Hi!
Lately I've been enjoying my lifting more and more, but enjoying my cardio less and less. As a result, over the past month I've decreased my cardio by quite a bit. For a while I was doing 30min cardio 4x/wk and 1 hr cardio 2x/wk. Then it was 20 min 5x/wk, now it's more like 20 min once a week and 30 min once a week.

My current routine looks like this:

Day 1: chest, shoulders, tris, 20 min cardio

flat or incline bench press with dumbbells 3x8
arnold or military presses 3x8
side lateral raises 3x8
tricep press down machine 3x8
overhead single-arm tricep extensions or other isolation exercise 3x8


Day 2: back and biceps, abs

lat pull down 3x8
one-arm dumbbell rows 3x8
standing alternating bicep curls 3x8
weighted back hyperextensions 3x8
incline situps 3x8
incline reverse crunches 3x8
weighted 45 degree oblique side bend 2x12


Day 3: cadio 20-30 min, depending on day

Day 4: legs

squats, as far down as I can go, 3x8 (65 lbs right now)
reverse lunges 3x8
straight-leg dead lifts 3x8
standing calf raises 3x8

I alternate these 3 routines and throw a day or two of rest in per week. So on average I get 4 days of lifting in and 2 days with cardio.

I've noticed over the past month or so that my weight loss has slowed down considerably and I'm wondering if I need to increase my cardio again. I still have a good amount of fat to lose.

I also want to do more on my lifting days. Yesterday was legs, and I threw some SLOW extensions, curls and leg press into my routine. It really helped to feel the burn in my muscles that dont always feel it. I also did extra curls on bicep day and I really liked that too.

So I guess what I'm wondering is this... Should I dedicate only 3 days per week to lifting, with no cardio, but more time to add exercises and focus on the lifting, then do cardio the other 2-3 days per week? Or should I keep the routine the way it is?

One more question!! (my, this is getting long...) I read somewhere that the lower back needs more time to recover than other muscles and that it should have a long time to rest before doing squats. My lower back sometimes is still a little sore when I do squats. If I did the 3 days/wk of lifting, I could do this
Monday: legs
Wed: back/bi/abs
Fri: chest/sh/tri
which would give me a lot longer for my back to recover.

What do you guys think?? How should I try to get more cardio in, but still addd more to my lifting?

Thanks!