Long period one time training or divide it into two times a day

Question

I usually train 4 times a week, and for each day, I usually do 1 hour weight training + 30 mins HIIT cardio running training. For other days I simplely do some light running or swimming.

I did my best to keep up with this training plan for 2 months, but I feel really tired about it, especially the 30 mins HIIT cardio after 1 hour weight training is really killing me. Sometimes (most of time) I have to move this 30 mins HIIT cardio before my weight training so I can do them both. But my friend tells me that doing cardio first is such a big mistake, it can not burn your fat, and it will affect my weight training. So I am thinking sth else.

Now I am thinking to put part of my cardio to the morning time right after I weak up. (I train at 5:30pm-7:00pm before). That is, I will do 15mins HIIT running + 10 mins usual running at morning right after I weak up and 1 hour weight training + 12 mins HIIT running at afternoon.

Do you guys think this strategy is sound? Or am I making another mistake?

Thank you!

PS: I am 180cm tall and 167lbs with Body Fat Index 15% (according to the "smart" weight scale I bought from amazon, who knows it is accurate or not...). So I still want to lose some fat.

PPS: I was 187 pounds 3 months ago and I am 167 now. So my old training plan does it job for me and I am happy. But now I just wish to change a little bit. :)

Answer 1

I think it is much better to split them up. If you do them both one after the other, whichever one comes second is always going to suffer as your body will be fatigued.

Splitting them up will allow you to hit them both hard and you should see better results.

I train weights in the evening 5/6 times a week and I do morning HIIT 2/3 times a week.

Also, having done two workouts, your metabolism will spike twice in the day leading to more calories being burnt(which I think is your goal).

And another note, if that "smart scale judged your fat based solely on your height and weight then it's not a good indication of where you're at as muscle weighs almost twice as much as fat. A better way for you to do it would be to but some calipers and test yourself(they are pretty cheap).

Answer 2

You list “bodybuilding” as one of your tags. If this is correct, you may want to check yourself for the symptoms of overtraining. The volume and intensity you describe seems to be a bit much, in my opinion, for a goal of bodybuilding.

Do you guys think this strategy is sound? Or am I making another mistake?

I don’t see a problem with performing your cardio on the same day as your training, especially if time is a constraint. But, you must balance that against the volume of high intensity training you’re performing. You should consider cycling your training, and, possibly reserving one or two days per week to simply recover. By cycling, I mean varying the intensity levels of your training. That should reduce that feeling of constantly being tired.

Answer 3

30 minutes 4x per week of HIIT is a lot of HIIT. You are probably better off with 1-2 sessions of it and make other cardio sessions easier. You need time to recover from high intensity sessions!

Answer 4

I get where you are coming from, i used to do 1 hour 40 to 2 hr exercises to lose weight now i do 1 hr ish (usually 1hr 10 mins). bmi hugely depends on frame size but the chart doesn't tell you that most times, most times we think we are medium sized when we can be small frames, which means greatly reducing calories. but make it one hour from now on, a 20 mins warm up (skipping rope or whatever you do, followed by a 5 min stretch, and then your exercises for 40 mins, also remember to do different muscle groups on different days its imperative for real results (a smaller you isn't always a better looking you, a little fats necessary) you will continue to lose weight but the most important aspect is your diet.