How much conditioning to keep when you squat and press, and where to put it in the week.
Strength and cardio are not enemies. They become a mess when you do both like they are the only session that matters. If you squat twice a week and also smash a hard bike every night, the squat will stall and your knees will have opinions. If you never do cardio, a flight of stairs at a Dandenong station will still humble you.
This is how to keep conditioning that helps lifting: easy most of the time, a little harder once in a while, and not the day before your heaviest set.
What cardio is for when you lift
- Work capacity so rest times do not turn into five minute phone scrolls
- Heart and general health
- A way to train when you are too beaten for another heavy press
It is not required to look like a spin class. Ten honest minutes on a stepper still count.
Victorian public health advice treats aerobic activity and muscle work as a pair, not a fight. Better Health Channel is a clear, non-gym-sales version of that.
The easy default
Most of your cardio should be conversational. You could talk in short sentences. On a bike or treadmill that is usually easier than you think.
Two or three sessions a week, 12 to 25 minutes. Put them after lifting or on a rest day. Do not drop your squat load so you can “empty the tank” on the rower every visit.
Where to put it in the week
A simple split:
- Monday: lift (squat focus), optional 8 minutes easy bike after
- Tuesday: walk or 20 minutes easy
- Wednesday: lift (press and pull)
- Thursday: off or mobility
- Friday: lift, then 10 minutes stepper
- Weekend: one longer easy session if you like, 30 minutes walk or cycle
If you train at strange hours, keep the same idea. The shift work note still applies: skip the hard cardio when sleep is already short.
Hard cardio, used sparingly
Once a week you can go harder: intervals on a bike, or hills on a treadmill if your joints like them. Keep it to 15 to 20 minutes including warm-up. Do not place it the day before a heavy squat if you can help it.
If you compete in a running event, that is a different plan. This article is for people whose main work is the bar or the stack.
Warm-up cardio versus training cardio
Five to eight minutes before lifting is warm-up. It does not replace the easy sessions above, and it should not leave you tired for the first squat.
If you are sweating hard and checking your watch after the warm-up, you went too far.
Machines that play nicely with lifting
- Bike: easy on most knees, simple to keep easy
- Stepper: useful, can fatigue legs if you lean on the rails and cheat
- Treadmill walk incline: fine; sprinting the day before squats is a choice
- Rower: works a lot of back; keep it easy if you just did heavy rows
Pick the one you will actually use at 5.30am. Variety is optional.
Signs you are doing too much
- Squat numbers sliding for three weeks
- Resting heart rate up and mood down
- Calves or shins always angry
- You skip lifts to “just do cardio” because it feels simpler
Cut the hard days first. Keep the walks.
Doing this at EVO FITNESS
The cardio zone is the start of a lot of sessions on the Dandenong South floor. Use it, then go to power, cables, or dumbbells. You do not need a class to make conditioning valid.
Easy finishers work well late at night when you do not want a noisy interval session. The gym is at 385 South Gippsland Highway. For access and visit questions, contact or +61 412 880 486.
If you still need a lifting template to hang this on, use the full-body workout.
A simple heart-rate check without a gadget
If you cannot say a five word sentence, you are not in the easy zone. Sit down, then go again slower. Watches help some people and turn others into score chasers. The sentence test is enough.
After a heavy squat day, prefer a walk or a flat bike. The stepper will chew the same legs you just loaded.
If you train at EVO at 5am, keep the cardio lights-up and short. You still have a workday in Dandenong or a drive back to Noble Park. Saving five minutes of “one more interval” is not lazy. It is how you still squat on Thursday.
People who live toward Hallam sometimes do the longer walk on the weekend and keep gym cardio to warm-ups. That split is fine. The week only has so much fatigue.
Write the cardio the same way you write the squat: machine, minutes, how it felt. If you never write it, you will swear you “do heaps of cardio” while doing eight minutes twice a month.
Questions people ask
Will walking count?
Yes. Walking is cardio. It is also the one people actually recover from.
Should I do cardio fasted?
Only if you already tolerate it. It is not a requirement for fat loss or strength. If you feel faint, eat.
Can I replace a lift day with a long run?
You can. Then you are running, not progressing the lift. Be honest about the goal for that week.
Cardio should make you easier to live in, and leave enough in the legs for the next squat. That is the whole standard. Keep most of it quiet, write it down, and stop treating the bike like a punishment. If you only remember one rule: easy cardio can sit next to heavy lifting. Hard cardio needs its own space in the week. Keep that split and the squat will still be there on Thursday. If you want a number, two easy sessions and one optional harder session is plenty for most people who also lift three days a week.
