I do my cardio in the mornings and lift weights in the late afternoons. I have found this to be a very effective pattern. I usually do both the lifting and cardio four days a week, Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. But I take an "extra" day off about once a month to aid recovery. I hit a heavy bag in my home gym twice a week (Su, W) and walk outside on the other two days (M, Th). I walk near my home, sometimes going to the right and sometimes to the left. The latter path is more hilly, so those walks are yellowed. My goal distance for each path is determined by how far I can walk without having to cross a highway, which should take about 30 minutes at my current pace. After that, I will gradually increase my pace. If I walk elsewhere, those walks will be indicated in the Comments.

The duration and distance of the walking were being measured using the exercise timer and pedometer on my Samsung Galaxy S5 smart phone. I used the S5 when I am wearing pants or cut offs with a pocket to put it in. When I was wearing a sweat suit, I used an old-fashioned watch and a clip-on pedometer. The step count on the pedometer differed slightly from the S5, so they were indicated by an asterisk. The conversion to miles was way off on the pedometer, so I was estimating it from previous walks.

But then I got a Fit & Fresh pedometer. It was very inexpensive, but works great. There is no "clicking" sound like with my old pedometer, and the mileage conversion seems more accurate. The steps count and mileage are a little lower than with either my old pedometer or S5, but as long as it is consistent, which it seems to be, that is all that matters. And I prefer the convenience of it over the S5, as a recent update of the exercise app messed it up. It is harder to use, and there is no way to reset the daily step count. I do not want to measure how many steps I take all day long but only during my walks, so I was having to jot down and subtract any steps already on it before my walks. Thus starting with my walk on June 1, I am now using this new pedometer exclusively, and I really like it. It is easy to use and view and is reasonably accurate.

20-30 minutes of cardio 4x/ week done at a moderate intensity is sufficient for general conditioning. It keeps my blood pressure and heart rate low (118/ 65, 61 the last time I measured it with a home monitor). It keeps my bodyweight where I want it, and I just feel better doing such cardio. However, kept at that level, I do not believe this amount and intensity of cardio is adversely affecting my powerlifting training or recovery there from. In fact, it is the exact opposite. It gives me better stamina, so I am able to handle a larger workload in my lifting workouts without getting overly tired and to get through my workouts quicker by taking less rest time between sets.

At the end of May I made a slight change in my workout plan. My Bench Assistance lifting workouts in the afternoons were taking a little too long. To fix that, I moved my rotator cuff work to after I hit the heavy bag in the mornings. I am accommodating it here by slightly decreasing my heavy bag time. That will shorten my BA workouts by a few minutes, just enough to keep them from being overly long. But by cutting off a few minutes from my heavy bag time, it shouldn’t be too much here. I am indicating the rotator cuff work here by adding a column with notations about which exercise I did each day. I am cycling through four different exercises. If I record an exercise, the name is set as a link. Usually, the top set is recorded. After six such rotations, I will change the exercises and start a new cycle. I am starting with Cycle B as I did the exercises for Cycle A in my previous lifting routine. The sets x reps scheme is one warm-up set of nine reps, then three works sets  of 11-12, 9-10, 7-8 reps. For videos of these exercises, see Rotator Cuff Exercises Videos.

The first and last couple of minutes of the walking is done at a low intensity for a warm-up and cool-down, respectively. This of course lowers my average speed, so my "cruising" speed is a little higher than indicted. On the heavy bag, the first couple of minutes are also done at a low intensity for a warm-up, but starting June 10 only the last minute is at a low intensity, as I don't want my shoulders to cool down too much before doing the rotator cuff work  There's no way to indicate my intensity on the heavy bag, so only the time is given.

Powerlifting and Back Pain

    The first book is geared towards the beginner to intermediate powerlifter. It presents sound training, competition, dietary, and supplement advice to aid the reader in starting and progressing in the sport of powerlifting. The second book details how I overcame years of crippling low back and was able to return to the sport of powerlifting.

Starting and Progressing in Powerlifting: A Comprehensive Guide to the World's Strongest Sport

Overcoming Back Pain: A Mind-body Solution (Second Edition)

See also this series on Amazon (#ad).