All You’ll Ever Need To Know About Cardio
Yeah right. How many times have you read something that claims to be the “be all” and “end all” to a popular and important topic? It’s like Al Gore saying the discussion on climate change is over. Let the demagoguery begin.
When I ran for most of my fitness objectives, it was all about “LSD”, long slow distance to best improve your cardiovascular fitness and performance. Throw in an occasional fartlek session and you were good to go.
Fast forward to a few years ago, for me at least, I learned about “metcon”, or metabolic conditioning where now the hot ticket was interval training in it’s various forms including Tabatas. Crossfit advanced the metcon idea and generally dissed cardio in the form of running if it was over 10K in distance. Interestingly, they seem to be backing away from that now that they offer a “certification” in running.
Of course, cardiovascular training is more than an “either or proposition”. People who love running long distance would benefit greatly from various types of interval-style training and not just from running either. The metcon people could occasionally chill a bit and enjoy a long bike ride or a hike and still improve performance.
Joel Jamieson, of EndZone Athletics Training Performance Center balances out the two and in fact endorses volume over intensity in the beginning stages of developing work capacity. He doesn’t bash traditional cardio and asserts that interval training isn’t the whole enchilada either.
Like the variety of training that makes up a good GPP, there is room and great benefit from both main types of cardiovascular training and their variations. Read both Part 1 and Part 2 of Jamieson’s cardiovascular system training principles over at EliteFts. They are both good reads.
**UPDATE**
Lyle McDonald also has a similar, more detailed take in his “Interval Training Versus Steady State Cardio” Part 1.
Visit and subscribe to his blog or newsletter to get Part 2 and a wealth of additional diet and fitness research. McDonald has some pretty cool stuff there. Now go out for a run or bike ride and have fun!
