Is Cardio Essential?

[liftsiron]

Is Cardio Essential?
Yes... and no. Here's what every smart lifter needs to consider.
by Chris Shugart | 10/22/19

Is cardio essential? In a nutshell, yes. Sorry.

Let's break it down:
Is cardio necessary for a powerlifter to lift a heavy barbell once?

No. But if he'd like to meet his grandkids ? or least not be a wheezing sack of soft potatoes by age 40 ? then yes.
Is cardio necessary to lose fat?

No. Does it make fat loss faster and easier to maintain? Yes. It also improves insulin sensitivity, which basically allows you to "use" carbs better for things like stimulating protein synthesis and restoring glycogen.
Is cardio necessary to build big muscles?

No. Can a little cardio help you become a better bodybuilder? Yes, via improved capillary density and venous return, higher work capacity, better/faster recovery, etc. And you won't gas out during long time under tension training, supersets, drop sets, or other tiring hypertrophy training methods.
Do you need a lot of cardio?

The good news is that it doesn't take much. For the slow stuff, try two sessions per week, 65-70% of max heart rate or 120-140 BPM, for 20 minutes. Throw in a CrossFit-style workout every once in a while. Shorter-duration HIIT and longer-duration cardio have unique heart health benefits, so you need a blend.
Do YOU Need Cardio?

Here's a popular test I came up with a while back:

Run one mile on the treadmill with the speed set at 6 miles per hour. Don't try to go faster; the idea is to be able to SUSTAIN this pace.

That'll take you exactly 10 minutes and it should be pretty easy. If it's not, you need cardio... or you're just too fat. Either way, you've learned something.

Here's another way to know. Let's say you're doing a classic drop set on the leg press: you do 8-10 reps and your partner takes off a couple of plates when you reach failure or close to it. After a couple of drops, what gives out first ? your legs or your ability to breathe?

If your legs have a few more reps in them but you just can't suck in enough air, then you need some cardio.

 

[Glycomann]

Deaded but necessary. I do the minimum. 12-15 min on the step mill 4-5 days a week and 20-30 min heavy bag/speed bag/judo drills work once a week. Makes a big difference though.

 

[01dragonslayer]

Great post lifts.

 

[Moto Ace]

Great post...….looks like my hour of cardio four days a week may be too much

 

[MR. BMJ]

I agree....it's such a need for health, but often overlooked. Even Duchaine was known to promote it and mentioned he'd never seen anybody lose muscle by doing a measly 30 minutes per day of moderate cardio. It makes me feel much better, can breath better, can sleep better, see better partitioning effects, look better, better labs....it's a no brainer.

 

[Dakota]

As much as we can dread cardio especially after letting it slip for a while it brings a feeling of general well being when you are faithfully doing it.

 

[Dawgpound_Hank]

I can't even run a mile, let alone run it in 10 mins.lol Who here can run a 10 minute mile all bs aside?

 

[Glycomann]

Just my little bit of cardio keeps me in some sort of cardio shape. This morning BP 115/72, pulse 49 and body weight 196. Last cholesterol total was 172. A year ago after doing a lot of traveling my BP was closer to 145/90 and pulse in the high 70s with cholesterol over 200 and body weight about 212. It makes a pretty big difference especially over 50.

 

[millenium girl]

As you can see by checking out my log, I'm a cardio addict. I can't go without but the only downside is that it makes me very hungry.

 

[Guest]

I can't even run a mile, let alone run it in 10 mins.lol Who here can run a 10 minute mile all bs aside?

I routinely run 7 min miles, I hate cardio so I incorporate plenty of interval sprinting into my training to simply get it over with quickly. Highly effective at melting fat and my 11 year old son still can't catch his 42 year old dad

 

[choke]

I can't even run a mile, let alone run it in 10 mins.lol Who here can run a 10 minute mile all bs aside?

Up until this lovely brain injury got wild, I was running 12 minute two miles, at 215. Which is down from running 11:15 two miles when I was in the Army. But that was a ripped 180'ish...

As of this morning, my mile is about 7 min.
Hate cardio, but on the mats and in the ring, it's more important than punching and kicking power.

