Stop Turning Strength Training Into Cardio
Sep 05, 2026I've had a good amount of chit chat with clients over the years about how the workouts look too easy on paper but actually they kick their ass.
Good. That's kinda what I'm going for.
A well written strength & conditioning program doesn't always look impressive on paper. There might 3 exercises in a workout. There may be 6. A few sets each. Plenty of rest. No burpees between squats, no jumping rope while you're waiting for your next set, no frantic circuit of 14 exercises just to make sure you're sweating enough.
I'm specifically talking to those of you who feel like you need to do burpees between your sets of squats.
Please stop.
If the goal of that portion of your workout is to get stronger, REST.
When you lift something heavy for a small handful of reps, your muscles rely heavily on the phosphagen, or ATP-PC, energy system to produce energy very quickly. Those energy stores need time to replenish before you ask your body to produce another high force effort.
That's one reason I might have someone rest 2, 3, 4, or even 5 minutes between heavy sets.
We're not wasting time.
We're preparing to lift heavy weight AGAIN. That's literally the whole point.
If you're squatting for 5 reps and then immediately doing burpees, jumping rope, or blasting through another exercise, you're adding fatigue before your next set.
Now maybe you get 5 reps again, but the weight has to come down. Or your bar speed drops. Your technique gets worse. Maybe you're supposed to get 5 reps and only manage 3.
You made the workout harder. But did you make the strength training better or more effective?
Definitely NOPE.
Research on rest intervals backs this up. Longer rest periods tend to allow you to maintain more force, use heavier loads, and complete more quality training volume across a workout. For trained people specifically, rest periods longer than two minutes appear to be beneficial when the goal is maximizing strength.
This doesn't mean you need to sit around for five minutes between sets of biceps curls.
Context matters.
A heavy set of squats or deadlifts creates a very different recovery demand than a set of lateral raises. Rest should match the exercise, the load, and what you're actually trying to accomplish.
This is also why sweating more doesn't automatically mean you had a better workout.
Being out of breath is not the goal of strength training. Neither is burning the most calories possible or seeing how much work you can cram into 45 minutes.
If we're training strength, I want high quality force production. I want you moving meaningful weight for the prescribed number of reps, recovering, and then being able to do it AGAIN.
There's a time to improve your conditioning.
There's a time to lift and get stronger.
Sometimes we combine them. But we should know WHY we're combining them instead of turning every workout into the random "workout of the day."
Good programming accounts for your total weekly volume. It accounts for intensity, exercise selection, frequency, fatigue, recovery, and progression. We're not just throwing exercises together until you're exhausted and calling it a good workout.
And sometimes that means the workout looks surprisingly simple on paper.
Two big strength movements. A few accessories. Maybe some conditioning at the end. Done.
Then you actually do it with the right weight, the right effort, the right rest periods, and the right intent.... and suddenly it's not so easy.
More is not always better. More is not always better.
The right amount of the right work is better.
You don't need to fill every second of your workout with random stuff. Rest when you're supposed to rest, then make the next set COUNT.
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