Steady-State Cardio Good or Bad?

Most people in the world have always agreed that doing aerobic endurance exercises such as long-distance runs are healthy and natural. Also, from what I understand is that not only did humans actually evolved to being endurance type beings, but also we are the only animals in the world that can do marathons due the relative hairlessness and millions of sweat glands in the human body.

Yet there have recently been some experts, including Dr. Art De Vany who are saying that cardio exercises such as long-distance runs are unhealthy and unnatural and that we didn’t evolved to be long-distance runners. In addition, some physiologists have recently been questioning aerobic endurance exercises as well saying that those exercises are very likely to produce long-term adverse effects such as asymptomatic cardiac damage and accelerated aging.

So what is one supposed to do?

Just run and lift man. They’re both good for you. From what I’ve read, road work is making a comeback these days after a period where it was generally frowned upon. I was once in the “only weight training camp”. What happened was I got ouf shape. Plain and simple.

I finally came to my senses after joining my cousin for a mountain run, only to discover I was completely gassed within the first 5 minutes of the first hill. I dont care what any experts tell me. To me that was a sign of my body not working properly, and I made adjustments.

I really like "whatever2k"s post.

Roadwork is roadwork. Mike Tyson must have lost explosiveness from all the miles he put in every morning (NOT!)

Plain and simple,

Run, Lift, Stretch.

Anyone who says running and getting strong do not go together, REALLY need to reassess their idea of what STRONG is.

I personally weight training three days per week with 2-3 assistance exercises. I train heavy abs all three days, and run 3.5 miles after all the weight workouts as well. Your lifts will feel like shit at first from adding a ton of road work, but your body adapts, if you give it zero choice too. Then your running will simply aid in the recovery process.

Do not listen to this horse shit about how we evolved into elite sprinters and all this other nonsensical crap. Whoever has enough time on their fucking hands to yammer on about our evolutionary traits being more devoted to sprinting obviously needs to put down the fucking computer and go run a couple miles after they squat, push, or pull something heavy.

Do some work already.

SS cardio is neither good or bad, more, it’s relative to what kind of fitness YOU want to achieve.

HIIT is probably the most economical method for stripping away fat & improving your overall conditioning, though, it’s not in-itself going to give you (for example) a world record breaking 5k time etc.

It can feel good to run (or jog) for 60 minutes or more once in a while.

Some of these studies that say bad things about steady state cardio may possibly be done by people studying runners that do 10 miles every bloody day.

I do some long stuff, but also like to do faster stuff too…like 2 minutes fast, then walk a minute and do that ten times.

Since I’ve been researching to help get in shape, I’ve wondered about that. I see a lot of people citing studies saying steady state can impede muscle growth, but I’ve wondered about the parameters of the study. I mean, are we talking 2 hours of steady state? or 20-30 minutes 2-3x/week? Are these “average” people at, say 20% body fat, or are they totally untrained, or are they atheletes? I’m trying ot get my 5k time to less than 30 minutes while strength training–not a huge goal but a semi-reasonable time.

Paul,

what is your 5k time currently?

[quote]paulwhite959 wrote:

Since I’ve been researching to help get in shape, I’ve wondered about that. I see a lot of people citing studies saying steady state can impede muscle growth, but I’ve wondered about the parameters of the study. I mean, are we talking 2 hours of steady state? or 20-30 minutes 2-3x/week? Are these “average” people at, say 20% body fat, or are they totally untrained, or are they atheletes? I’m trying ot get my 5k time to less than 30 minutes while strength training–not a huge goal but a semi-reasonable time.[/quote]

Good question.

I think, without scientific proof, that doing 30 to 60 minutes 3 times a week will NOT make you lose muscle.

The people that say that are just trying to find excuses not to do cardio, I think.

[quote]Rudy2401 wrote:
Do not listen to this horse shit about how we evolved into elite sprinters and all this other nonsensical crap. Whoever has enough time on their fucking hands to yammer on about our evolutionary traits being more devoted to sprinting obviously needs to put down the fucking computer and go run a couple miles after they squat, push, or pull something heavy.

Do some work already. [/quote]

I lol’d.

I like this kid.

tweet

I don’t have one currently. I’ve never done cardio beyond MMA conditioning (lots of short distance running, lots of calisthenics, etc). I’ve never done a distance for time. I can walk at a brisk pace and get 3 miles in about 42 minutes right now though (beats the hell out of 3-4 months ago, where 2 miles took almost an hour). I’m not even sure how impressive/not impressive a 30 minute 5k time is. I just looked online a little bit and found people talking about 30 minutes being decent for a beginner.

I hope to find a local 5k race and join it to see what I do.

I would almost be willing to bet you could run a 30 minute 5k if you tried. Also providing your not a fat slob, which does not sound like you are. Get on the road and hit it hard, focus and finish it in 30.

Eh, I’m still pretty fat (250, 42" waist). Working on it though! It’s amazing how fat you get when keep eating like you’re still training when you stop training.

Give it a try. Don’t fear the run man.

I just finished a heavy bench day, and went and ran 5.6k in 32 minutes. It can be done easily. I weigh 234lbs.

I’m a fat slob and did 5k in 27 something last time. I’m about 250lbs right now.

I have done 23 minutes but that was 10 years ago (I’m 39 now) and I was about 225.

