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5 is the magic number

hard disagree.... I can still complete the 12mi ruck under 3hrs and run consistently

I built up to 40min of 1H swings with a 44kg bell then transitioned to quick & dead and the first 10 rep 033 session I puked
Was that doing 5 reps OTM? If so then I’m sorry but as far as cardio is concerned that’s nothing! It’s repeated bouts of explosiveness but it’s far too much rest for it to register as cardio.

I’d be willing to change my mind based on a 20m beep test score. If you can achieve above 12 I’ll concede there’s potentially more going on here.
 
Couldn’t agree more. They go faster too. Every off season we start to ramp up again and get a shock at just how out of shape it’s possible to feel! That’s just from 6-8 weeks or so of lighter training.

I have a rowing regatta in July.

Usually by mid-May I will have pivoted from weightlifting (local meet mid May) to rowing the first week of June, but this year because I'm buying a house, moving, etc, I'm skipping May's weightlifting meet and starting rowing prep a little earlier.

(plus my new home has beach / waterfront ownership, so I'll be able to do a lot more rowing and kayaking)

Net net:

After 6 weeks of rowing conditioning, I'm "race capable", i.e. I could finish a 2k race with a time that won't be embarrassing.

The next 6-8 weeks will be just to get that last 10% to try to place in the top 5.

P.S.

When I played high school and Div 1 football, our "hell weeks" / double days (practicing twice a day, multiple days a week, in August heat) lasted about 2 weeks, to get our conditioning back.
 
I have a rowing regatta in July.

Usually by mid-May I will have pivoted from weightlifting (local meet mid May) to rowing the first week of June, but this year because I'm buying a house, moving, etc, I'm skipping May's weightlifting meet and starting rowing prep a little earlier.

(plus my new home has beach / waterfront ownership, so I'll be able to do a lot more rowing and kayaking)

Net net:

After 6 weeks of rowing conditioning, I'm "race capable", i.e. I could finish a 2k race with a time that won't be embarrassing.

The next 6-8 weeks will be just to get that last 10% to try to place in the top 5.

P.S.

When I played high school and Div 1 football, our "hell weeks" / double days (practicing twice a day, multiple days a week, in August heat) lasted about 2 weeks, to get our conditioning back.
We always have a hell week prior to competition week. Although later in the season hell week starts to look a lot like every other week lol. Especially in the lead up to last seasons world championships we had a good 8 weeks of intense prep. During that phase I think my VO2max would have allowed me to achieve 14 on a 20m beep test any day of the week (PB is 15.2) just from direct competition practice (I cut out all gym work in the last weeks leading up to an event).

Cardio sucks. Especially intense cardio in the 3-4 minute duration as it crosses an energy system. It makes a lot of sense why most people in the gym focus on strength. Comparatively it’s very easy training.
 
You should go for a burn now and then, so you can cope when you go for a sudden double turbo burn. No law says you shouldn't too but it keeps the anaerobic system semi tuned rather than a farty, spluttery one.

A system that can't deliver the necessary fuel to support the specifics of the task is not fit for the task, as said by others Nothing shameful about that, that's what training is for.

I think we, as it's a common theme and I include myself very much here, tend to think that being generally fit having broad physical capabilities that there is an immediate cross-over to everything and anything. But, it's a false sense of security when it gets to specificity ....or even change, with an expectation that you can handle it. True of course if compared to someone untrained but really a change, a challenge is just that and we are all somewhat detrained to apply the general to the specific.

In the context of regular training with only a mild anaerobic stimulus there needs to some training at a harder intensity to offset any sudden very hard efforts. If training for a very high anaerobic event then that needs to be trained....aka peaking.

It's not possible to peak all the time, otherwise its not actually peaking....and it's here where it gets messy and overtraining looms, potentially.

If in regular training, flicking that crazy switch now and then is not that crazy, really. There is method to that madness.
 
Another potential factor. Today I started my first afternoon training session and started to feel slightly sick during the sprints.

I hadn’t eaten properly since the morning sessions due to logistics and I think I was slightly hypoglycaemic.

OP, What does your diet look like?
 
Another potential factor. Today I started my first afternoon training session and started to feel slightly sick during the sprints.

I hadn’t eaten properly since the morning sessions due to logistics and I think I was slightly hypoglycaemic.

OP, What does your diet look like?
Paleo/keto been on it for 2 and 1/2 months. Dropped 15lbs since I started. I've felt great since starting.
 
Paleo/keto been on it for 2 and 1/2 months. Dropped 15lbs since I started. I've felt great since starting.
I’d never advise a fad diet. I’d say your lack of sufficient dietary carbohydrates may be a significant factor in your poor levels of cardio. Especially if you’ve been loosing weight. If you’ve been going into sessions on a caloric deficit I can see cardio making you feel sick.

Are you timing your meals properly? You should always aim to eat a main meal containing a good amount of carbohydrates (so not paleo or keto) 2-4 hours before training. Are you doing that?
 
I’d never advise a fad diet
FWIW, I've been eating like this for about 10 years. it is not clear to me that dietary carbohydrates are at all necessary for mere mortals.

However, if you were a competing athlete and you didn't include "carbs" for optimization of performance, I'd consider the athlete to be cutting off their nose to spite their face.
 
FWIW, I've been eating like this for about 10 years. it is not clear to me that dietary carbohydrates are at all necessary for mere mortals.
All of science disagrees with you. Carbohydrates are an essential component to a healthy diet and your body’s primary preferred energy source.

You absolutely should moderate your carbohydrate intake based around your energy expenditure (unlike protein for example where your requirement’s are based on body weight) but you will still need a significant amount especially if you are a gym goer. Failing to eat a properly proportioned diet will have you leaving significant gains on the table.

Also as OP mentioned about loosing weight; for non elite athletes it’s important to remember the primary goal of any set of eating habits is to promote health. You can loose weight in an unhealthy way and restrictive diets are a good example of this.
 
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