Lunges, Squats & Burpees
 

I think it is time to change up my exercise routine a bit. I am going to start adding lunges, squats and burpees. Are these exercises considered cardio or strength training? If strength training, how often is it recommended to do them?

Thanks,
Terri

You can consider these as weight training even though you will only be using your own body weight to start. As you get stronger you can add weights to the squats and lunges by using a dumbells in each hand and a weight appropriate to match your ability. I would suggest you have at least one day of rest between sessions. Your muscles need time to repair and grow. You may find that you have more soreness on the second day after you work out than on the first. You can combat this by increasing your protein intake on both the day of your workout and the day after.

Burpees will definitely get your heartrate up - but most people can't do them for more that 5 or 6 minutes straight :D

I love burpees...I hate burpees...nuff said.

So does that mean that while doing a workout video that includes these type of exercises mixed with cardio and abs that I should only do it every other day? I don't notice more soreness doing it every day but I am I not allowing my muscles time to repair by doing it every day?

You should never work out the SAME muscle group every day. You may improve, but you won't notice it as much because the muscles are generally still fatigue. You should try to work out different muscle groups or do different exercises every day. Muscle confusion and the rest will keep your from what they call hitting a plateau, which is where you stop seeing improvement all together. That includes your abs or any large muscle you target. The muscles may be bigger and take longer to fatigue, but it still needs rest to rebuild and repair.

I'm doing Jillian Micheals 30 day shred ...which is a combination of cardio, strength training and abs
I am very pleased

If you are just getting started with the lunges and squats...
 

I would recommend the Beachbody Slim in 6. I used to be able to do extreme movies all day long, but recently I gained some weight and have not been as active. When I tried to jump into lunges and squats earlier this year I was feeling unbalanced some knee pain. I started the Slim in 6 series a few weeks ago and it has definitely helped me work back into a routine. She shows a lot of moderations on traditional lunges and so I have been slowing working up to full lunges.

Hope this helps!
Linz

Check out my progress at:
Lindsey 2.0

Here is a quick and interesting variation on the burpee. At the bottom of the exercise when you are down and you kick your legs back, notice how this is the form for a push up. Then go ahead - do a push up and then finish the burpee. To really challenge yourself, do two push ups and then finish.

Craig

go on to youtube and you can find different variations of burpees, I have yet to try them but I do other types of metabolic training on my off days of lifting weights.

Get some weights in your programs nothing crazy if you are a beginner but it will definitely help you burn much more fat than cardio alone and will increase your muscle tone, just food for thought!:cool: