I currently lift and train hard 2x a week @ cross fit with PT (T, Th) which leaves me a little sore the following day for when I do cardio @ home.

My cardio is currently M, W, F and S and consists of running for 30 min to 1 hour depending on routine (5k, 10k , HIIT). I am starting to wonder if I should back off on the cardio some and add more strength training days. My goal is to find a good healthy balance of weight lifting and cardio to remain fit with a nice athletic build.

I do not want all the cardio from running to eat away at my muscle gains. Before I started to lift, running really leaned out my upper body, essentially eating a lot of my lean muscle. I was at goal, but hardly had any muscle in biceps, triceps, deltoids, lats and so on.

Weight loss is done and I have been lifting consistently for 2 months in order to reshape body. It is working!! Long term lean muscle is going to help me keep at goal and give some flexibility with eating plan. I have put on 10 lb of lean muscle since starting cross fit training.

I am thinking about replacing some cardio day with an @home strength training DVD like Bob Harper inside out or Jillian Michael ripped. Eventually I will increase cross fit days in a month or two, once I transition into open gym format instead of PT sessions.

What are your thoughts about weight lifting versus cardio based on my thoughts above?

A couple thing are coming up for me. One is that it sounds like you are overtraining. You've been managing a lot of inflammation for about a month. I get it. I go through periods of overtraining. Usually I'm chasing endorphin and adrenaline and feel like I can fly until I'm sore everywhere.

Second thing. Cardio and resistance training schedules are so personal. Some of it is how you and feel some is science. I really encourage you to listen to your body.

I dance for cardio an hour three days a week. Some weeks way more if there are jams (dance equivalent to marathons). Think 11 kinds of movement blended with martial arts all in an hour. It's crazy fun. The best part is each routine has three levels. If I'm injured I will dance level 1. I mostly dance level 3. This can be an issue for retaining lean muscle mass. It's a lot of burn. Still I build a lot of core muscle and leg muscle.

I do not go more than 24 hours between resistance training sessions. Forty eight at the most if I need to recover.

I work out in a very nice club that promotes all the trends in fitness. What I know is that the PT have clients on a mix of straight up resistance training and Crossfit. I do cross fit once or twice a week at the most. Because I crazy dance and that is my love. If I did Crossfit two-three days a week at 45-50 minutes, I'd be overtraining and I'd have to drop one of my dance classes. I think you love crossfit and you could consider changing your running schedule. Crossfit is so explosive

I mix it up and I have great results. I'm not tired or hitting the wall. It's finding that training sweet spot for your body. This is what works for me. No" shoulds" and all I "want to".

Life is good. Sleeved life is awesome. Good luck!

I know the science behind this stuff can be frustrating and confusing, and sometimes contradicting. This is what I know from the literature I have read over the years:

You are right...too much cardio will lean out your muscle mass. If the weight you lift is too light, you will also lean out your muscles. If you truly want to up your mass, you need to up the amount you are lifting (less reps in each set; each set should end in failure). DO NOT work out the same muscles more than once a week! They need to recover so that they can build mass! Come up with a weekly routine: Monday--biceps and triceps; Tuesdays--chest and back; Wednesdays--legs; Thursdays--shoulders....etc. Stick with the same regimen for a month, then change the exercises. Your muscles have what we like to call muscle memory. They get used to the movements and they need to be shocked.

All that being said, calories and quality of calories need to be considered. a MINIMUM of 1 gram of protien per your body weight. On days that you are lifting, you should definitely up the calories. Someone in a previous post commented about protien shakes...YES! Go for it! There are shakes for pre and post workouts. Prosource.net yields the best prices in supplements...better than GNC (well, almost anybody's price is better than GNC) and Vitamin shoppe. When I was a fitness addict, Muscle and Fitness magazine was my bible. They ALWAYS offer great tips and advice on lifting, nutrition, and the newest technologies offered in the supplement world.

I hope this helps. If you ever have any questions I have tons of info and tips in this head of mine. Don't hesitate to ask

We all built different...and caloric intake is different. I have done nothing but weight lifting for size and strength....which is a cardio effort if you put in the hours and weights. However, I have done no cardio specific exercises since surgery. I'd prefer a slow burn and maintain...and hopefully grow muscle. It has worked well for me, as I've seen steady gains in weight loss and strength increase. This may change down the line, but I don't want to loss the weight too fast. It will come from the caloric restriction. Likely, when I finally plateau for a while I'll change to a cross fit routine to shock my body a bit. But as I said...we all have different needs and goals. Best of luck to you.

Fiddleman, if you want more calories, yes the Met-Rx meal replacement shake is pretty darn good and has the Protein plus a few more carbs than a typical shake. My wife drinks them and they are not bad at all. You could also try slathering some PB on those energy squares, I like them with PB2 but I get plenty of calories so I don't need the full fledged nut butters.

Also, I have to disagree on the single muscle group isolation. Yes it can help you but only if you have the energy to add it in, I wouldn't replace anything you're doing with bicep curls. It will make you look good but for pure athletic performance I would stick with compound lifts, which as I understand it crossfit does this. Compound lifts are giving you the most bang for your buck. You would not, for instance, do leg extensions over squats, bicep curls over pull ups, ham string curls over deadlifts.....if you had limited time and energy to workout.

Preach on Butter! I love me compound lifts, deadlifts, dips, military presses, pullups, etc! Effective AND very efficient lifts.