Cardio - Going Where Angels Fear To Tread....

cardio- Word Origin

1. a combining form meaning “heart,”

 

Cardio. There. I said it. Strike me down with a bolt of lightening – but I said it! And here’s the truly awful part – I use it! Yes I do! I turn to that demonised and detested little tool called cardio, and use it in my weekly routine. Holy hell – how will I live this down??!! LOL.

I feel like I might have just lost a lot of social media ‘friends’!! How can I make this admission for all to see??

In all seriousness, I am somewhat bemused by the current aversion from just about anyone-who’s-anyone to cardio. It’s popping up as a headline on many pages from many people. And I read the comments from followers who are simply over-the-moon that their FB fitness idol doesn’t cardio so now they, by virtue of reading the post, also don’t have to. Hell – let’s not actually take the whole situation in context .. let’s just agree and admit total revulsion at anything cardio and be happy that, because ‘she/he’ doesn’t do it – neither should I have to!!! And ‘they’ can get ripped for a comp without it, so that means I can too!!! Hallelujah!!

Because everyone who has won a comp and posts on FB is right aren’t they? As long as they have the credibility of an Athlete tag or maybe they are sponsored by a sup company. And if they are both an athlete and sponsored, then they are a guru. Of course.

I’m sorry to sound sarcastic (or am I? mmm not sure) – but good luck with that.

To be honest, I don’t ‘get’ the hype. I very much understand the consequences of what I would call ‘over-cardioing’ and know that it is as unwise as under-prescribing weight training. But cardio in appropriate amounts is what I would deem a fabulous tool for the jobs of; keeping fat stores at a desired level; allowing more calories in (that’s right – more food in the mouth!!) and shredding a bit of weight in a quicker time period if needed.

I reject the concept that I’m less of a trainer or trainee because I allow cardio in. I really do.

And while we are on the subject, high reps of lower weights, full-on no-rest weights circuits, ‘finishers’, sneaky little plyo numbers between exercises, battle-ropes and sled pushes – in my world, these are all forms of cardio. Hard to admit perhaps, but I reckon they are.

It seems to have become a badge of honour to proudly proclaim the absence of cardio in a program. That’s fine .. I guess. But never say never. I have. And it gets rather awkward when things don’t work out as first planned.

Proviso: I’ll be the first to say loud and clear that my first program, with its 1hr brisk walking in the morning, weights at lunchtime and 1hr of evening running, was simply ludicrous. I would quit comping if I had to go through that stupidity ever again. But, to date, I‘d say that I have completed anywhere in the range of 2-4 cardio sessions per week leading into the last month. Each session was 25m so a max of around 2hrs per week. Not bad and it certainly helped me achieve the last bit of the lean-down. And, more importantly, I was able to re-introduce some much needed carbs and still lose fat. Would that have occurred without the cardio? I certainly don’t believe so. But what if I swapped out the cardio for some really high reps with weights instead? Haha – that’s where I’d still call the high reps cardio. I guess it’s semantics isn’t it. I just prefer to call a spade a spade.

So there you have it. It’s out there. I’m well and truly out of the closet (though I’ve never hidden the fact to date to be honest). I’m a very happy muscle-builder doing about a 90/10 split of weights vs cardio. My 25-50m (1 or possibly 2 sessions per week) of cardio consists of the most varied circuits either myself or Michelle can conjur up. Recently I have;

-          Run up Dr’s Gully with an overhead plate, ditched the plate for pushups, ditched the pushups for a waterfront run up a nasty hill and completed this circuit four times.

-          Combined one minute of boxing with an ascending ladder of plyo for 25m.

-          Completed a gruelling spin-bike (my latest buy) routine going ‘easy’ on the verses and ‘hard and heavy’ on the chorus!

-          Completed a combination of bodyweight and dumbbell exercises in one massive circuit for a solid 25m. All reps in the 15-20 range and prob 60-70% of my usual lifts.

-          And a Round-Robin on the gym equipment – treadmill to bike to rower to stairmaster.

Believe it or not, I actually love the change of heavy weights into a serious sweat-fest of cardio on some days. I also LOVE the fact that I’m keeping that heart pumping and I’m fitter than I have been for years with the regularity of getting that heart rate up. I work some pretty long hours at short notice and am finding that I’m not so sluggish. Much more ‘pep’ in my system and I’m happy to have the fitness to quickly engage a higher gear and ‘take off’.

And that, my friends, is my opinion on the Great Cardio Debate. Yours for the reading and considering.