Muscle Recovery and Running

I know that recovery time for muscles is just as important as the weight lifting, as it allows the muscle to repair and grow.

I currently lift weights Monday, Wednesday, Friday and often go to karate on both Monday and Wednesday. Karate is very hard on my leg muscles, as I'm in constant front stance.

I see Tuesday and Thursday as my 'rest' days for weight training. However, I often go for a 5k run or do a cardio class in the gym (boxfit normally). I sometimes find my legs and gluts are so sore from lifting weights that it makes it harder to maintain a pace or go far until it's too sore and my muscles are fatigued. Is running between my weights days going to slow down my muscle recovery time?

I usually take Saturday / Sunday off entirely as a full recovery time.

Any advice on how to balance weight lifting, recovery time, and cardio exercise would be appreciated!

Also, as it may be brought up, I do eat lots of protein (100g for 100lbs currently). I have two scrambled eggs for breakfast, yoghurt as snacks, and always chicken or beef with dinner, so I do think I'm getting enough protein through real foods for recovery. I am, however, considering whey protein (but money is very tight so may not be able to afford it for a while!)

Between lifting and other stuff (running, swimming, rock climbing, etc.), I'm usually getting some form of exercise twice a day. I'm sure doing everything else isn't ideal for just building muscle, but I'm aiming for overall fitness, not to be a bodybuilder. I try to balance it so that I get one primarily upper body activity and one primarily lower body activity a day. Usually, this translates into lifting upper body on the days I do lower body cardio and vice versa for the other days. Other than that, my only hard and fast rule is to take one day of complete rest per week. I've found that I'm still able to build muscle at a good pace (good enough for me at least), and I can fit in all the activities I want to do.

In summary, I guess I would say don't worry about it. Unlike doing full-blown strength training on the same muscle groups on consecutive days, cardio won't have a noticeable adverse effect on your muscle recovery/building.

By the way, if you're getting 1g of protein per gram of lean mass, you don't need any protein supplements. Just make sure to spread it out over the course of the day, and you'll be fine.

If you find that sore muscles is a constant problem try isolating specific musle groups.  Arms and shoulders on monday chest and abs on Wednesday and legs on Friday as an example

I agree that it would be best vary your strength training workout so that you are working the major groups only 2x per week--say Monday and Friday. The Wed session should be a lighter workout, maybe focusing on core or some exercises for accessory muscles. As far as I am concerned, you could cut out the Wed weight lifting altogether. There comes a point where you start seeing diminishing returns--i.e. more effort doesn't translate into better results. Powerlifters and athletes may lift 4x per week, but they do not work the major muscle groups more than 2x per week. The more you lift, the more recovery time you need. From your own description, you are not able to maintain the desired quality of your workouts.

Another recommendation would be to build in "recovery weeks" into your routine--regular cycles where you cut back on intensity, switch to body weight exercises, bands, balls, etc, and light cardio. "Vareity is the spice" of exercise routines as well.

Thanks everyone.

I am a wee bit confused as there is conflicting advice up there. First that cardio shouldn't affect my recovery, but second that I should be factoring in recovery and only lifting twice a week. I was reading that 'Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle' e-book (the free one) and he says you need to lift 3 times a week for muscle growth, and cardio 2 - 3 times a week. So that's what I'm aiming for.

I lifted on Monday, ran 5k yesterday and was going to lift again today and then do a karate class at night. My muscles do feel well recovered, so I will go again today. I think taking the weekend off entirely works well for me, partly because I'm so busy it's hard to fit in exercise over the weekend, but it does give my body time to recover from both my runs and lifting.

Honestly its about what works for you we are just giving advice based on what you said your problem was which is soreness in the lower body.