 

[Guest]

Up until this lovely brain injury got wild, I was running 12 minute two miles, at 215. Which is down from running 11:15 two miles when I was in the Army. But that was a ripped 180'ish...

As of this morning, my mile is about 7 min.
Hate cardio, but on the mats and in the ring, it's more important than punching and kicking power.

Impressive, I broke 12 min for 2 miles once and that was enough for me. A few years back I was going train to try and break a 5 min mile but I gave up, hard to push yourself to do something you despise.

I'm not as big as a lot of you monsters on here, always floated around 190-210 at 6'1.

 

[Dawgpound_Hank]

I envy you guys ^^^ cardio shape. TRJ you must be proud that you can still outrun him. I can outrun my 7 y.o son hahaha - but for only 150-200 yards or so max - after that I get winded and he passes me on by.

 

[Guest]

I envy you guys ^^^ cardio shape. TRJ you must be proud that you can still outrun him. I can outrun my 7 y.o son hahaha - but for only 150-200 yards or so max - after that I get winded and he passes me on by.

haha...I should rephrase, I'm still faster than him...likely not for much longer though and if it was long distance he'd kick my ass lol

 

[choke]

haha...I should rephrase, I'm still faster than him...likely not for much longer though and if it was long distance he'd kick my ass lol

Exactly in the time frame that your old age and treachery become viable tools in your child oppression arsenal... Said as someone with a 14 year old daughter that's gotten REALLY good at BJJ and Judo... Treacherous, I've had to be I tell ya... Kids these days... :at:

I'm NO ONE to give cardio/running advice, but...
When I was in the Army, one of the NCO's we had was just a damn stud, and he got us to run with this odd hip roll worked into the stride, shoulders were kinda held a bit high, chest out, chin up, next thing we know, our squad was in the 6-6:30 minute miles. He also mixed in Indian runs: sprint for a quarter mile, then slow jog a half or full mile, for 5 miles. Worked like a charm.

Still do that today actually.

I forgot about this till now, but I have a workout that was written by the guy who's now the strength and conditioning coach for American Top Team. Which for you non-martial arts/MMA guys, is one of the main teams in the sport. He may be selling this plan now, so if you use this, be discrete. I'll post it up shortly.

That said, it is probably THE BEST strength and endurance plan I've ever seen. It is geared towards MMA performance, but you'd be hard pressed to find better cardio outside of just running your ass off. The benefit of this is that it's amazing for strength and endurance as well.

~I'll put it up shortly.

 

[MR. BMJ]

Yea, my cardio is usually done on a stationary bike, or 'just' walking fast/slow on a treadmill. I used to be real fast as a kid in elementary, top 3 in the mile runs, and also sprinting. As i got older, same in soccer and other sports....I was always one of the fastest without putting a lot of effort into it. The only way to get better is to just keep running. You know when you are in good shape when you are running and not breathing hard and in a zone. Again, I'm not an expert, but even from a young age, I learned a lot...just running all the time. There is a point where you give up, or suck it up and kill yourself....I learned how to push it as a kid and endure that pain. It helped me later as I got older in the gym. When you hear of guys like Dante, Dusty Hanshaw, Meadows, Westside/Louie, etc talk about pushing past a barrier where you are on your last rep and about to give up, but then you find a power within yourself to squeeze out another rep, or a few reps, this is what I learned as a kid....it's a certain willpower, pain, and level you put yourself through, and only some can adjust to it. That said, I'd not push myself running like that right now. I have to have a purpose to try and get into running shape, or else i'll just stick to my stationary bike If I were in the mountains, I'd probably do a lot of running and certain drills. However, where I live, there are a lot of Mexican gangs that would like to do a initiation hit job on my big white ass walking or running down the streets. no Bueno for me. I have this persistent ankle problem, and I can feel my knees hurting a lot more these days....but my weight hangs around 270-285 easily, so that is probably why, in addition to lifting heavy squats/hacks/leg presses for many years. I'd have to drop a lot of weight to really be good at running, which I should do at some point soon anyway for overall health.