What's up y'all! I'm here at the gym and I wanted to talk to you guys today about cardio. I have a gentleman here who's training and he has to take a few fitness tests that involve cardio. He has to run a 300 meter sprint. All right. That is almost like sprinting for a quarter mile, 0.186 miles to be exact. And he has to run a mile and a half that has to be done in a certain amount of time.
So that 300 meter sprint that's some serious high intensity training. That is not the same as HIIT (high intensity interval training). When you do high intensity interval training, your heart rate goes up and then you rest for a second til it comes down, then you take it back up again.
When you sprint a quarter mile nonstop, that is high intensity. And then a lot of you like to run three miles, four miles, six miles. That is continuous slow endurance. So let's talk about the benefits of this type of training. All of you who like to run marathons, train for half marathons, bike riding, etc. let's talk about the benefits you get from that.
I have 9 of them, 9 benefits.
1. You're going to get increased cardiac mass. Now this is if you're running three times to seven times a week. All right. And you're exercising for 40 to 60 minutes. This is going to give you increased cardiac mass cardiac mass. So your heart is not only going to get stronger, but it's going to get larger. It's a muscle like all the rest of them.
2. Increased stroke volume. This is your heart's ability to pump blood throughout the body, to the muscles.
3. Increased disposal of metabolic waste, which is very important. We got viruses and bacteria and all kinds of things floating around. So we want to be able to get waste out of our body.
4. Increase oxidative, enzymes, and efficiency. So basically your body's ability to use oxygen effectively. To take in oxygen for energy.
5. Then you have faster diffusion rates of oxygen and fuel into muscle. In the video I have my client taking in deep breaths so he can increase his body’s ability to take in more oxygen, and then use it for energy
6. Increased left ventricle dilation and chamber volume. Now that left ventricle allows your heart to pump blood to the rest of your body, all your extremities, all your muscles, all your cells. All right. So that left ventricle to get that thing stronger and to be able to push more blood out of there, you're doing wonders for your health. This is a great thing.
7. An increase of carbohydrate sparing. So this basically means that you use fat more for fuel instead of carbs. Who doesn't want to burn more fat right now? once again, guys, we're talking about continuous cardiac endurance. So walking 40 minutes, biking, running 40 to 60 minutes, like steady state cardio,
8. An increase in the mitochondria. If you don’t know, then you should, I am all about the mitochondria. This is the powerhouse of your cells. If you guys know anything about what I preach, you have to take care of your genetic code, your DNA, and your mitochondria. This is very important. This is important for you to sustain health, and longterm athletic performance. So if you're doing your cardio, good for you, keep it up. Alright.
9. Increase fat oxidation. This is your body's ability to use fat for fuel and increased expression of fatigue, resistance, slow twitch, muscle fibers. The slow twitch muscle fibers are what you use for long distance running. The sprinters, boxers, the bodybuilders who push a lot of weight, they are going to use more fast twitch muscle fiber. I think it's very important for you to use both. You don't want to just have slow twitch muscle fibers activated to where you can’t explode, can't run fast or react quickly and make quick decisions.
In the video the training that I have him doing: he did four minutes on an exercise bike going all out 90 to 95% of his maximum heart rate for four minutes. And now for three minutes, I just have him taking deep breaths and doing exercises to bring his heart rate down. In a couple more minutes, he's going to get right back on the bike. Boom. And start going again. Alright.
So let's talk about HIIT, high intensity interval training. Now HIIT does everything that steady state does. Increases your body's ability to take in oxygen, increases your body’s ability to use oxygen for fuel. Increases your body's ability to strengthen your mitochondria. Your left ventricle will increase in size, your heart overall will increase in size and strength. And the beautiful thing about HIIT is it has all the benefits of steady state endurance but you get the results in a shorter amount of time. This is one of the reasons why I think Orange Theory and CrossFit are very popular because they probably get results in a short amount of time. You're going high then you go low. You run, you row, you lift.
Now you guys already know I'm about burning fat and building muscle. So weights have to be a part of the equation because weights have you burning fat all day long, just like high intensity interval training. When you get your heart rate up and then you take it down and then you get it up and you take it down. When you're doing that, you're going to be burning calories and burning fat for 48 hours after your workout,. You don't get those kind of a performances, body performances with steady state cardio 20 or 40 or 60 minutes of steady state cardio. Now you will burn fat while you're doing the cardio. Your body will be using fat for fuel, but when you're doing hit high intensity interval training, your body burns calories and fat 48 hours after your workout is done.
So which one should we do? And when should we do it? All right. I think it's important that you do both. Do steady state and do high intensity cardio, because you don't want your body to get used to one thing and you never know, one day you might have to use them both. One day, you might be an emergency and you have to run a quarter mile real fast. One day your car might break down and you have to get somewhere and you got to be there and you got to go a mile and a half, two miles. So it's great to train both of them. Don't let your body get used to just one method. Also, when (the time of day) you do it is not as important as getting it done.
If you're somebody who works out in the morning or you have time to do your cardio in the morning after your workout, do it! If you want to do it right before bed, do it! It doesn’t matter when you do it, just as long as you get it done.
Some people love doing their cardio first thing in the morning when they wake up, because you have fat in your blood and your body's going to use fat for energy. And I like it. I believe this is actually true. There's no scientific research to back this up, but I think it's an efficient way of thinking. What I would say is you should have a protein shake, or an amino acid drink before you start doing your cardio in the morning. And if you're going to do your cardio in the evening before bed, I think you want to eat your meal before you do your cardio.
Then lastly, should you do cardio after your workout? That's a great time to do it too. You know, you can get that fat into your bloodstream and start using the fat for energy because your body has used all the carbs and sugar for energy during your lifting session. Now you're tapping into fat, but as I’ve mentioned before: when you do it is not as important as doing it. All right?
If you guys want some sample workouts, some sample cardio workouts, I got five really good ones. They combine high intensity cardio and steady state. They combine high intensity interval training and steady state. This is going to help you get results. It's important that you warm up. You want to warm up before you start sprinting or giving a hundred percent or 90% in any type of exercise. All right. So if you guys need help message me. Email me at quentin@mccohnmuscle.com and I will send the workouts to you. See you guys in the gym.
