Post by Marty Queen on Aug 28, 2006 16:56:17 GMT -5
I found a great article on a Web site called "testosterone nation," by Eric Cressey. He gives a lot of exercise options for cardio work that won't cause you to burn muscle and lose weight on your lifts. I'll post a link and some of the article; it's too long to include the whole thing here. There are some photos on the site showing some of the exercises. Here's the link:
www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=548070
Here are some excerpts of what the guy has to say, and it all makes sense to me, although I am of (very) limited knowledge.
What do you think?
I'm pretty sure that all of you really big guys out there are already composing nasty emails to me about how much you hate cardio, so I'll get to the point. This isn't something to be dreaded, as you a) have a lot of room for variety and b) should intentionally avoid working hard. Call it managed fatigue or structured slacking, if it makes you feel any better.
You see, every one of you does "aerobic activity." Hell, reading this article is aerobic. We need to can the stereotypes, talk a little science, and in the end quit bastardizing the word "aerobic." Instead, it's time to start qualifying the energy system work one does as appropriate or inappropriate.
What's the first thing you did when you got out of bed this morning? You walked to the bathroom to relieve yourself. Then, you walked to the kitchen to make yourself breakfast. Then, you walked to the shower to get clean. Then, you walked to your bedroom closet to get dressed. If you're not noticing a pattern here, then perhaps you'd be better off with a coloring book than a T-Nation article…
You walk all day long. Walking — just like the vast majority of things you do in your everyday life — is almost completely aerobic in nature. Traditionally, cardiovascular training has been synonymous with aerobic training, the end goal being optimization of endurance performance. Now, this is all well and good if you're an endurance athlete, but what are the implications for strength and power athletes?
Simply stated, low-intensity aerobic work can be completely handled by the slow-twitch motor units (neuron and the fibers it innervates). It's fair to assume that strength and power athletes who aren't endurance trained are still probably in better shape than the untrained subjects in McCarthy's study, so the 70% heart rate reserve threshold carries over without much problem.
Likewise, 40% of 1RM isn't all the challenging. You ought to be able to pump out 40 or 50-rep sets with this weight. Just to be safe, though, I recommend sticking in the 60% heart rate reserve and 30% 1RM range for the low-intensity interventions I'll suggest.
The timing of these sessions is just as important as intensity. I encourage you to not perform them after lifting unless your lifting takes you less than 40 minutes, and you're only planning on doing a brief (ten minute) low-intensity session. We're not looking to perform marathon sessions or call upon the FT fibers to "get their aerobics on" once the ST fibers are more fatigued. Rather, they should be used on non-lifting days or several hours separated from a lifting session.
With the latter set-up, an ideal scenario would be to lift earlier in the day and do this blood flow work roughly six hours later. By the way, don't do this stuff first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. That silly practice has been beaten to death by bodybuilders already. I prefer that we not encounter such a hopeless intervention in strength and power athletes, too.
Here are some options. Feel free to combine a few of them in the same session to keep things interesting:
1. Traditional steady-state "cardio": Walking with or without incline (preferably outdoors) is good for those with very low tolerance to aerobic exercise. Others may be able to handle light jogging. Be cognizant of orthopedic stress, though; some people are just too heavy for impact exercise. Swimming, treading water and underwater jogging are great alternatives as well.
Elliptical machines can be used too, although I'd rather not see athletes on cardio machines (especially cycles) at all because of the restricted range of motion and potential for pattern overload. Then again, they're better than nothing. Getting it done is more important than how you do it, as we're looking for a systemic — not just muscular — effect. As I mentioned above, keep your intensity at roughly 60% of your age-predicted maximum heart rate ([220-age] x .6). Twenty minutes is plenty.
2. Strongman implements: Assuming the implements are kept somewhat lighter than normal, these choices are excellent recovery tools (as opposed to heavier use, which characterizes more sport-specific energy system training for various athletes). Wheelbarrow walks and farmer's walks are great choices, and you can always flip "smaller oversize" tires. Sled dragging takes the cake, though. There are a ton of different variations you can do to enhance your work capacity.
