post up all your aerobic/cardio training stuff/questions here!
We don't know what our limits are, so to start something with the idea of being limited actually ends up limiting us.
Ellen Langer
aerobic/cardio related discussion thread
Not having any stuff that is related to that but yeah i must say if someone does that its something superb which can really be awesome for them.Just having the correct diet can help them with that.
BB?
Not having any stuff that is related to that but yeah i must say if someone does that its something superb which can really be awesome for them.Just having the correct diet can help them with that.
So… If I eat some correct diet I don't have to train very much?
I need motivation to increase my cardio/aerobic.
As-is I have great endurance and can pedal/hike/ski all day every day without breaking a sweat or raising my heart beat AS long as I am not trying to sprint or hurry which means I keep the same slow and steady pace all day.
Problems arise when I try to sprint or push past that slow steady pace - shortness of breath and hammering heart rate which probably indicate that my cardio/aerobic fitness is actually much worse than I think.
What can I do to my everyday bike/hike/ski routine to increase my cardio without going to the gym? I have tried to motivate myself to sprint/relax/sprint/relax on the bike/uptrack but find it fairly un-enjoyable so I just keep plugging along at the slow/steady pace.
on a sidenote, maybe this slow/steady pace is why I'm so fond of my front derailleur and granny ring!
The Crossfit propaganda suggests that lots of anaerobic and near-anaerobic work will not reduce your oxydative aerobic capacity but if all you do is LSD (long slow distance) then your aerobic/high-power/short-intensity capacities will suffer.
Anecdotally I would say this is true. Especially around here where riding is full of bursty little climbs and surprise high-power output moments. In other locales where mountain biking is mostly a sit-and-spin affair significant anaerobic capacity might not be as valuable.
On [HTML_REMOVED]3hr rides I crush most of my cardio-junkie friends in this respect. I carry more muscle and can reliably produce short power bursts. But on longer smoother rides (say, Whistler/Squamish XC epics or Chilcotins adventures) they absolutely crush me. But this is my choice as I prefer intense technical rides rather than longer death-marches. I could adapt my fitness to suit those rides but that would limit my ability to do the kind of riding I really love.
There's nothing better than an Orangina after cheating death with Digger.
if you suck at speed then do speed work, I was training by skinning up to the ski hill 1hr fast as I could go and it made a big difference … it gave me another gear on the skin track
if you suck at speed then do speed work, I was training by skinning up to the ski hill 1hr fast as I could go and it made a big difference … it gave me another gear on the skin track
Totally! If you have a hard time with sprinting intensity then do it in intervals. First lots of short intervals, then lots of slightly longer ones, or shorter rest. There are lots of ways to acclimatize yourself to going harder.
Plus you don't need to just practice that intensity on bike or skis. The same principles work for running or potentially weightlifting. It's good to get a taste for the way intensity presents itself through different activities.
There's nothing better than an Orangina after cheating death with Digger.
I need motivation to increase my cardio/aerobic.
As-is I have great endurance and can pedal/hike/ski all day every day without breaking a sweat or raising my heart beat AS long as I am not trying to sprint or hurry which means I keep the same slow and steady pace all day.
Problems arise when I try to sprint or push past that slow steady pace - shortness of breath and hammering heart rate which probably indicate that my cardio/aerobic fitness is actually much worse than I think.
What can I do to my everyday bike/hike/ski routine to increase my cardio without going to the gym? I have tried to motivate myself to sprint/relax/sprint/relax on the bike/uptrack but find it fairly un-enjoyable so I just keep plugging along at the slow/steady pace.
on a sidenote, maybe this slow/steady pace is why I'm so fond of my front derailleur and granny ring!
intervals!
HIIT workouts can be done in as little as 10 minutes, but setting aside 15-20 min is a bit better.
the primer:
- as a beginner start with a 1:3 work to rest ratio and as you improve go to 2:1
- keep your intervals short, 1 minute allows your work effort to be in the optimal zone and it's easier to keep track of them
- your workout intensity should be 105% for the work and anywhere from 25% to 75% for the rest. as you improve increase the intensity % of the rest interval.
- at the top end of 2:1 drop your interval time down to about 30 seconds for 20sec of go time and 10sec of rest, but have the rest at or around zero effort
- to get the most out of it make sure your work period is as hard as possible, essentially you should close to or at the point of having to stop by the end of it.
- make your rest period as easy as needed in order to recover and be ready for the next work period
- make sure you warm-up first for at least 5 minutes.
intervals work great on spin bikes, cycling trainers (fluid or mag), rowing ergometers, outside running small hills and can work great on stairmasters too depending on your ratio and effort level. intervals can also work on stationary bikes or elliptical trainers but you will typically need to constantly adjust resistance levels so it's a bit more complicated. short intervals don't work well on treadmills (unless you're doing a 2:1 ratio where rest is at zero effort and you can stand on the side rails) as it takes too much time for the belt to speed up or slow down and it ruins the intensity/timing mix.
longer duration intervals don't offer the saem performance benefits but are good for sedentary individuals to get started. here the work time may be 1-3 minutes and the rest would be 2-6.
the only drawback to intervals is that while they are highly effective for conditioning your cardiovascular system they are not good at conditioning your muscles/connective tissue for longer duration activities. is if you want to run a 1/2 of full marathon while intervals will help with that, they will not condition your musculature to eb able to complete those long distances. in this case, it's important to work on increase your distance/duration gradually to avoid injuries.
