Let's talk Cardio

[MegaCarp]

Hey all, I'm trying to get in the best shape of my life. To go up by a single level is not satisfactory, I want to become superhuman. However, to be superhuman, I have to assume the Batman/Iron Man persona of having incredible intelligence and using it to improve me.

So my great new friends and fellow rebels, help a recruit out, how do you cardio?

[Steve]

Do be honest with you, I don't do cardio.

I know some folks love it....I'm personally just not a fan in the slightest - bores me to tears, and is detrimental to my muscle building (which I need to make me look more like bruce wayne).

Instead I focus on lifting heavy weights in a circuit-type style (which builds the cardio into the workout), while doing sprints and jumping rope on my off days...which builds up enough VO2max and conditioning so that I could go run a 5k at a moments notice without ever having trained for it.

-S

[Steve]

Saw in your other thread that you want to learn about intervals. Here's a post from the site that does a pretty good explaining it:

http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/01/27/kick-your-ass-and-kickstart-your-metabolism-in-20-minutes/

Once you have a decent baseline, you can start doing those to have more effective short term cardio sessions.

-S

[Knightwatch]

I tend to agree with Jim Wendler:

"So with conditioning, when faced with something like jogging on the treadmill, ask yourself first: is this awesome? When you see someone in the gym on a treadmill, do you go, "My God, that is so awesome!" No, you go, look at that poor dumb bastard, he probably just had a triple bypass or something. But hill sprinting? To me, that's awesome.

Of course, geeks like to bust my chops with questions like, "How do I even know if something is awesome or not?" My answer is, if you're so freaking unsure that you have to ask someone else for his or her opinion then the answer is it's probably not the least bit awesome."

Do something awesome, and do it hard. You'll get conditioned right quick.

[spezzy]

yeah. so. i dont really do cardio either.

i mix in burpees and jumping jacks and jump rope and such in my workouts. (like, the other day i did power cleans, then dips, then burpees, and repeated a ton of times until i fell on the floor out of exhaustion).

if i absolutely force myself to do any sort of cardio i run. in the summer i do sprints around my work campus. if im on the treadmill i find myself watching the clock and hating every second of it.