“Powerlifting…because I hate cardio.”
“Cardio is any set over 5 reps.”

Lifters love to hate on cardio. I love to hate on cardio! But let’s do a little dive into what “cardio” refers to, who needs what kind, and how a power athlete should approach it.

Whaddayamean by “Cardio”?

When a lifter makes a T-shirt about cardio, they are largely referring to steady-state aerobic exercise. That’s sustained, cyclic, (relatively) low-intensity exercise at a fixed pace. Think walking briskly for 30 minutes, riding easy for 2 hours, or swimming for…any number of seconds (I’m a crap swimmer).

Two types of people need steady-state aerobic exercise:
* Endurance athletes
* Everyone with a beating heart

I’m saying that everyone needs the colloquial meaning of cardio!

Further, everyone who moves already gets that cardio.

For basic health, you should accumulate an hour of easy moving around every day. That should be non-negotiable. But for Masters athletes, what do you really need from aerobic training in your sport?

“Cardio” is for Recovery…

Power athletes can use traditional steady-state aerobic exercise for recovery. Movement Heals, after all, so getting your circulation going with an easy movement and keeping it going for a half hour circulates a lot of nutrients to your muscles.

…but “Cardio” Could Make You Slow.

For any performance need on the field other than recovery, most forms of steady-state aerobic exercise are counterproductive for power athletes. This is an issue of adaptation.

Our bodies strive to adapt to the stresses we impose. Because limb speed, rate of force production, and ambulatory neuromuscular coordination (walking, running, and 1-leg jumping) advance so gradually, if our performance goal involves maximizing them, they have to be priority in training. This means sprinting, jumping, and throwing need frequent exposure with maximal intensity in a pattern similar to how you execute in sport.

Those movements are extremely demanding, so you need rest between exposures. But, critically, you should not choose rest/recovery activities which will create interference with that motor learning.

This is part of why sprinters shouldn’t jog – nor should any fast kid train slow. Jogging is an opposed running pattern to sprinting.

Sprinting is elastic with ground contacts on the ball of the foot and complete hip extension.
Jogging is push-dominant with ground contacts rolling from heel to toe and incomplete hip extension.

Because jogging is low-intensity, you can do more of it and more often than you can sprint. But extra exposure to the opposite of good sprinting is a very bad thing if your goal is to run faster. Jogging *detrains* sprint ability.

When a fast kid wants aerobic adaptations (which are awesome, by the way), there are three ways to get them:
1. Train slow & steady in a completely non-running, non-impact way.
2. Train hard & fast with short breaks.
3. Train hard & fast for a long time with long breaks.

For today, I’ll just explore how to train slow without making yourself slow. That way, you can soak up the benefits of aerobic exercise without compromising the performance improvements you need on the field.

Fast Kids (Insisting On) Training Slow

Option 1: Walk.

Walk long distances. Walk for long durations. Walk in pretty places. Walk your dog or push your stroller. Go fast as long as you like, then go slow as long as you like. Walking is the very best slow, sustained exercise because you create almost no impact, stimulate digestion, can elevate your heart rate really high if you work for it, and can get things done or go places while walking around.

Option 2: Swim.

Same as walking, there’s no impact. Not the same as walking, there’s super-restricted breathing. This comes with circulation and oxygen-utilization benefits. It also comes with, well, drowning. So if you’re using swimming for fitness, also use whatever accessories let you not drown so you can do it for a while.

Option 3: Take It Easy With Hard Stuff

Row, ski erg (or actually XC ski but…seriously?), ride a bike, or something else compound and cyclic.

These are all really good options, but they are very difficult with sore legs. They are also super tempting to smash for a half-hour rather than go easy for the same amount of time. And they *will* create fatigue that impedes sprinting/jumping if you go too hard.

They are, in fact, my preferred low-intensity sustained exercise alongside walking, but you have to know the risks to subsequent training. Personally, I avoid them in-season except mind-numbingly easy sessions for recovery. Frankly, I’d rather sit in the hot tub, stretch, and take a nap during my half hour.

You Don’t Need “Cardio”; Your Sport Provides It

If you insist on training slow to get your aerobic capacity up, there were a few options better than jogging.

But I’m here to tell you – and I’ll be back in the next few weeks to explain in detail – that there’s no need at all to train slow to “get in shape.” I believe in aerobic conditioning, even as a sprinter and former rugby back and committed lifter, but I don’t need anything slow in my training to get it.

I get aerobic adaptations from recovery between anaerobic things.
I get aerobic adaptations by recovering from anaerobic (glycolytic) things.
But, because Conditioning Is Overrated, I do as little of that recovering as I absolutely must to perform in my sport.

So…no “cardio” for me, thanks.
At least, not the way you think.
You could do the same.

More soon!