[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
Inefficient for fat loss, detrimental to muscle gain and too hard on the knees for the minimal benefit…
Run or walk don’t jog. Or bike, row, etc.[/quote]
Inefficient may be a bit overstated. It’s not as efficient as interval training, but it does burn a significant amount of fat. You’d probably call what I do running anyway. I don’t plod. The knees are are a concern, but more for heavy folks and high quality shoes are a great help as is proper stride.
See the discourse between Professor X and I for views regarding the impact on muscle.
At my leanest (7.8% bodyfat) I wasn’t doing any cardio at all. Now, at 13% I run minimum 3 days a week, completing a 1.5 mile run in just under 13 minutes.
I do it for several reasons. First off, I feel better throughout the day. That afternoon sluggishness I used to get is gone. Second, I take a yearly test with the police department which has minimum standards and running is one of them. Lastly, try doing MMA or even getting in a fight with no cardio. You better hope things get done fast otherwise you’ll be winded in seconds.
I think it really comes down to goals. Activity of any sort, plain and simple burns calories. What is cardio and what isn’t is “debatable” esque I suppose: 3 mile walk, 3 mile walk with weighted vest, basketball game, wrestling practice, 3 mile jog, 8 x 100 sprints, HIIT, playing tag with the kids for half an hour, barbell/bodyweight complexes etc.
In some ways all are cardio; some consider only 2 or so of the above to be. If you want to be as big as humanly possible, then don’t do cardio. If you want to be big and cut maybe do cardio. Frankly I think with dietary manipulations, cardio is unneccesary for low bf%, except in cases of getting down in the contest bodybuilder range, and even then some don’t need it. However, I think at some point everyone needs to throw in some sort of “energy systems work” for health, heart, lungs, and overall athletic development. Part of the looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane problem is in my opinion, due to a lack of conditioning from seriously muscular guys.
A real way to ensure this is to totally separate cardio from the calorie equation; don’t use cardio at all as a means to fat loss. NOW, what would you do? Is a 3 mile jog going to make your heart work as hard as 4 sets of 400 m sprints? Do you need to do it 5 days a week, or do 2 or 3 suffice? Obviously one trying to get huge should eat/drink the obvious macronutrients to prevent muscle loss, but the point I’m making is that cardio should not be a crutch for causing fat loss. This places the focus back on diet, and ensures the cardio is really about training the energy systems and not about dropping the pounds. I think for any sort of program with any emphasis on health, cardio is absolutely mandatory.
[quote]Tiribulus wrote:
Professor X wrote:
I think that depends on several factors like metabolism and goals. I am doing cardio regularly now because I have a goal to reach by Christmas for specific reasons. I’ll be getting another 30min in tonight added onto what I did this morning. I may keep it in maybe twice a week from this point on even after I get there. However, I know that as a kid in high school, it would have held me back (I was active enough). There is no blanket statement for everyone and each case should be looked at individually.
I guess I was looking at it too narrowly from my own point of view. I see your point about age. If you’re young and active already it may push beyond what’s optimal for making gains at an age where for most trainees (I emphasize trainees) fat and overall health isn’t much of a concern.
Being on the north side of forty and a type 2 diabetic who eats around 4000 calories a day, the pros definitely outweigh the cons.
What kind do you do? Also, if you don’t mind my asking, how old are you? To extrapolate from your posts I’d guess early thirties somewhere.[/quote]
I am younger than Stan Mcquay. I’ll leave it at that. I walk on an incline of a treadmill for my cardio. It has worked just fine.
[quote]t officer wrote:
Second, I take a yearly test with the police department which has minimum standards and running is one of them. Lastly, try doing MMA or even getting in a fight with no cardio. You better hope things get done fast otherwise you’ll be winded in seconds. [/quote]
Wow, ongoing PT tests with the police department? That’s rare in non-federal LE.
I’m not cop bashing - I did the job for a few years but got bored. And I was surrounded by overweight donut eaters.
As for Cadio vs. non-cardio, based on personal experience and results I am a proponate of either HIIT or mid-grade (i.e. walking on high incline for 20-30 mins). It has helped me achieve leaness in the past.
The first time I transformed myself from a FB to 8% I saw my greatest improvement when I was doing primarily resistance training but adding in cardio 2-3x’s / week.
I also think that HIIT is great to jump start a fat loss program. I started my transformation by doing a kind of circuit training consisting of a 2-3minute warmup followed by alternationg a set of resistance and using HIIT for 45 secs as my ‘rest period’ in between sets. Doing that routine for 4-6 weeks got me motivating results.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
I am younger than Stan Mcquay. I’ll leave it at that. I walk on an incline of a treadmill for my cardio. It has worked just fine.[/quote]
Fair enough, just curious. Nothing wrong with using a treadmill. I am the ultimate pragmatist when it comes to just about anything. If it works, that’s all I care about. I found this exact model of healthwalker at a garage sale for 10 bucks. I used to kinda snicker at these types of things, thinking they were for overweight housewives, but I got it to warm up my left shoulder for upper body work.
I gotta tell ya, this damn thing will have ya huffin, probably because of recruiting all the major muscle groups. I’ve been using it too on rainy days or just for a change of pace. I’ve got a stationary bike as well, but I am a little apprehensive about the effect it’s overuse might have on my quads.
[quote]IFR Pilot wrote:
Wow, ongoing PT tests with the police department? That’s rare in non-federal LE.
I’m not cop bashing - I did the job for a few years but got bored. And I was surrounded by overweight donut eaters.
[/quote]
The annual power test is optional not mandatory.
Which department were you with? That in itself tells a lot.