In fitness, cardio tends to be a constant back-and-forth.
On one end, you have people saying you don’t need to do cardio at all.
On the other, you have people doing only cardio and nothing else.
When I first started coaching clients, I leaned heavily toward less cardio and more strength training. Over time, and working with more people, I’ve changed my view quite a bit.
No matter the goal…getting more fit, improving health, or losing weight, working on your cardiovascular health will have a positive impact. And those benefits go far beyond burning calories.
Most of the upside comes from improved heart health, better recovery, stronger stress tolerance, and overall resilience in your body.
So to answer the question directly: yes, you should be doing cardio.
What Types of Cardio Should You Do?
To keep this simple and actionable, I break cardio into two categories. More options usually leads to overwhelm and then nothing gets done.
#1 LISS Cardio (Low Intensity Steady State)
This is the type of cardio I personally do the most.
LISS is low stress on the body and joints, can be done frequently, and often improves recovery rather than interfering with it.
As the name suggests, LISS is performed at a steady, sustainable pace, not pushing to exhaustion, simply adding consistent movement to your day. The basics of living a more active lifestyle.
Examples of LISS cardio:
- Walking
- Hiking
- Biking
- Swimming
- Kayaking
- Jogging (if you’re a proficient runner)
LISS can be done 4–7 days per week for 30–60 minutes.
It’s easy to stick to for two reasons:
- No equipment required
- No technical skill required
Just get up and move.
#2 Conditioning Work
This category covers both moderate and higher-intensity conditioning.
While LISS is done most days, conditioning work is typically performed 1–2 days per week.
Sessions usually last 20–45 minutes and can be done:
- On their own
- Or paired with a strength training session
For most of our clients, we’ll add a 15–20 minute conditioning finisher to one strength workout, and maybe add one additional conditioning focused session during the week.
These sessions are designed to raise your heart rate, allow it to recover, then raise it again. So rest becomes an intentional part of the plan.
We typically structure these workouts with 3–5 exercises, often full-body, and usually include a piece of cardio equipment (air bike, rower, ski-erg, sled, etc.). This is also a great place to add rotational work, fluid movement, and athletic patterns.
Example:
- Air bike
- Farmer’s carry
- Lateral med ball slam
- Isometric ring row
Work/rest schemes can vary:
- Timed intervals (30s on / 15s off)
- AMRAPs (as many rounds as possible in a set time)
- EMOMs (every minute on the minute)
The goal is simple: heart rate rises, recovers, and stays under control. But the extras come from what exercises we choose to do, how much we decide to recover between each, and how long we do the work for.
Conditioning Session Examples
Sled Complex
- 80’ sled push
- 80’ sled pull
- 80’ sled drag
- 5–8 rounds, :30 rest between rounds
Kettlebell Complex
- Front squat x2
- Push press x2
- Two hand clean and press x2
- 10 rounds, 1:00 rest between rounds
Power Combo
- Box jump x4
- Underhand med ball toss x4
- 8–10 rounds, :45 rest between exercises
Full Body
- Prisoner squat x10
- Inverted row x10
- Plank rotations x10/side
- Farmer’s carry 100’
- 30–45 minutes, 2:00 rest after each round
Get creative with these sessions, you shouldn’t dread them!
How to Fit This Into Your Week
If you train 3 days per week:
- 2 strength-focused sessions
- 1 conditioning-focused session
OR - 3 strength-focused sessions
- 1-2 sessions contain a 15-20 minute conditioning finisher
If you train 4 days per week:
- 1 conditioning-only session
- 1 mixed strength + conditioning session
- 2 strength-focused sessions
And through all of this, we don’t skip LISS cardio.
Get your cardio in each week. Track how you feel, how you recover, and how your results change.
In good health,
Jeff
