Training 06.02.09

Hello,

Today's workout was a simple slow and steady cardio training session on the cross trainer. Many people (including myself) have written off cardio training in the past. There are many arguments against cardio training such as it burns muscle, increases cortisol, leads to the conversion of intermmediate twitch muscle fibres to type I endurance fibres and causes muscle imbalance syndromes due to the repetitive motion.. Another reason I have heard and I have personally used is that we are not designed to do cardio from an evolutionary perspective. We were designed to throw the rock at the rabbit, not chase it.

I believe that in the fitness industry there is a tendency to over react to any new idea or concept. It either gets hailed as the greatest revolution in training (unstable training) or a total waste of time (the ab roller and thigh blaster). What we need to do is come back to the middle and understand that there is a place for everything. An example of this is a number of strength coaches refuse to use the swiss ball for conditioning labelling it as a 'wimpy' tool. Yet as they say that there are 100's of trainers who are successfully using the swiss ball to train athletes and clients to new levels of excellence.

My personal reasons for aerobic training are three fold:
1. Promote recovery: Aerobic exercise is known for increasing blood flow. ANY exercise promotes blood flow. Increased blood flow facilitates the removal of metabolic waste products and can also improve insulin sensitivity. As I performed a leg session yesterday, I wanted to help my legs recover.
2. Improve heart and lung health: These are important! If they stop working you will be pushing up daisies in no time. Cardio can be damaging to both these vital organs when you push too hard. When I perform cardio I limit my respiration to NASAL BREATHING ONLY and do not deviate. If I cannot maintain nasal breathing I slow down. I have talked about the importance of nasal breathing in other posts and I and sure i will do it again. The key thing to remember is that nasal breathing will prevent over activation of the sympathetic nervous system and will hence negate the release of excessive amounts of cortisol.
3. Relaxation: This type of training is easy on the brain, it allows you to zone out and relax. Considering I am lecturing for 16 days straight in two weeks and have to go over every manual and am in the process of writing 5 more manuals and 2 books it is nice to relax your brain every now and then!

Training Session

25 minutes cardio on cross trainer - nasal breathing intensity ( I did not record the calories burnt; it does not worry me at all and the measurements are totally inaccurate)

Finished with slow wave stretching - a system of stretching that integrates the stretch with the breath for greater range of motion and nervous system synchronisation. See the book Stretch to Win for more information,

Paul