Hello Drs.,
I am now having to “dig deep” to complete cardio (LISS - stationary bike) on GPP days due to boredom/monotony. I also just dislike cardio in general regardless of modality.
That said, how quickly/much would my work capacity for resistance training decay if I cut the cardio in half (i.e. either 30min 1x/week or 15min 2x/week)? I was thinking of doing this for maybe 4 weeks tops.
In case this needs to be known, I’m currently running Strength I.
Is there any form of cardio that you would do? It’s pretty important and I can’t think of a good reason to sign off on reducing it to levels that reduce health and performance.
I also loathed to do long, low-intensity cardio on a bike, because it was outright boring. So, I switched to incline walking on a treadmill. This “forced” me to keep pace, whereas I might go a easy on a bike/rower (I do love these for HIIT however) if I became a little uncomfortable.
Also, I find it easier to pass time if I watch part of a film or anything I enjoy.
The form of cardio I’m willing to do is the one I’m already doing unfortunately.
As an alternative, would 20min 2x/week MISS for about 2 weeks be better than the original idea? I just feel like I need a mental break from doing 30min 2x/week.
I would prefer if you were active most days of the week. 40 min/wk of aerobic training is about 1/3 of what I’d like you to be doing from a health perspective. How about 20 minutes daily split into 10 minute sessions?
~120min a week of cardio? Sheesh. That sounds like torture. I can’t imagine doing that much cardio. Ever.
If that’s the recommendation, then I guess 60min/week doesn’t sound so bad after all lol.
I guess I could do 15min 4x/week or maybe 10min daily. But what is being recommended is a definitive no can do (at least not in the near future).
I’m (ignorantly) assuming the following (see below) would yield similar health benefits with 2 & 3 being better than 1 from a performance standpoint?
3, 30min 2x/week
Listening to music has helped delay the boredom and also helps me maintain cadence. However, I have unfortunately exhausted my playlist.
Looking at my phone for +10min straight makes me nauseous so watching anything is basically a no go.
I also tried cycling (on the road) for a few weeks but eventually stopped due to the mortality risk (no bicycle lanes where I live). It’s no fun when you’re constantly looking over your shoulder to make sure you’re not in any immediate danger.
I don’t enjoy any sort of cardio that doesn’t take place outside. So, in the winter, I have found it helpful to pick a series on one of the various streaming services and ONLY watch it when I’m on the elliptical. If it’s a show I’m particularly interested in/in to, I find myself looking forward to the workouts and/or extending sessions sometimes because I want to continue watching.
The current guidelines are 150-300 min of aerobic training and 500-1000 MET-Minutes of physical activity.
The health benefits would be the same in all scenarios and the performance improvements would be specific to the exercise mode, duration, pace, etc.
It sounds like you would benefit from more aerobic activity, even if it’s a 5-minute walk a few times a day. What do you think?
Does the same apply when someone’s doing one of the strength templates? Or could this amount of aerobic conditioning (if introduced gradually over time, say at 30 min/week first and increased by +15-20 min/week) start to significantly impact low-velocity/max force performance?
I don’t think aerobic training, when properly programmed and introduced over time, has a negative effect on strength until volume is high.
Whoaw, that makes me very happy. I’ve begun to really like aerobic conditioning and am trying to salvage myself from a background that severely lacked sport involvement.
Thank you Jordan!
Sounds reasonable. I guess it seems more doable when you put it that way 