152: How to Actually Use Cardio: A Framework for Women Who Strength Train
Cardio Doesn't Have to Be Confusing (Even Though It Feels That Way)
You've heard it all. Cardio kills your gains. You need more of it. HIIT is the answer. HIIT is the problem. Scroll Instagram for five minutes and you'll find five contradicting opinions, and at some point you just start guessing because, honestly, the information out there is a mess.
Here's the truth: cardio itself isn't complicated. The noise around it is.
In this episode, Tara breaks down cardio the same way she breaks down strength training, with a clear framework instead of vibes. Because most of the time, a lack of results isn't about doing too little cardio. It's about doing the wrong type, at the wrong time, for the wrong goal.
If you strength train and have no idea where cardio fits into your week, this one's for you.
The Three Types of Cardio (and Why the Difference Changes Everything)
Tara starts by laying out the three buckets every cardio session falls into: Zone 2, steady state, and HIIT. Each one asks something different of your body, and once you know what each one is actually for, programming your week stops being a guessing game.
This matters because most women are unknowingly doing one type of cardio for a goal that requires a completely different one, then wondering why nothing's changing.
Zone 2 Is the Most Underrated Tool You Have
If there's one takeaway to walk away with, it's this: Zone 2 cardio is doing more heavy lifting (pun intended) for women who strength train than almost anyone gives it credit for. Tara makes the case that a 30-minute brisk walk while you're on a work call counts as a real, legitimate training session, not a consolation prize for a "real" workout.
This is a mindset shift as much as a physiological one. Zone 2 builds your aerobic base, supports recovery between lifting sessions, and doesn't compete with your strength gains the way harder efforts can.
The Peloton Problem
Tara calls out something a lot of us have fallen into without realizing it: those high-energy, sweat-dripping Peloton classes feel productive, but they're almost always steady state or HIIT efforts, not the aerobic base-building work most women actually need. That intensity is exactly why it's not building the base you think it is.
It's not that those classes are bad. It's that they're being used as a substitute for something they were never designed to do. Tara walks through what to choose instead depending on your goal.
How Much Cardio Do You Actually Need?
This is where the episode gets practical. Tara breaks it down by goal:
Strength-first: minimal cardio, used strategically to support recovery
Balanced fitness: a mix of Zone 2 and occasional higher-intensity work
Training for a specific event: volume and intensity scaled to what the event demands
Instead of a one-size-fits-all "do 150 minutes a week" rule, Tara gives realistic session numbers tied to what you're actually training for.
The Interference Effect: Why Order and Timing Matter
If you've ever done a hard cardio session right before (or after) lifting and felt like garbage for both, you've experienced the interference effect firsthand. Tara explains why stacking cardio and strength too close together blunts the results of both, why the order you do them in matters, and the one form of "cardio" that's actually the exception to this rule.
This is one of those details that seems small until you realize it's been quietly working against your progress for months.
Six Signs You're Doing Too Much Cardio
Tara lays out six warning signs that your cardio volume has crept past what your body can actually recover from, and some of them show up in places you wouldn't expect, like your joints and your sleep, long before they show up in your energy or your workouts.
The most important part of this section: none of these signs mean you're failing. They mean your body is asking for a subtraction, not more effort. Tara is clear that the fix here is almost always doing less, not pushing harder.
A Weekly Structure You Can Actually Use
To close things out, Tara gives two practical weekly templates, one for women lifting four days a week, one for women lifting three, including specific session types, when to place them, and how (or whether) HIIT fits in as an occasional tool rather than a daily default.
She also speaks directly to the busy woman lifting two to three days a week who has a Peloton she uses maybe once a week. If that's you, Tara simplifies the whole picture so cardio stops feeling like one more thing to overthink.
Your Next Step
Cardio doesn't need to be a battle between "more is better" and "cardio ruins gains." It needs a framework, one that matches your training, your recovery, and your goals.
If your joints have been feeling beat up lately, start with the free Mobility Guide, just five minutes a day for seven days. And if you want the full picture on how cardio, protein, and strength training work together to actually change your body composition, the free Body Recomp Webinar connects all the dots.
Want your cardio and strength training programmed together instead of working against each other? That's exactly what we build inside BroadsCOACH.
So tell us: are you currently doing more cardio than your recovery can actually handle, or have you been avoiding it altogether? There's a good chance the answer is costing you the results you're chasing.
