what do you do?

right from the get go (2 weeks post op) I have been very deligent with my exercising.  I do cardio atleast 5 days a week.  However lately I have been reading a lot about needing to incorperate strength training into my routine in order to build muscle & burn fat in order to kick up my metabolism.  What do you all do?  Do you do both cardio and strength training?  Is it true the I need to add in some strength training in order to see better results?

My recommendation is that you try to get in two days of strength training per week.  Either cut back on one of your cardio days, or reduce the cardio to a twenty minute warm-up on the days you do the strength training.  Strength training can be extremely boring (my humble opinion) but it is necessary to keep your metabolism moving and rebuild your muscles.  Good luck and have some fun.
Rob

 I can only tell you what I did... I incorporated weight training right from the start.  In the early time frame, I did 3 days of 30 min cardio/30 min weight training and then 1-2 days of straight cardio, resting at least 2, sometimes 3 days.  For me, I felt I needed to have intensity in the cardio workouts.  

I'd definitely recommend at least some weight training - even if you only do it one day a week doing a full body routine.  It will help with the weight loss IMO, and it will make you feel/look good too :)  

I started strength training after about six months in and I enjoy it most days. I do it twice a week and have used 5 and 10 pound kettlebells but I like the trainers who do both(cardio and s.t.) at the same time. If you have free on demand and have Exercise TV on your cable look up Amy Dixon and Chris Freytag and see if you like them. I now have muscles at the top my arms that I can see and I'm now concentrating on the "batwing" area of the bottom of my arms. Good luck.

I rarely, if ever, do any strength training. I figure that when I swim I'm working my upper body, and when I spin hard, I'm getting some strength for my legs. Then again, I'm time-constrained most of the time and am just happy to get my workouts in.

I'm not saying strength training isn't valuable, I just don't get much in and I'm mostly happy with my level of success.

Linn