Strength/Cardio Balance?

[CoconutsAreDeli]

I do rutten's all around workout MONDAY, THURSDAY AND FRIDAY. I run or do jumping jacks for half an hour on tuesday. On wednesday I do dips, squats and deadlifhts with minimal weight and high reps for about 20 minutes. Mind you some days I'm giving 20% to the Bas workouts cause I'm so tired. Add to that I hit the heavybag for 15 minutes mon-friday just because it's a ego trip. Has anyone struggled with the balance? I think most UFC fighters do not have a good combination of both although Matt Hughes seems to be at a freakishly high level at both. I assume lots of you have the same dillema. What are your routines and what's your philosophy on this?

[wildman1717]

Conditioning in the morning and skill training at night. I make sure I get my recovery time also.

[Quest4Glory]

The million dollar question.

Right now I get my cardio on the mat and train 10+ hours every week (sparring, mits, rolling, you name it)

I try and lift twice a week.

[Brad Morris]

I know from experience that I cannot do both intense strength training and intense conditioning at the same time.

I can do both at a lower "maintenance" level, but if I am preparing for a fight I do my strength training with minimal conditioning first and then I switch to conditioning with a little bit of strength training. If you want to know more check out my log I go into more detail there and outline a strength phase and a conditioning phase.

But bear in mind that we all have different strength and weaknesses and a program needs to be specific to those individual needs and has to evolve as you do!

[mooshy]

Concentrate on improving one energy system at a time without neglecting the other. If Im strength/power training ill do a 2:1 or 3:1 ratio of anaerobic to aerobic. In this case Ill do basic, easy things for cardio(just maintaining a little.) If im focusing on improving cardio Ill do the opposite ratio.