"Cardio"

When you hear the word "cardio," what do you think? Jogging? Cycling? We have a narrow concept of the definition of cardio: long duration, low intensity activities. Aerobic exercise, where your body burns oxygen for fuel is an excellent workout. I'm not knocking it. Where I see an issue is when one type of cardio becomes someones only form of exercise. We need to broaden our arsenal.

Our bodies are excellent at adapting to external stress, like exercise. When one activity is performed on a regular basis, it becomes relatively easier over time. We also begin to receive diminishing returns in terms of health, weight loss and muscle tone. Studies shoe that someone who spends an hour a day, a few times a week jogging at a moderate pace can actually lose muscle mass and gain weight! How can this be? Lean muscle mass requires more calories than fat and moderate cardio does not require lean muscle. So if all you do is moderate cardio, than you will lose muscle and, in turn, your metabolism will slow down, leading to weight gain. I know. What the F?!

So what are we to do? I am not advocating a complete abandon ship on all cardio. What I do like is a variety of different types of cardio in a variety of different configurations. Mix cardio and anaerobic work together in the same workout. Incorporate weights and endurance activities into the mix. Crossfit.com has lots of great workouts that do exactly this. Here are some ways to get some variety up in your life:

• Combine two or more types of endurance exercise. This might take a little more planning, but it is worth it. I like the "run-swim-run" model. I will run to the pool (about a mile) swim a mile and run back. This is basically the same idea as a triathlon. Get creative.
• Endurance intervals. Say you like to run three miles a day. Instead, pick a day and run one mile at a pace that is faster than your three mile pace. Rest for five minutes. Repeat this process twice more. You still get your three miles but you put a different type of stress on yourself.
• Cardio + Weights. Basically, Crossfit in layman's terms. This can be as easy as doing twenty push ups every five minutes on a run. Pick your endurance exercise and then a body weight exercise like pull ups or push ups and combine them into a workout. The only limit is your imagination.

Variety is the key to continued progress. Stop thinking about "cardio" as a separate thing from other forms of movement. I'm pretty sure that burpees tax your heart.

Jack

PS - Here is our workout from today. It is a version of cardio.
        10 minutes on the bike - 4 cycles of 2 minutes hard, 30 seconds easy
        Rest 2 minutes
        10 minutes, AMRAP (as many reps as possible) Kettle bell snatches

I used a 35lb KB and did 173 snatches. I burned 168 kcal on the bike, covering 5 miles. If you don't have a bike or a KB, sub running or swimming or rowing for the first part and something like burpees or jumping squats for the latter part.