Posts Tagged ‘cardio’

A leading cause of death in weight training athletes is heart attack caused by thick blood.

High testosterone, SARMs and Roids are linked with increased blood thickness. Many weight trainers pride themselves by shunning aerobics and embrace anaerobic training and the muscle pump.

The blood itself is an adaptive substance that thickens its viscosity with exercise.

Blood will congeal and thicken when compressed into muscle tissue. When it pools in some area its natural tendency is to congeal and become thick.

This increases the nutrient density in the muscle tissue. However its bad for your heart when this happens over and over with no relief.

Think if all you do is this blood thickening exercise every day. It strains the heart and burdens the brain and other organs.

The muscles will grow big and strong. Health benefits will occur but there is a hidden bad effect on the cardio vascular system and all of the organs.

Eventually for some this means heart attack or stroke.

Aerobic exercise on the other hand will lower plasma viscosity. Hematocrit is what we measure to check the blood viscosity.

Dehydration is a common factor to increase the risks.

Aspirin, garlic, ginger, cayenne pepper, Vitamin E, grape seed, ginkgo & turmeric can all help to thin the blood as can coQ10. Venesection & blood donation is another big help. There are other natural substances that can also assist. Chinese medicine has its offerings too.

Interestingly Isometric training while a strength regimen that immediately raises blood pressure actually conditions the cardio vascular system & lowers blood pressure with time. Weight training will also lower blood pressure in the medium to long term.

The bottom line is that we love to lift weight & get big & strong. But we must also love endurance and aerobics.

It doesn’t matter what can be done with HIIT anaerobic conditioning. Sure its great & saves time. But it wont replace the requirement for aerobics and endurance training.

You have to do cardio. Long endurance training to thin your blood and lower your blood pressure.

There are plenty of scientific papers backing this up – you can google the following one for starters:

“Effects of a moderate-intensity aerobic program on blood viscosity, platelet aggregation and fibrinolytic balance in young and middle-aged sedentary subjects”

I increased my cardio. Specifically doing short bicycle sprints on my real bike. I have a special seat that puts zero pressure on the crotch – its a split two part seat.

So I am getting boners much much more now & my cardio is way better. I recommend some high intensity cardio – these cycle rides only last 20 minutes max.

It must be a combination of the general heart action & the thigh pump in the crotch. It is definitely training in the lactic acid overload region & high heart rate.

I got a rebounder some months ago. I always used to enjoy briefly using a rebounder at the gym & I am too heavy for running much at 100+ KG’s.

So a rebounder seemed like a good idea. Many books & sites claim rebounding is as intense calorie wise as running or skipping. Well I can tell you that that is not the case unless you make it so.

I find rebounding much less strenuous than either running or skipping but having said that if you go all out it can indeed get your pulse pumping.

Main benefits: Conditioning of archiles tendons & calves, feet & shins, safe for knees & hips.

The above benefits will greatly improve your injury resistance while running & if you are big like me you just cant run too frequently without injury.

Lymphatic drainage: Yes all forms of exercise will drain your lymph but rebounding certainly seems to be particularly effective.

Cardio: The more you put into it the more you will get out of it.

I just did a full days work – not hard, I was painting a house. I got home tired and crashed out for 3 hours when I awoke it was 9:30pm and I felt like shit. Like I really needed a workout to burn some fat.

Outside its wet, raining. So I had all of these excuses in my head, rain, late in evening, I’m tired etc.

Solution: 30 minutes running on the spot, star jumps, skipping without a rope and jumping in place.

The result: I am sweating like a pig, my heart has been racing for 30 minutes & my calf muscles are swollen with blood and lactic acid.

Equipment required: 1 square meter of ground, one towel and one bottle of water.

No excuses & no reason this cant be done 3x per day or more.

I believe I have lost fitness doing LSD running. Its made me slow like a slug. If you have never exercised & need to lose fat and ease your heart into training then it has value.

But I am an ex infantry soldier, I have lifted weights 26 years. Thanks to LSD my cardio level is very poor.

The fix ? Kettlebell snatches and the viking warrior workout will save my ass. I expect that only 1-2 months doing the cardio KB snatch routine will have my cardio in pristine condition. No more long slow runs to the beach for me.

Kettelbells are far more effective for improving cardio and fat loss while maintaining and increasing muscle.

I never used to be a big runner – still am not. I know its great for losing fat and developing cardio, but its bad for your knee’s and hips.

Anyway some years back I was in the army reserve my time on 1.5 miles was around 10:30 or 11 minutes – which isn’t fantastic.

In the years since I have done some running but more long slow distance of several kilometers. I have however done much time on the rowing machine – 3 or 4 times per week for many years.

So my cardio has been good as a consequence of this. Now I have decided to take a crack at the army again and and have taken up the training to pass their running test. I first tried the test and failed miserably at 12:47.

After weeks and months of fin swimming, running etc I now have the time down to around 9 minutes and expect to soon have it below that.

But you know what – stick me on the rowing machine and I have not improved at all.

So whats going on ? Has the improvement in running time corresponded with improved VO2 max and cardiac output or is it just a result of better leg endurance.

Well I can tell you that after some of my training sessions in the evening when resting my pulse rate has been remarkably lower that it was formerly so that is clear evidence of improved cardiovascular output.

But most of my cardio training still is not running – its fin swimming.

I just do the runs to test myself – Its the fin swimming that is doing the bulk of the conditioning.

Fin swimming is great because it taxes and conditions the lower legs, thighs, hamstrings and is great for heart and lungs. Plus its zero impact.

If you are following my blog you will know I am training to re-enlist in the NZ Army at 40.
You will also know I just sprained my darn calf muscle while on the treadmill doing a crazy sprint.

Well I got to thinking what has changed about my training since I was in the infantry reserve ten years ago. In all respects I am a better athlete except at running. My flexibility is about the same, strength quite a bit better, muscle mass greater, cardio is fine on the rowing machine, crunches I can pump out by the hundred.

One thing is different – I used to skip. I also used to do chi kung and muay thai on my hand made punch bag but thats for another post.

Skipping is held to be three times as effective as jogging.

Heres a breakdown of calories burned with intense activities…

The thing with skipping is its a hell of a lot easier on the body that sprinting.

Your calves, tendons and ligaments are likely to be strengthened rather than injured like they could be running. Thats my only gripe with running being a big guy – I know I can blow a gasket.

I weigh 220-230 lbs so thats a lot of weight to be putting on my hips, knee’s and connective tissue.

I do rowing but it wont condition the lower body much even though its great for cardio. Skipping is the solution that can improve your running without risking lower body injury.

You know as an athlete two golden rules are “Don’t waste time” and “Don’t risk injury”.