I'm not sure if this is the right forum to be asking this on but it's worth a shot.  I'm sure there are some runners on here though.  Well I'll give you a little background on my weight and where I'm at now.  I've always been big since about the 5th grade.  I got into video games and while other kids were outside I was camped up in my room playing video games.  It stayed that way up until high school.  During the summers through high school I'd lose quite a bit of weight but I'd always gain it back when it'd get cold outside because it was too cold to go outside and run.  I stopped drinking soda my Sophomore year of HS and I have not touched a single one since.  I drink water like it's going out of style.  Well my senior year of HS I got to my highest weight which was 295 pounds.  I stayed around that weight up until about a year ago.  I started exercising religiously and I started training at a local MMA(Mixed Martial Arts) gym about 8 months ago.  Last week I weighed myself at the ymca and I was 192 pounds.  Go me!  Keep in mind I'm 6'6" tall, actually just a hair shy of 6'7".  I go for two runs a day.  I take my Pitbull with me for one run and I go for one run by myself.  I only take him with me for one run because I can be completely gassed out and ready to pass out and he could keep going for miles haha.  I feel like I'm pretty strong...I can bench 100lbs over my body weight, and almost double my body weight with squats.  I feel like I've been putting too much time in lifting weights and not enough time trying to get my cardio up.  I can't run for a long period of time(I've never been able to) and I'm not very fast.  I'm wanting to know some ways I can improve my cardio and also be able to run faster?!?!  The reason I'm asking is because I want to start fighting(Amateur) soon.  I have the strength and technique I just need the speed and cardio to go with it.  I've asked my gym coach some ways but we don't really have a way for me to run or anything because the gym is pretty small.  Any help will be greatly appreciated!

You could have posted in the Workin Out thread I think. :) Anyway, I'm not an expert but I think the only way to improve your stamina and speed is to build it up gradually instead of rush right into it. Does the gym you go to have threadmills?

 Congrats on all your hard work thus far! I agree with the above, slowly working your way up to something you feel comfortable with. Things have been nuts in my life right now so I haven't been to the gym in like two weeks, but before that I was slowly increasing the distance I was going on the elliptical. I hate running so when I started I started at a really short distance and would increase it in quarter mile increments every day or every few days. Also, doing other cardio stuff helps make it less boring and breaks it up a bit. I sometimes bike at the gym or do the stairstepper (though not very long for the latter).

I am about your height and played football in college. I started using speed ladders in college and improved my 40 from 5.2+ when I started to 4.8 when I was done playing at 6'6" 285+ pounds. I did not spend a lot of time searching for any workouts but I found a video just so you know what they are. You can do the workouts in a very small area, which seems like something you are looking for.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/2084537/speed_agility_ladders/

This is fantastic for speed work and definitely it will be a cardio workout. You can buy these things, but I think you could just as easily, and for sure much more cheaply, make them. I am a huge fan of them.

Also, plyo boxes and olympic lifting (clean and jerk, snatch, etc) will help out immensely with explosive power which I would assume would help with MMA. Be super careful with the lifting though, you can seriously hurt yourself if you do it wrong. I am sure you could find classes, or someone willing to train you, for that at a serious type gym.

Here is a basic video on plyo boxes. You can find out workouts online, but I will leave that up to you if you are interested. I know this stuff looks simple, but it works and if you are doing it with any intensity these are incredible cardio workouts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZClWDozfw1A&feature=related

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fartlek

I had to do this as a sprinter in high school 

You also need to make sure you're eating properly. A poor diet will result in a poor performance.

sparklerainbowsunshine:

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fartlek

I think I might want to try that out myself too. :D

 Given what you sound like, speed is only going to make you faster. For a good cardio work out you should concentrate on endurance which means working up to longer, slower runs until you have a good base.  Also, running twice a day may not be the best thing for you until you have a really good base.  Trying to go fast is only going to make you tired faster if you don't have good a good running baseline.