It’s basically a testament to getting out there and trying. The guy that’s 180lbs but not running is not demonstrably more fit than a 250lb man who does do the roadwork.

I’ve done both, Steady State walking for an hour at an incline 5 days a week and I got shredded, it was ridiculous. I was surprised how much body fat I burned week after week. But it was BORING as hell. Like seriously boring, and not to mention time consuming. I was doing 5/3/1 immediately after the 1 hour walk, which took about 45-50 minutes depending on the assistance work.

I prefer running anywhere from 1-3 miles 3x a week. While I saw similar results, they weren’t as awesome as the Steady State. But I noticed doing the steady state my resting heart rate was like 70ish which sucks IMO, and I wanted to improve that, so I had to start running. Steady state works, no doubt about it, it’s just if you are willing to put in the time. But to me to get the conditioning effect, don’t be afraid to run a couple of miles weekly, it won’t completely stop the muscle gain.

the other benefit of walking at a brisk pace is I can get my wife to join me :slight_smile: We’re too winded to talk too much but it’s nice just to be doing something with her.

It is astonishing to me that on a website such as T-Nation there would be such an uneducated discussion about steady state cardio combined with strength training.

The reason sprinting is the preferred method of cardio over steady state cardio is many:
-Sprinting & Weight training both increase the VO2 Max to a greater degree than steady state cardio (AKA your bodies ability to efficiently use oxygen).

-Sprinting trains type IIx muscle fibers where-as steady state cardio trains type I Muscle fibers.
---->This is only a theory but it is a pretty well established theory: The more you train type IIx muscle fibers the higher the ratio of type IIx muscle fibers your body will have and vice versa. Type IIx muscle fibers are your maximal strength training muscle fibers, and are the ones that help you lift the most weight using your creatine phosphate system, where-as type I muscle fibers are your muscular endurance muscle fibers, which help you run long distances using lactic acid, glucose, and oxygen for fuel. Type I muscle fibers are weak, yet resistant to fatigue and type IIx muscle fibers are strong yet fatigue quickly. Obviously as strength training athletes we want more type IIx muscle fibers, not type I muscle fibers.

-Sprinting increases testosterone.

-Steady State Cardio eats away at muscle tissue and uses it for fuel if your body is under-fed.

If you get a man that can only run 1 mile and swim 10 laps in a pool and he says to you, “I want to run in a half marathon.” So he goes and trains for a half marathon, and completes it 6-12 months down the road. Well he might be able to run 13 miles now, but he will STILL only be able to swim those original 10 laps.

Running only makes you good at running. Plain and simple. If you want to lose body fat the hormonal effects of sprinting combined with the EPOC (Afterburn) effect are key and vastly superior to steady state cardio. Steady state cardio can’t get you shredded by being in a caloric surplus, but sprinting can.

Train for what you want to achieve. That’s it.

If this is a discussion of what’s “healthiest”, 10-15 miles a week with some weight lifting and sprinting is probably best. I think getting good circulation in your body helps with recovery and increasing work capacity and getting in better shape helps with weightlifting. I don’t think squatting 800lbs does much good for your arteries, but squatting 500 at a body weight of <200 sure does.

[quote]AlwayzLearning wrote:
It is astonishing to me that on a website such as T-Nation there would be such an uneducated discussion about steady state cardio combined with strength training.

The reason sprinting is the preferred method of cardio over steady state cardio is many:
-Sprinting & Weight training both increase the VO2 Max to a greater degree than steady state cardio (AKA your bodies ability to efficiently use oxygen).

-Sprinting trains type IIx muscle fibers where-as steady state cardio trains type I Muscle fibers.
---->This is only a theory but it is a pretty well established theory: The more you train type IIx muscle fibers the higher the ratio of type IIx muscle fibers your body will have and vice versa. Type IIx muscle fibers are your maximal strength training muscle fibers, and are the ones that help you lift the most weight using your creatine phosphate system, where-as type I muscle fibers are your muscular endurance muscle fibers, which help you run long distances using lactic acid, glucose, and oxygen for fuel. Type I muscle fibers are weak, yet resistant to fatigue and type IIx muscle fibers are strong yet fatigue quickly. Obviously as strength training athletes we want more type IIx muscle fibers, not type I muscle fibers.

-Sprinting increases testosterone.

-Steady State Cardio eats away at muscle tissue and uses it for fuel if your body is under-fed.

If you get a man that can only run 1 mile and swim 10 laps in a pool and he says to you, “I want to run in a half marathon.” So he goes and trains for a half marathon, and completes it 6-12 months down the road. Well he might be able to run 13 miles now, but he will STILL only be able to swim those original 10 laps.

Running only makes you good at running. Plain and simple. If you want to lose body fat the hormonal effects of sprinting combined with the EPOC (Afterburn) effect are key and vastly superior to steady state cardio. Steady state cardio can’t get you shredded by being in a caloric surplus, but sprinting can.[/quote]
Steady state cardio isn’t the demon you make it out to be. You’re world won’t end if you do it. Lower intensity cardio also provides numerous health benefits that can’t be obtained with short all-out efforts.

IMO we should be doing both…both systems need to be trained to help the other. My steady state runs actually make be box, lift and run longer and the sprints help me do all that harder and more often before getting tired. It’s not like one system stops working, they’re constantly playing off the other.

Have you ever been jogging and had a dog come out after you? That’ll get you sprinting on your toes and should look at some of your runs as such.