I mean does it even matter if you do it???!! Well I suppose we could define cardiovascular training as forms of activity with the purpose of developing cardiovascular or aerobic fitness. It is a measure of your heart's ability to pump oxygen-rich blood to the muscles.
Basically anything where you aren’t just lying around all day watching the Mandalorian and the clone wars all day…. Looks at myself in the mirror *shrugs*
So why do it? The benefits include but are not limited to:
Increased cardiac output
Increased oxygen uptake
Increased blood flow to the active muscles
Increased blood volume
Improved thermoregulation
Lower rate of all-cause mortality
Lower incidence of type 2 diabetes
Lower rate of body fat
So training this system is a pretty solid idea.
But most people put this into 2 camps, either;
Long intensity steady state (LISS). Here we’re thinking low to moderate heart rate normally on a cross trainer, treadmill bike etc.
High intensity interval training (HIIT). Very short duration with maximal output. To be honest this training is not what most people think it is. So i’ll add
Higher intensity training (HIT). HIT, with ‘1’ I. Most people know and perform this, think 30 seconds of hard work followed by rest and repeated a number of times.
Now i’ll hold my hand up here and used to be of the mind that these two forms of training would only be done at the end of session or on completely different days. To be honest, neglected entirely was more often my choice with me only wanting to lift weights and then lift more weights.
This is cool, lifting weights can improve cardiovascular function but it just doesn’t give the same feel of athleticism. Until I started trying something new….
So my old program template I used to use followed something along the lines of (this is not exact, but it paints a good picture):
Work glutes
Mobility
Strength/muscle building/toning
Optional cardio/extra arms
Until I was training with a friend Josie one day. We both got in the gym at the same timeish, he went over to the treadmill and did some HIT intervals. I did 5 minutes on the Crosstrainer, glutes and stretching to prep myself.
My train of thought was… WOW, bet he’ll be tired and won’t keep up with our full body session with extra arms at the end. I was going to smoke him.
Nope, didn’t happen.
Josie, not only was he glistening like the angel sweat vampire (don’t ask, he just did) he got straight into squats. I STILL NEEDED TO WARM-UP. Yup. I was playing catch up because I “wasted” my time not really getting my body ready.
Long story short. Epic workout. High fives and bro hand shakes. He just felt one step ahead. I had a really hard time understanding what I had just witnessed and realised I was being too dogmatic in my approach and had to try something new.
First with myself, then slowly with clients playing around with the idea of doing cardio at the start of sessions and combining these with other qualities that I felt needed to be trained.
Need more power?
Start of the session with some cardio add some throws and jumps
Want a bit of stretchy time?
Yup fits nicely in there
Want to talk about how bubblegum ice cream is the bomb?
Okay, that goes in the rest periods and social media :)
I wouldn’t say this has been a complete 180 of what I was doing, instead it highlighted that it really doesn’t matter what order you complete a workout in. Of course more complex things should go first but I don’t really like complex things. Me simple (I am groot).
Unless you are training to become a top tier bodybuilder, or compete at the next olympics I don’t think it really matters all that much. Sometimes do your cardio first, at the end or on separate days.