3. Dynamic Flexibility Circuits: This one is a favorite of mine, as you're actually improving your range of motion while improving your work capacity. Simply take body weight exercises like overhead lunge walks, lateral squats, knee-to-chests, scorpions, butt-kicks, etc., and work on getting your heart rate up a bit. Go in bouts of 30 seconds at a brisk, but deliberate pace.
4. Low-intensity Resistance Exercise: Pick 8-12 exercises, approximate 30% of your estimated 1RM for these exercises, and cycle through them. Do 20 reps per set and keep your rest time as short as possible between sets. With each week, add a little volume until your work capacity has improved to an admirable level.
Generally, I'll choose one from each of the following categories: hip dominant movement, single-leg movement (typically quad dominant), horizontal push, horizontal pull, hip abduction, trunk flexion, trunk rotation or lateral flexion, elbow extension, elbow flexion, and humeral external rotation.
These selections are by no means set in stone; for instance, I may include vertical pushing and pulling exercises, depending on one's weaknesses and work capacity. These sessions are fantastic times to emphasize prehabilitation and neural activation work to get often-dormant muscles (e.g. all three glutes, serratus anterior, VMO) into their grooves.
Below you'll find a few sample circuits to get you on the right track. I encourage you to simply use them as templates from which to design your own individualized circuits. I try to alternate among upper body, lower body, and core exercises to allow for more complete recovery. Pick a circuit and repeat it 2-3 times.
Circuit A
Reverse Hypers
Dumbbell Bench Presses
Mini-band Sidesteps
Seated Cable Rows
Pulldown Abs
Pressdowns
Walking Dumbbell Lunges
Dumbbell Hammer Curls
Side Hip Thrusts
Dumbbell Cuban Presses
Circuit B
Face Pulls
Pull-throughs
Push-ups
Dumbbell Step-ups
Low-Pulley External Rotation
Stability Ball Crunches
Supinated Grip Pulldowns (substituted for elbow flexion)
Body weight box squats with mini-bands around knees (abduction emphasis)
Cable Woodchops
Lying Dumbbell Extension
5. High-Rep Band Work: This follows the same general template as #4, but bands can be a great change of pace and especially valuable because you can take them anywhere. Be creative, from good mornings with the band under your feet and looped over your neck, to band woodchops, to pull-aparts, to pull-throughs, the sky's the limit!
www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=548070
Here are some excerpts of what the guy has to say, and it all makes sense to me, although I am of (very) limited knowledge.
What do you think?
I'm pretty sure that all of you really big guys out there are already composing nasty emails to me about how much you hate cardio, so I'll get to the point. This isn't something to be dreaded, as you a) have a lot of room for variety and b) should intentionally avoid working hard. Call it managed fatigue or structured slacking, if it makes you feel any better.
You see, every one of you does "aerobic activity." Hell, reading this article is aerobic. We need to can the stereotypes, talk a little science, and in the end quit bastardizing the word "aerobic." Instead, it's time to start qualifying the energy system work one does as appropriate or inappropriate.
What's the first thing you did when you got out of bed this morning? You walked to the bathroom to relieve yourself. Then, you walked to the kitchen to make yourself breakfast. Then, you walked to the shower to get clean. Then, you walked to your bedroom closet to get dressed. If you're not noticing a pattern here, then perhaps you'd be better off with a coloring book than a T-Nation article…
You walk all day long. Walking — just like the vast majority of things you do in your everyday life — is almost completely aerobic in nature. Traditionally, cardiovascular training has been synonymous with aerobic training, the end goal being optimization of endurance performance. Now, this is all well and good if you're an endurance athlete, but what are the implications for strength and power athletes?
Simply stated, low-intensity aerobic work can be completely handled by the slow-twitch motor units (neuron and the fibers it innervates). It's fair to assume that strength and power athletes who aren't endurance trained are still probably in better shape than the untrained subjects in McCarthy's study, so the 70% heart rate reserve threshold carries over without much problem.
Likewise, 40% of 1RM isn't all the challenging. You ought to be able to pump out 40 or 50-rep sets with this weight. Just to be safe, though, I recommend sticking in the 60% heart rate reserve and 30% 1RM range for the low-intensity interventions I'll suggest.
