Can C25K coexist with 0-100 Squats?

April 27, 2017 6:08 PM

I'm losing weight through calorie restriction, walking 2 miles a day, and indoor cycling for 20 minutes at a time. I'm also doing beginner bodyweight/light dumbbell training for overall muscle tone. I'm consistently at a sub-15 pace walking, and I want to start C25K next week, but I want to do squats too. Can people in general do a C25K program and a 0-100 squats program at the same time? If you've done this, do you have any advice?
posted by infinitewindow to Health & Fitness (9 answers total)

Best answer: Yes, no problem! Unless your knees get unhappy you are good to go. Even if you do the most both demand its less than an hour a day.
posted by stormygrey at 6:20 PM on April 27, 2017 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Just make sure that your form is correct and you'll be completely fine.
posted by Autumnheart at 7:37 PM on April 27, 2017

Best answer: You'll be fine doing both, but I'd recommend against just doing the 0-100 squats on its own - training a single exercise like that can lead to imbalances in your muscles, which isn't catastrophic or anything but you might as well avoid if you can. If you have the time in your training regimen, I'd suggest throwing in some other body weight exercises too (there are programs for 100 push-ups and crunches too, those would be good choices) on top of squats.
posted by Itaxpica at 10:38 PM on April 27, 2017 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Further questions since it seems fine to train for both for ten weeks: is it best to run one day and do squats the next, or should I do them both the same day? If same day, squats first or running?

Itaxpica, I am doing 0-200 crunches and 0-100 pushups as well, thanks for the tip! Running doesn't have the potential to burn out my arms and core out like it may my legs when combined with bodyweight training.
posted by infinitewindow at 10:57 PM on April 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Since they work the same muscles, you probably want to have days when you do neither. So you can do a three day rotation, or you can do both exercises one day and rest the next - maybe start with the double days and as they get harder you might want to switch to a 3-day rotation. It doesn't intrinsically matter which order you do them in on the double days, so you can pick based on logistics or preference.
posted by the agents of KAOS at 1:42 AM on April 28, 2017

Best answer: I would run first, get nice and warmed up before the squats.
posted by missmagenta at 1:44 AM on April 28, 2017

Best answer: The whole point of C25K is to start gradually to avoid injury. It's admirable that you want to be really proactive about your health and fitness, but pick one (I strongly recommend C25K over the squats thing) and stick with it. I would be not at all surprised if you were to do both and end up injured enough that you couldn't do either before the ten weeks are over.
posted by telegraph at 5:47 AM on April 28, 2017

Best answer: I'd think that both would be fine as long as the squats are just body weight (no barbell,etc.) I concur with the above that you need to be careful with your knees on the squats. Watch some form videos every time your squat for the first few weeks. Don't be discouraged that you won't have the full range of motion as the professionals in the videos; build up to that as you get stronger and muscles loosen/lengthen. I would also recommend doing both exercises in the same day, squats after warmed up from running. Drink lots of water!
posted by TomFoolery at 8:41 AM on April 28, 2017

Response by poster: Thanks everyone for your help! Doing C25K plus 0-100 squats M/W/F, and 0-100 pushups plus 0-100 situps Tu/Th/Sa. No injuries yet!
posted by infinitewindow at 5:35 PM on May 10, 2017