Sprints + Weights on same day? page

[Eleshar]

Ahoy!

I've started reading the Primal Blueprint book. Whilst doing so I'd like to decrease the amount of days I spent doing various exercises in the meantime. It has been 6 days a week up until a while ago.

I'm planning on doing 3 weight workouts at the gym a week. I've got two options to incorporate sprinting once a week and was hoping I could get some feedback on which to go for;

Option 1:
Have 3 weight workout days + 1 day for sprinting (4 days of exercising a week)

Option 2:
Have 2 full weight workout days + 1 day where I spent half the time sprinting and the other half on body weight exercises (3 days of exercising a week)

Please take note I'm a skinny guy with long limbs (about 77 kgs, of 1.88 m) but have a belt of fat around my waist, which makes me very sad face. I'm attempting to adopt the Primal Blueprint lifestyle for better health and to get rid of that pesky pouch I've had for years now.

Thanks for your time!

[chrisay59]

Hi, I do the following every other day with Tabata sprints (bike and cross trainer) in between.

Start with 10 Mins Mobilisation Exercises then,

60 secs each Exercise, 10 sec Rest between each exercise, do as many as you can in time using 1 Pood Kettlebell.

Clean and Press (Left)

Kettlebell Windmill (Right)

Clean and Press (Right)

Kettlebell Windmill (Left)

Kettlebell Snatches (Right)

Kettlebell Goblet Squats

Kettlebell Snatches (Left)

Kettlebell Clean and Press (Right)

Russian Swing

Kettlebell Clean and Press (Left)

Kettle bell Around the world (Right)

Kettle bell Around the world (Left)

Wall Sits

Plank Exercise

Mountain Climber

Hope this helps

[lissee]

Regarding doing sprints & weights on the same day, and/or building muscle: According to Phil Campbell after you push your muscles into oxygen deprivation through intense interval training, your body starts to release human growth hormone naturally into your body (if you've done the exercise correctly). He mentions that if you lift weights immediately after doing the interval training that the HGH then turns to building/repairing muscle for the muscle you've targeted that day.

On a side note: he says that Human Growth Hormone goes after fat like a heat seeking missle. So for those of us that have a lot left to lose, the "Sprint" portion of the Primal Exercise program is not one that we should be leaving out. Personally, I do my sprints on a stationary bike. (made myself a mix workout tape so I don't have to watch the clock while "sprinting" I just listen for a change in music.)

Phil Campbell has been running studies regarding Human Growth Hormone and interval training. If you're interested in learning more about his research and a good way to do sprint intervals, here's his book, a very good read. Amazon.com: Ready, Set, Go! Synergy Fitness (9780971663381): Phil Campbell: Books or there are youtube clips with him if you want to check him out first, search for links to his other youtube clips through this initial video: Peak 8: Diet and Somatopause - YouTube

[Nigel]

Body by Science recommends not doing sprints for two days before or after a strength training session. I have been doing the strength training once every seven or eight days so I only get one or two thrashes on my rowing machine between them. I am noticing an improvement each BbS session so I am happy at that. They state that the body takes five to fifteen days to fully recover and if there is no improvement the reason will be either too frequent training or one has reached ultimate strength. I am away for a week next week and when I get back I will up the frequency to once every five days with one speed session in between each and see if I am still improving. If not, I will drop back to what I'm doing now.

[heatseeker]

I don't know about you guys, but I am totally destroyed after my sprints and can barely lift my body up the stairs to my apartment, let alone get in a LHT workout. I tried lifting on a sprint day exactly once; did the sprints in the morning and the lifting in the evening. I nearly failed my warmup squat, 50lb lighter than my max. So yeah, I keep sprints and lifting on separate days.

[Eleshar]

Thanks for the input!

I should do just that; try a few things and see how it goes. I'm planning on sprinting up a hill once or twice as well, so I'm pretty sure I'll be knackered as well.

I'm afraid of over training, which is the reason I want to train as little as possible.

[bryanccfshr]

I sprint on lift days Usually as part of the same workout. I just eat at a surpluses to recover. If you are Eating in a deposit you will fizzle doing this

[tfarny]

I'm gathering that you don't have an actual training program in mind. That would be my first priority, then read the program author's thoughts on how to incorporate sprints.
Here are a few:
Starting Strength
5/3/1
Madcow
Body By Science (an odd duck)
You Are Your Own Gym
Convict Conditioning
Simplefit

Each program will have a somewhat different take on adding in sprints, depending on training frequency etc.
For example, Starting Strength is too focused on frequent heavy squatting to make actual sprinting feasible unless you are superhuman. On that program, you might do a short crossfit-style thing after your main workout but never before. Other programs will be affected differently. On 5/3/1, you are doing a kind of split, so sprinting on your upper days would make more sense.

[KV8R]

I don't sprint often enough, maybe once a month. I really need to be doing two or three sessions a month. When I do sprints, it's all out, max effort, I'm a useless bag of shit when I'm done. There's no lifting or anything else after that. I can barely walk for awhile, but damn it feels good.