The timing of these sessions is just as important as intensity. I encourage you to not perform them after lifting unless your lifting takes you less than 40 minutes, and you're only planning on doing a brief (ten minute) low-intensity session. We're not looking to perform marathon sessions or call upon the FT fibers to "get their aerobics on" once the ST fibers are more fatigued. Rather, they should be used on non-lifting days or several hours separated from a lifting session.
With the latter set-up, an ideal scenario would be to lift earlier in the day and do this blood flow work roughly six hours later. By the way, don't do this stuff first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. That silly practice has been beaten to death by bodybuilders already. I prefer that we not encounter such a hopeless intervention in strength and power athletes, too.
Here are some options. Feel free to combine a few of them in the same session to keep things interesting:
1. Traditional steady-state "cardio": Walking with or without incline (preferably outdoors) is good for those with very low tolerance to aerobic exercise. Others may be able to handle light jogging. Be cognizant of orthopedic stress, though; some people are just too heavy for impact exercise. Swimming, treading water and underwater jogging are great alternatives as well.
Elliptical machines can be used too, although I'd rather not see athletes on cardio machines (especially cycles) at all because of the restricted range of motion and potential for pattern overload. Then again, they're better than nothing. Getting it done is more important than how you do it, as we're looking for a systemic — not just muscular — effect. As I mentioned above, keep your intensity at roughly 60% of your age-predicted maximum heart rate ([220-age] x .6). Twenty minutes is plenty.
2. Strongman implements: Assuming the implements are kept somewhat lighter than normal, these choices are excellent recovery tools (as opposed to heavier use, which characterizes more sport-specific energy system training for various athletes). Wheelbarrow walks and farmer's walks are great choices, and you can always flip "smaller oversize" tires. Sled dragging takes the cake, though. There are a ton of different variations you can do to enhance your work capacity.
3. Dynamic Flexibility Circuits: This one is a favorite of mine, as you're actually improving your range of motion while improving your work capacity. Simply take body weight exercises like overhead lunge walks, lateral squats, knee-to-chests, scorpions, butt-kicks, etc., and work on getting your heart rate up a bit. Go in bouts of 30 seconds at a brisk, but deliberate pace.
4. Low-intensity Resistance Exercise: Pick 8-12 exercises, approximate 30% of your estimated 1RM for these exercises, and cycle through them. Do 20 reps per set and keep your rest time as short as possible between sets. With each week, add a little volume until your work capacity has improved to an admirable level.
Generally, I'll choose one from each of the following categories: hip dominant movement, single-leg movement (typically quad dominant), horizontal push, horizontal pull, hip abduction, trunk flexion, trunk rotation or lateral flexion, elbow extension, elbow flexion, and humeral external rotation.
These selections are by no means set in stone; for instance, I may include vertical pushing and pulling exercises, depending on one's weaknesses and work capacity. These sessions are fantastic times to emphasize prehabilitation and neural activation work to get often-dormant muscles (e.g. all three glutes, serratus anterior, VMO) into their grooves.
Below you'll find a few sample circuits to get you on the right track. I encourage you to simply use them as templates from which to design your own individualized circuits. I try to alternate among upper body, lower body, and core exercises to allow for more complete recovery. Pick a circuit and repeat it 2-3 times.
Circuit A
Reverse Hypers
Dumbbell Bench Presses
Mini-band Sidesteps
Seated Cable Rows
Pulldown Abs
Pressdowns
Walking Dumbbell Lunges
Dumbbell Hammer Curls
Side Hip Thrusts
Dumbbell Cuban Presses
Circuit B
Face Pulls
Pull-throughs
Push-ups
Dumbbell Step-ups
Low-Pulley External Rotation
Stability Ball Crunches
Supinated Grip Pulldowns (substituted for elbow flexion)
Body weight box squats with mini-bands around knees (abduction emphasis)
Cable Woodchops
Lying Dumbbell Extension
5. High-Rep Band Work: This follows the same general template as #4, but bands can be a great change of pace and especially valuable because you can take them anywhere. Be creative, from good mornings with the band under your feet and looped over your neck, to band woodchops, to pull-aparts, to pull-throughs, the sky's the limit!