When I first started as a coach there was a craze of fitness trends that focused highly on cardio, or just moving fast. The orangetheories, spin classes, bootcamp classes, were all over the place.
My first coach always preached “strength first” and that resonated with me. Even with a big pull on cardio based workouts at the time I always felt strongly about strength coming first. And at that time I think I took It too far.
I felt like I had a vendetta against cardio. I did my best to drive everything I was doing away from the cardio based work. At that time I had never pushed cardio on any of my clients. I would find ways to work around It.
To be honest I think that I was missing a big piece to the puzzle that could have helped a lot of people. Even to this day I do not believe cardio is “the answer”. And I still strongly believe that strength does come first.
There is no better form of exercise than resistance training, BUT cardio does have a place in every program. How I use cardio now is in two main ways.
#1: Aerobic capacity work
Our aerobic capacity uses oxygen to produce more energy during exercise. If we can improve our aerobic capacity It will allow us to recover faster in between sets, recover better in between workouts, make our sessions more efficient, and allow us to handle more work over time.
In turn, It helps us maintain a high level of training as we progress with our fitness training. We can build up this capacity in alot of different ways, so there is room for some experimenting and some fun.
-Circuits
-Tempo work
-Sled complexes
-Intervals
-Finishers
Two of my favorites:
1.) 4-6 Rounds as a finisher
-Farmers Carry
-Sled Push
:40 rest between each
2.) 5 Rounds
-Isometric inverted rows :30-:40
-Push-press x6-8
-Goblet squats x8
:60 rest between rounds
#2: LISS Cardio
Low Intensity Steady State Cardio
This is something I try to implement with every single person I work with and It is just about getting up and moving.
There are no requirements for heart rate, distance, form, or intensity. Just get up and move. I talk about this kind of stuff often but I feel very strongly about the positive impacts this stuff can have one your goals and just your overall health.
Walking
Biking
Hiking
Cleaning
Yard work
Paddleboarding
Kayaking
Just get up and move your damn body every single day by doing something, anything at all. The more we sit the worse things become over time. MOVE
If we can do these two things each week things tend to move in the right direction pretty fast. The aerobic work compliments your training, the LISS work compliments your life. As things go on, muscle is being build, fat is being burned and hopefully you are feeling really damn good.
In good health,
Jeff