Also, you might want to save running with the doggie for one run a week.

Tell me more about your running routines?  How far are you running?  If you are running every day, you might want to switch to every other day to give yourself time to recuperate.

If you can give me some info about what your running entails (how many miles? how many miles per minute? etc. I might be able to help you find some training programs that will help you with your cardio goals.  however, from what you've posted it seems like you are currently running too often and too fast.

 Thanks for the help everyone!  And Adwoa, for the past year or so I've ran at least a mile and a half every day except for weekends.  Back in August when I got my puppy I started taking him for a run/walk in the evenings.  I'm usually too busy on the weekends to run.  I like running stairs but I don't know how beneficial that is to me.  There's a park not even a mile from my house and I go up there and run everyday and I run the bleachers also.  I get a good cardio workout at the gym I train at but I want to add running into my workout routine also. 

 Ok.  Still not convinced that running everyday is helping you at all.  You still don't say how long you run/how many miles per min. 1.5 miles is the low end and that's just not going to build sustained cardio fitness. While you may be doing 3 miles a day, it's broken up so your legs are good for the miles but your cardio isn't.

 You can start by looking online for a good 5k training program that will get you up to running at least 3.1 miles and then build from there.  There are good ones at halhigdon.com, coolrunning.com, runnersworld.com and many other places.

Remember, until you get used to the longer distances... slow and steady is your friend.  You can continue to do fast runs with the puppy but make sure you get in some longer runs (20 mins at the very least and up to an hr) if you really want a decent running work out.  Good luck.

Adwoa:

Ok.  Still not convinced that running everyday is helping you at all.  You still don't say how long you run/how many miles per min. 1.5 miles is the low end and that's just not going to build sustained cardio fitness. While you may be doing 3 miles a day, it's broken up so your legs are good for the miles but your cardio isn't.

 You can start by looking online for a good 5k training program that will get you up to running at least 3.1 miles and then build from there.  There are good ones at halhigdon.com, coolrunning.com, runnersworld.com and many other places.

Remember, until you get used to the longer distances... slow and steady is your friend.  You can continue to do fast runs with the puppy but make sure you get in some longer runs (20 mins at the very least and up to an hr) if you really want a decent running work out.  Good luck.

I definitely agree with all this. 1.5 miles is really only just getting you warmed up, and if you do run short distances like this at a high effort level without a proper warm-up and stretching session you're increasing the chances of injury. Neither are you progressively increasing endurance and cardio fitness as you would doing longer sessions. I don't think there's any need to be doing two runs a day - myself I fit about 30 miles running into three or four running days a week, one of these being a 'long' run of 10-15 miles.

Two or three five-ish mile sessions a week would give you a better base, both for running and cardio. The days you don't run are as important as the days you do, as this is when your muscles (including the heart) recover and strengthen. But build up the distances gently, rule of thumb is never to increase distance by more than 10% or 2 miles per week.

You get best results for endurance and cardio by training about 70% of your maximum heart rate - you should be able to hold a conversation (just!) at this level - or hum/sing a tune if you are running on your own. If you are running too hard for most of your training, you don't really get much benefit from it. I use this to gauge my pace when I'm running with my husband (who is stronger and faster than me) - if he's chatting to me and I can't reply, we need to slow down!

Add a bit of speed work when you get going (here is where following a training programme is really useful as you get guidance not to go too far too soon!) - fartlek as suggested before is good fun and flexible, and hill reps also good but treat these with care at first. Most important with all of it, don't try to increase distance or intensity too much too soon as you'll end up injured. With running you need to build up gradually, and allow the muscles, tendons etc time to strengthen and adapt. Running, especially on hard surfaces, puts enormous forces on the joints and muscles of the legs and sadly injuries are very common (and frustrating!).

It might even be an idea to train for an event or race to give you something specific to aim for and keep you motivated - 10k is a good place to start ................

 

good luck!