Walk right past the elliptical machines, the treadmills, (run outside if you must), and laugh at the Lifecycles. You really don’t need them.

There are manly ways to work your “cardio” whether you are male or female. Here are my Top 10 in no particular order. What are yours? Read the rest of this entry

I followed a recent thread over at Performance Menu about the idea of using strongman training as a type of GPP instead of Crossfit brand of GPP. The contention of the poster, quoting a Marine, was that some strongman training might be more suitable to what soldiers do regularly in the field.

I posed this question to pro strongman competitor, Scott Brengel who responded in this guest post.

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With all types of training I do, I would be considered to be in good cardiovascular condition, yet when I go out for a skate or a run, which I don’t do as frequently, there is not an equal transference of that conditioning to those activities. To get better at those activities I would have to do them more often. In a word, specialize, like an insect! For running and skating, if I want to go faster, I have to train faster.

Vern Gambetta, of Functional Path Training, posted an article by Jack Blatherwick, Ph.D entitled “Establishing An Aerobic Base in which he debunks long slow training, when he states, his approach certainly does not include long, slow distances, because as Vern puts it, “

“This approach certainly does not include long, slow distances, because “slow” is not part of the mission.”

Dr. Blatherwick endorses more “game-like” endurance training and eschews the traditional compartmentalized approach to cardiovascular training which includes long slow and various types of interval sessions as separate workouts.

What we like to call “muscle memory” Jack says the neuromuscular response to long, slow is, you guessed it, long, slow. The way you train, is imprinted and if you play a team sport where team speed is vital, then overspeed training and training in game-like conditions yields the best benefits to the athlete. To run fast, you have to train fast.

I highly recommend this article and Vern’s companion article, “Building An Aerobic Base”.

Hat tip to leanandhungry fitness for the linkage.

For years, I have read Usenet postings from Lyle McDonald, mostly, but not exclusively on the nutritional aspects of fitness. I have appreciated his approach from published scientific research and not current fads or copy from supplement companies. He has a great site at BodyRecomposition.com and really gets into the subject of diet and nutrition in a way most internet fitness guys do not. I have posted his recent article on the differences in steady-state cardio and interval-style training. There are very important distinctions McDonald makes and is well worth the read. I also recommend signing up for his free newsletter. Read the rest of this entry