still building strength.<\/p>\n

For moderate-intensity aerobic exercise, your heart rate<\/a> should generally sit between 64% and 76% of your maximum heart rate, increasing to 77-95% during vigorous exercise, Reed explains.<\/p>\n

‘But I wouldn’t use those numbers alone to decide whether a strength workout “counts” as cardio,’ she says.<\/p>\n

‘Your heart rate can spike during a challenging set of squats<\/a> or deadlifts<\/a> without creating the same sustained aerobic demand you’d get from running, cycling or another continuous activity.’<\/p>\n

Rather than chasing a specific heart-rate target, pay attention to how your workout is structured.<\/p>\n

Are you moving continuously? Using large muscle groups such as your glutes, quads, hamstrings, back and chest? Are you breathing heavily while maintaining a consistent effort?<\/p>\n

If so, there’s a good chance you’re successfully combining strength and cardio.<\/p>\n

\"liz<\/a><\/p>\n

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Her PT, Michael Garry, has created a 4-week training plan exclusively for members of the WH COLLECTIVE. It’s designed to remove one of the biggest barriers to fitness: time. You’ll train for just 35 minutes three times a week \u2013 Liz’s exact strategy to build muscle, boost metabolism and support long-term health. Tap the link below to unlock 14 free days of training and start Liz’s plan today.<\/p>\n

Get the plan<\/a><\/p>\n

Why you shouldn’t always combine them<\/p>\n

As appealing as it sounds to tick off two goals at once, Reed says not every strength workout should become a circuit.<\/p>\n

‘Making a strength workout more cardiovascularly demanding with circuits or intervals doesn’t necessarily make it a better strength workout.’<\/p>\n

Using lighter weights and reducing your rest periods may keep your heart rate elevated, but it can also reduce the quality of your strength work because your muscles don’t fully recover between sets.<\/p>\n

According to the American College of Sports Medicine<\/a>, strength gains are greatest when training with heavier loads \u2013 around 80% of your one-repetition maximum \u2013 for two to three sets twice a week.<\/p>\n

If your main goal is building strength or muscle, constantly turning your sessions into cardio circuits may compromise your progress.<\/p>\n

For that reason, Campbell recommends keeping most strength sessions focused on strength and using circuits more strategically.<\/p>\n

How to combine strength and cardio<\/p>\n

If you’re short on time and want to work on both in a single session, Campbell recommends either circuit or interval training.<\/p>\n

Circuit training works well for longer efforts, with around 10 minutes or more of continuous work and minimal rest.<\/p>\n

‘The key here is finding movements and weights that allow you to be continuous with your movement and effort output,’ she says.<\/p>\n

A circuit might include burpees<\/a>, alternating dumbbell lunges, clean and presses and one minute of skipping<\/a>, repeated as many times as possible in 15 minutes.<\/p>\n

Intervals, meanwhile, involve shorter bursts of higher-intensity work.<\/p>\n

Think 15-30 seconds of maximum effort followed by one to three minutes of recovery.<\/p>\n

‘My favourite way to achieve this is to pair something like an air bike, ski erg<\/a> or rowing machine<\/a> with a moderately heavy dumbbell or kettlebell movement like push presses or kettlebell swings,’ Campbell says.<\/p>\n

For example, you could complete a 15-second all-out row immediately followed by eight heavy dumbbell snatches before resting for two minutes.<\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/p>\n

Cori Ritchey, C.S.C.S., is the fitness editor at Women’s Health, as well as a certified strength and condition coach and group fitness instructor. She\u2019s reported on topics regarding health, nutrition, mental health, fitness, sex, and relationships for several years. You can find more of her work in Men\u2019s Health, HealthCentral, Livestrong, Self, and others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There’s a lot to juggle in life: work, family, bills, sleep, stress…the list goes on. It’s no surprise…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":798018,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[148106,11157,262408,381,6647,102,191880,1156,262407,223205,149735,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-798017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fitness","tag-collection-fitness-app","tag-content-type-default","tag-contentid-0e7a221d-6f42-4593-b0f9-de18a449ace7","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-fitness","tag-health","tag-issyndicated-true","tag-locale-gb","tag-shorttitle-can-strength-training-count-as-cardio","tag-sponsored-false","tag-subsection-strength-training","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=798017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798017\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/798018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=798017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=798017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=798017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}