I get the question all the time. I have come off at times as the Anti-Cardio guy or I should say aerobics. For people not in the fitness industry I will take a couple sentences to explain some differences in cardiovascular training. First, there is the aerobic cardiovascular training. You would be correct in thinking of dancing aerobics classes. Aerobics have been around even before Jane Fonda made it famous years ago. ?Without going into the biochemistry of it all, Aerobics means your body is utilizing lots of oxygen in your activity level. When working aerobically your body does use fat as a main source of fuel which does make aerobics a favorable option for burning fat. You can usually do aerobic activity for extended periods of time without suffering from fatigue. FYI you are very aerobic when you are sleeping as well, it doesn?t mean that you can burn tons of fat by just sleeping all day. Unfortunately once people realized aerobics burned fat it started a huge explosion in aerobics based classes and training, and unfortunately when done in excess it seems that a less favorable body fat percentage is achieved. Just ask the women who join the gym and take aerobic classes 5 + times per week and don?t ever see the results they want! Does this mean that aerobics is useless? Well I will come back to that. The next part of cardiovascular training is called Anaerobic training. ?So unlike the marathon runner that is very aerobic and can run for hours without stopping, an anaerobic state of conditioning involves high intensity bouts of training followed by periods of rest. The best way would be thinking of a sprinter.
? ? ?Lately in the fitness industry the biggest buzz is about focusing on high intensity interval training (HIIT). It is just a way of training the anaerobic system. To tell you the truth I have been a big fan of this training for the past few years and the research that has come out regarding HIIT show that it has benefits in the fat loss game. Much of it has to do with the hormone response that it causes in the body that promotes fat loss and muscle gains for hours post workout. The biggest benefit is that these workouts are usually done in under 20 minutes. ? This type of training is why kettlebells have really made a huge impact because they lend themselves nicely to this type of training without all the impact of running or sprinting.
? ? ? So now that I have explained what most of you know, why the hell am I writing this, well the biggest reason is to find a balance. I have trained numerous aerobics instructors that have taught an upward of 15-20 aerobic classes per week and they have a less than favorable body fat percentage. I was recently at a fitness expo that I was presenting to a room of aerobics instructors. I asked how many felt that they had extra body fat and felt soft? Well over half the room raised their hand. The biggest reason of this discrepancy may not be the excessive aerobic training but maybe to do with the lack of a strength focus and undernourishment, though I think this could be a hefty discussion as well. ?There has been a huge shift in the fitness industry that has shunned aerobics completely calling it out dated and the new camp calling for all HIIT training alone as the only and superior method of training. Kettlebells, Sleds, Ropes, and numerous other tools have been utilized to feed into this craze. Heck I have a gym that is all of the above. ?It?s funny how these things happen. A huge ?aerobics only? culture that has proven that it can?t be the only method of training leads towards a huge Anaerobic training culture just to find out that both have a place in training. Granted we don?t need an NFL Football player running 5 miles per day as that would be detrimental to his performance, but building a solid aerobic ?base is extremely beneficial to athletes.
Here are my problems with HIIT only training in my opinion. It starts with the name. HIGH INTESITY. Even though it is done in short bursts and only for 20 minutes, it leads itself to overuse injuries and really ramping up the nervous system. I am a big believer in Kettlebells hence the name of this blog and my gym, but after someone just gets done training a heavy strength workout with a finisher what should they do tomorrow? Sure rest is an option but if they are training 3x week with strength and anaerobic conditioning what about the other days? Do they need to do high intensity explosive sprints to keep their body moving and to experience health benefits? I think in many cases this high, high, high can really lead to overuse and overtraining by really jacking up the nervous system. This is where my thoughts are really changing towards. Building an aerobic base can definitely be achieved by using aerobics as accessory work and days between strength training. The fear of losing strength by doing aerobics is very misplaced. Sure, If I am training a world class powerlifter I don?t want him doing 2hours of cardio a day, but for the regular person looking to get stronger and leaner this Aerobic conditioning 2-3 days per week for 30 minutes should not hurt anything and can only add to the benefits of training. Training aerobics can be achieved numerous ways: Walking at a fast pace, cycling, jump rope, light circuit training with lower intensity, ellipticals, versa-climbers, light kettlebell swings in a timed circuit , etc??. My favorite is walking at a fast pace for at least 30minutes to an hour. Again, if someone is only walking for exercise it is better than doing nothing but having a more well rounded program would be well advised to see benefit.
In the middle of me writing this blog I decided to post the question to lots of other trainers and fitness people that I know? The funniest thing is those that are on top of things in the industry all pretty much agreed in the need for having aerobics as a part of a program. IF you want to see all the comments add me as a friend on facebook..? ? ?I just wanted to put it out there, that just leaning to one side only of training is never the best solution and time after time we tend to fall into a state of ignorance as an industry or sects of an industry. ?So just as I would tell a client to add strength and anaerobic training to their training if they are only doing aerobics, I will tell all of you that are only doing HIIT and Strength to start adding some lighter intensity aerobics back into your program..
If you are interested in looking in to some other reads that were presented to me while I was writing this blog have at it. Not that I agree with all of it, I can definitely say that all lead to understanding there needs to be a balance..
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