Will I see any benefit from doing this?

[carrottopper]

30 mins running or 30 minutes on the cross trainer and a 15 minute full body strength training exercise from you tube. Am I wasting my time? Feel like most people do one or the other. When I do a strength training session, I feel like I’m not getting steps in. Will I see any benefit? I can feel myself talking myself out of it already

It depends what you usually do & what your diet is like.

If you usually do no exercise then anything is a step in the right direction.

If you’re eating too much then you won’t see any physical change.

If you’re at the gym to use a cross trainer or treadmill though why not use the weights or weight machines for a strength workout?

Oh yes definitely. I can burn 300-400 calories running for 30 mins. With the 15 mins strength why not alternate on different days doing arms/core/legs etc. I think you’ll 💯 see a benefit.

You should see results combining running & strength training providing you’re not eating way over your calories every day. I was at my fittest doing both, my body shape transformed fairly quickly. Strength training is great for your core & supports your running stamina, and running is great for smashing your step goal 😀

I agree doing both is great. There seems to be a huge thing ATM about women doing strength training and a backlash against cardio (a Gen Z thing?)

*I mean strength training only

Yes, it's good to do both. Running is great cardiovascular fitness, and strength reduces injury risk as well as its general muscle building benefits.

I keep a (relatively) heavy kettlebell on my doorstep and use it in my cool-down routine. (Particularly good for keeping up with my achilles exercises)
It's been there a few years and funnily enough no one's been inclined to run off with a random heavy weight 😂

Yes it feels like instagram and social media is just promoting strength. I keep seeing reels about how pointless a cross trainer is. I’ve been trying to do a 30 second burst followed by a steady 90 seconds so a bit like a HIIT I think.

My standard hour work out is 30 mins strength training (I lift heavy, so it's like sets of deadlifts at reps for 90 kilos, or pushing 270 kilos on the sled sort of strength training).

Then the second half is HIIT or metcon (metabolic conditioning) sets - I don't do steady state cardio except for walking between 12,000 and 15,000 steps per day.

So whatever your cardio work, do the strength training first. Although you should probably do a 5 minute warm up to get the blood flowing - a slow treadmill jog or cycle for 5 minutes.

And do more than 15 minutes strength training - if you're lifting what's heavy for you, you need a rest between sets, and you need to push to failure ie to the limit of what you can move/lift with good form.

That's if you want to grow muscle (don't worry you won't get bulky).

I only have 3kg dumbells so the workouts don’t feel like they are benefitting me. Not sure if I should get 5kg or more?! My watch shows about 37 calories burned in 30 minutes with a Caroline Girvin and 3kg weights

3kg dumbbells you need a workout to up the reps and they will KILL you!! I’ve never done CG but assume she’s more about lifting heavy?

What benefits do you want, OP?
It won't fix your marriage or mean a pay rise.

Adding any exercise to your life will have many benefits!
It promotes a healthy relationship with your body, great for your mental health, heart health and loads more.

Start with what feels manageable to you.

You won't necessarily lose weight through exercise: you can't out-train a bad diet. For weight loss, you need to be calorie deficit.

And you can look at a run "equalling" 300 calories or whatever, but the latest science on this is that it's your basic metabolic rate + your ordinary movement throughout the day which is the more important impact on caloric expenditure.

In other words, get your steps in - try for 15,000 steps per day.

3 kilo dumbbells might help you to get strong, but you'll need to be more creative to get the progressive overload you need. I would recommend not doing your reps too fast. Slow down what's called "time under tension."

Also use body weight exercises. Get a full body press up (no staying on your knees) by doing negatives ie the downward motion. Start from a full arm plank, then aim to very very slowly, get your sternum on the ground. Sternum on the ground before your hips. Then push up as well as you can, keeping your core contracted.

Same with a pull up - use resistance bands and focus on the negative ie get your chin up over the bar however you can, and then let yourself down really slowly - say over 10 counts.

And 37 calories for 30 minutes with very light weights sounds about right. You need to be really careful you don't eat back more calories because you did 30 minutes of light exercise.

As PPs say, there are many many great benefits from exercise - we should all be much more mobile &active than we tend to be.

But if it's losing weight, it's your caloric intake you need to attend to.

Any exercise is better than none, it’s so beneficial for your health and well being!

A mix of strength and cardio is ideal, resistance training is really important, especially for women and as we age but cardio is also important for CV health, there’s a lot of nonsense going around re: HIIT and cortisol right now.

The most important thing is to find something you enjoy because then you’re more likely to stick with it.

Aim is to lose about a stone and feel fitter. Really want exercise to be a habit every day. Yes I really need to sort my diet. Don’t know where to start. Thinking of signing up to the body coach

Aim is to lose about a stone

The time you spend exercising is time you don't spend eating, so can be beneficial for that reason alone.

and feel fitter.

If you weren't doing equivalent exercise before/otherwise, then either of the activities listed will make you fitter than before/otherwise.

Really want exercise to be a habit every day.

Does the current routine feel sustainable & enjoyable enough?

I agree with @LittleBigHead , do strength first and do it for longer so you can warm up, rest between sets, and at least sometimes go to failure (this isn't scary - just means you fail on your last rep). If someone claims you can do a whole body workout in 15 minutes for strength (rather than using light weights and high reps for cardio/conditioning), they are talking nonsense.

I would try maybe 3 strength workouts a week (maybe one legs and two upper body both push and pull, you could start a new thread asking for programme recommendations or have a search on previous threads) and then do your cardio if you like it, or do that on the other days. I agree with walking lots and increasing everyday activity as well.

The exercise is great, you should definitely continue with it. But if you want to lose weight you need to be in a calorie deficit and exercise won't necessarily create that.

It’s 90% diet so get that sorted to see results otherwise the only benefit you’ll see is feeling a bit stronger
if diet is healthy and in deficit then you will definitely see body changes from what you’re doing.
I agree it’s all about strength online these days, I started doing that but my muscles were getting too big so I do half that half cardio