We don't know what our limits are, so to start something with the idea of being limited actually ends up limiting us.
Ellen Langer
The Crossfit propaganda suggests that lots of anaerobic and near-anaerobic work will not reduce your oxydative aerobic capacity but if all you do is LSD (long slow distance) then your aerobic/high-power/short-intensity capacities will suffer.
this is true and it's been shown in a number of studies that intervals can be better at improving short duration aerobic performance (say around 90min) that doing medium intensity steady state training.
We don't know what our limits are, so to start something with the idea of being limited actually ends up limiting us.
Ellen Langer
What can I do to my everyday bike/hike/ski routine to increase my cardio without going to the gym? I have tried to motivate myself to sprint/relax/sprint/relax on the bike/uptrack but find it fairly un-enjoyable so I just keep plugging along at the slow/steady pace.
Tabata intervals are your ticket. Short, sweet and painful. Look them up.
"The song of a bird…We used to ask Ennesson to do bird calls. He could do them. How he could do them, and when he perished, along with him went all those birds…"-Return from the Stars, Stanislaw Lem
"We just walk around, and sometimes we go out and dance, and then we listen to the environment."-Ralf Hutter, Kraftwerk
Tabata intervals are your ticket. Short, sweet and painful. Look them up.
the only thing better is chiabatta intervals
We don't know what our limits are, so to start something with the idea of being limited actually ends up limiting us.
Ellen Langer
Thanks for the good info everyone. Chiabatta intervals are important too, my metabolism is ridiculously high as-is so I'll have to eat a plate of those if I plan to add more exercise into my day.
the only drawback to intervals is that while they are highly effective for conditioning your cardiovascular system they are not good at conditioning your muscles/connective tissue for longer duration activities. is if you want to run a 1/2 of full marathon while intervals will help with that, they will not condition your musculature to eb able to complete those long distances. in this case, it's important to work on increase your distance/duration gradually to avoid injuries.
I feel like I mostly suffer in the cardiovascular side of things and wonder if this is something that needs to be worried about in every case? I feel like I'm fairly strong and my musculature seems to be fairly well adapted to doing to a variety of exercise, workouts and physical work without complaining much BUT I really want to minimize the feeling of having a heart attack when I try to sprint
Thanks for the good info everyone. Chiabatta intervals are important too, my metabolism is ridiculously high as-is so I'll have to eat a plate of those if I plan to add more exercise into my day.
I feel like I mostly suffer in the cardiovascular side of things and wonder if this is something that needs to be worried about in every case? I feel like I'm fairly strong and my musculature seems to be fairly well adapted to doing to a variety of exercise, workouts and physical work without complaining much BUT I really want to minimize the feeling of having a heart attack when I try to sprint
muscular strength is not the same as mucular endurance, and muscular endurance is specific to a certain type of activity whereas cardiovascular endurance is non-specific. so the reason i caution about muscular endurance is because of it's specificity and that someone with good cardio in activity A can have good cardio for activity B but not have the right muscular conditioning for activity B and end up getting injuries from activity B if they do too much volume when starting out with that activity.
so sounds like you need to work on anaerobic output and intervals will be the best way to do that. the bonus is that you'll also improve your cardiovascular conditoning via increasing your anaerobic threshold and the efficiency with which your body can process and deliver oxygen. a stronger pump can push more fluid through the system with less effort - same goes for your heart with your blood and the oxygen contained in it.
there's been some investigation to show that elite level weightlifters have hearts with an ejection fraction as strong as elite level marathon runners. better pump = better performance. the old saying in endurance activities is that the best oxygen pump wins - your heart is that pump.
We don't know what our limits are, so to start something with the idea of being limited actually ends up limiting us.
Ellen Langer
It is always the ham sandwich with you. Now I'm hungry.
the only thing better is chiabatta intervals
"The song of a bird…We used to ask Ennesson to do bird calls. He could do them. How he could do them, and when he perished, along with him went all those birds…"-Return from the Stars, Stanislaw Lem
"We just walk around, and sometimes we go out and dance, and then we listen to the environment."-Ralf Hutter, Kraftwerk
i was doing some reading on elevating your lactate threshold the other day, and while most of it wasn't news a few interesting things did come up.
elevating your LT is the easiest way to boost your performance in terms of time for distance. in fact, you can improve LT without changing maxVO2 and still be able to lower your time for a given distance.
sub-max training and LT training can yeild similar results for aerobic performance, but the big benefit with LT training such as intervals or short [HTML_REMOVED] intense workouts is that the benefits gained per unit of time invested are better than longer duration training. however, lower intensity training can yeild better results with the caveat being that more time spent training is required.
the takeway is that no matter what you are training for, some form of interval training should be included in your training program.
We don't know what our limits are, so to start something with the idea of being limited actually ends up limiting us.
Ellen Langer
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