Does cardio always have to be about weight loss?
I know it’s been a little while since I wrote my last blog post… buuuuut in that time I’ve been busy experimenting with a few things for my training and nutrition to try and be an awesome human... One of which I’m actually going to tell you a little about today!
So.. what do you think about when someone says “Cardio”?
Does it always need to be about how many calories you can burn, how hard you can push yourself and how much weight will you lose?
Absolutely NOT!
Just over 3 months ago I decided I needed a change… so I changed my coach and I have switched up my training from lifting weights 3-4 times a week to doing aerobic conditioning work 6 times a week.
“Why would you do that?” I hear you ask…
Well firstly, I changed my coach as it’s good to learn from different people, find different ways of doing things and sometimes it just gives you a fresh perspective!
Secondly, if you have read my previous blog on “does lifting weights make you bulky” (if you haven’t then check it out!), you will know that the previous 6 months I spent time trying to build some muscle, lifting a lot of weights and trying to eat a lot of food.
During this time, I started to feel that my overall fitness suffered and took a back seat - it’s all well and good getting jacked and having muscles but if you get out of breath walking up the road then life is no fun, and you can end up feeling rather sluggish!
So, I decided to take this year to focus on my health.
And THAT my friends is why I started to do so much cardio…. For my HEALTH! (Because if you don’t have that then what do you have?!)
…PLUS, I also wanted to create a good aerobic base which I could then later build upon for my London marathon training which is (hopefully) due to take place in October this year.
(I mean you wouldn’t go into the gym and try and lift 100kg on your first day lifting weights – you would build a base level of strength and movement competency and progressively build up your weight over time... so why don’t we think more about building an aerobic base before we go for harder cardio workouts?? It would make sense, right?!)
So, what comes with that?
Improved energy/mood/mental health
Lower resting heart rate (RHR)
Improved blood pressure
Better recovery
Increase in red blood cells to allow for increased uptake of oxygen into the muscles*
...This is naming just a few…. The list could go on!
*Little fact for those avid gym goers…this also means muscles don’t burn so quickly during other exercise - contrary to popular belief, it's not the lactic acid that stops the muscles from working when you get that burning sensation… It's actually because you are not able to provide enough oxygen to those muscles and therefore your muscle becomes more acidic, the level of carbon dioxide increases/PH drops and this feeling acts as a protective mechanism to keep the cells safe!
So, what did my training look like?
I can’t possibly tell you about my training before first introducing you to my friends ROGER & ARNIE!
ROGER the Rogue bike
ARNIE the air bike
They are the two assault bikes in the gym who I had to find a way to make friends with over these last 3 months and it turns out it was Arnie who ended up stucking by me through it all…
(don’t judge me… yes, I name the equipment in the gym!)
For training my coach kept things nice and simple… I only had 2 different types of sessions to worry about (this saved on brainpower too!):
Session 1: A steady 45-60 minute ride on the assault bike (aka, Arnie!) keeping my heart rate between 140-160bpm (in the last month we added an extra 15mins to make it an hour!)
45min session kcals progress
Yes, I must admit, it could be boring as hell at times and I found it more of a mental than physical game most of the time.
But, within these two months I went from doing 240kcals on the bike in 45 minutes and finding it hard to keep my heart rate below 160 to hitting 370kcals in those 45 minutes and finding it hard to keep my heart rate up at 160bpm.
… I also made others come along for the ride too on some days… so thanks May, Ben & Jake for joining me… especially on those hour rides!
Session 2: A steady 20 minutes into 20 x 12 second intervals on Arnie followed by 15-20 minutes of aerobic movement. (Followed in the last month by an additional 20mins steady state on the bike for an extra push!)
Ben’s face says it all in this one…
Tyre flips, sledgehammers, rope slams, rotational RDLs & Turkish get-ups for a bit of aerobic movement on that day!
The intervals were used to learn to control my heart rate and breathing during different intensities so during the interval I wanted to try and get my heart rate between 160-170bpm and during the rest period of a minute this was all about getting my heart rate back down to near 140bpm before the next interval.
The aerobic movement part of the session meant I could move around in any way I fancied (the only rule was I had to keep my heart rate between 140-160bpm)… so this could be swinging a kettlebell about, flipping tyres, getting the sledgehammer out to let out some frustration, throwing in some bodyweight movements to pull it all together… you name it…. I just had some fun with it!
There’s no need to overcomplicate things… just got to get moving and blood pumping!
It made me feel great mentally & physically… try spending an hour on an assault bike and then try and tell me you don't feel like you’ve achieved something!
How did this all impact me & my body?
I saw huge changes for me during this time…
The amount of cardio work I could complete within 45 minutes increased by over 100kcals
I wasn’t getting so out of breath so easily
This all gave me a new lease of life, my energy shot up and I felt on such a high after my sessions!
I started sleeping better and waking up feeling more energised
My resting heart rate went from sitting at the mid 60’s to averaging just below 60
My blood pressure dropped from a weekly average of 125/80 to 115/75
Weight loss also came as a bioproduct of all this too… I dropped a stone in bodyweight and 5 inches in body measurements - but that was without even trying - I was eating 2200 kcals per day!
Disclaimer: I was also working on my gut health during this time which will also have contributed towards some of these improvements, but I’ll save that for another day!
So go get that amazing body of yours moving in any way you can and learn how to look after it as best you can… because you’ve only got one!
I must give credit to my coach & mentor Nick Daniel (Go team Rebels! 👊🏼) for all his coaching & support over the last few months through all of this… Now it’s time for me to add some weights back in while maintaining that aerobic capacity I’ve worked hard for… PROJECT #MACHINEHATTIE PENDING… 💪🏼
