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Variety day cardio-oriented ideas

Pasibrzuch

Pasibrzuch

Level 6 Valued Member
Doing cardio is unbearable, it's an objective fact ;)

I need to constantly come up with new things to make myself do it, and I thought I will share the two I really like:

Coordination hoops
They are similar to agility ladder, but you have more freedom on how you arrange them. I'm learning exercises from this video, one by each session. I think most of the HR comes from the stress of solving the task rather than sheer jumping. I did Muay Thai, so these karate-ish kickboxing stance is entirely new to me.

Reaction ball
Some time ago I started a thread where I complained on my poor reaction time. According to one piece of advice I bought a reaction ball, so a small rubber ball that bounces in random directions. I just throw it at the wall and try to catch it. If it bounces of the floor, I run after it. The movements you must do are really unpredictable and involve frequent change of direction, so your HR goes up quickly.

For both of these tools I use the tempo method - I keep going until my HR reaches the MAF number/I feel the very first shortness of breath than I recover and repeat.

Enjoy.
Your own ideas are welcome.
 
I find cardio boring, just like you. However, I managed to make peace with it by treating it as meditation and as a good thinking environment. Cal Newport calls this "productive meditation". Instead of focussing your attention on your breath, you focus it on a problem/question. Whenever your mind starts to wander, you bring it back.

I also practice what Jocko Willink and David Goggins preach: The very fact that you don't like something is a growth opportunity. Huberman offers a scientific reasoning why this actually works: How to Increase Your Willpower & Tenacity

This in mind, I like to add my favorite non-boring cardio options:

- Rough playing with my dog.
- Playing with my daughter (I make games up that are difficult for me)
- Shadow Boxing (if you have a martial arts background. I like pure boxing the best)
- Training basketball skills
- Training soccer skills
- Soft Parkour (doing cat walks on a pipe, jumping exercises, short jogs etc.)
- Low Intensity Locomotion Drills (Locomotion Conditioning)
 
Alan Mackey said:
Slow paced and sustained sparring for one hour straight.
Click to expand...
that's a great idea, but demands a lot of "martial wisdom" from you and your sparring partner.
Too bad we did so little of no-gear sparring, it was a great way to develop looseness and one had to really be careful not to hurt one another, contrary to full-gear sparring sessions. And most of all, it had the feeling of play rather than a fight.
 
Pasibrzuch said:
that's a great idea, but demands a lot of "martial wisdom" from you and your sparring partner.
Too bad we did so little of no-gear sparring, it was a great way to develop looseness and one had to really be careful not to hurt one another, contrary to full-gear sparring sessions. And most of all, it had the feeling of play rather than a fight.
Click to expand...
Then, the most useful and enjoyable form of cardio I can think of is a slow paced circuit of cleans, crawls and carries (the more varied all of them, the better).
 
sfast said:
- Training basketball skills
Click to expand...
I need to go back to this. I love this variant (in Poland we call it 2-8, if I remember correctly) that you throw a shot for three. If you miss, you need to run to the ball and catch it before it bounces of the ground for the second time and shoot from that place.
And ball handling drills are great for general agility.

sfast said:
However, I managed to make peace with it by treating it as meditation and as a good thinking environment. Cal Newport calls this "productive meditation". Instead of focussing your attention on your breath, you focus it on a problem/question. Whenever your mind starts to wander, you bring it back.
Click to expand...
I usually listen to podcast when I take my 12kg kettlebell for a walk, but I will try focusing on the issue myself.
 
sfast said:
- Training basketball skills
- Training soccer skills
Click to expand...
I used to do both of these a lot when I was younger and lived close to a park...running up and down a field dribbling the soccer ball...and running up and down the basketball court doing lay ups.

Now, much older and with a busy work life, I row on the Concept 2 in front of the TV watching basketball and soccer.
 
I prefer practicing sport skills too as a substitute for 'traditional' cardio sometimes during my training.
In summer though, tennis practice/matches IS my primary 'training' and the 'training' is quite secondary haha
 
Alan Mackey said:
Slow paced and sustained sparring for one hour straight.
Click to expand...
This was the most enjoyable cardio I've ever done.

During wresting practice, we grappled at low intensity. During jujitsu, we rolled at an easy pace. During boxing, my favorite was practicing combos on the double ended striking bag.

Spending 30-45 minutes grappling, rolling, or running drills is amazing, but I still needed roadwork to keep from getting winded during actual matches.

T_M said:
Now, much older and with a busy work life, I row on the Concept 2 in front of the TV watching basketball and soccer.
Click to expand...
Haha, this is what I do now too.
It's just okay.
 
Pasibrzuch said:
that's a great idea, but demands a lot of "martial wisdom" from you and your sparring partner.
Too bad we did so little of no-gear sparring, it was a great way to develop looseness and one had to really be careful not to hurt one another, contrary to full-gear sparring sessions. And most of all, it had the feeling of play rather than a fight.
Click to expand...
No gear sparring is awesome. Our coach used to have use do that all that occasionally to slow down the aggression.
 
I used to find cardio boring but as I have gained knowledge and age, I find more and more cardio experiences interesting and rewarding.

1) Decide if you like hard exercises where you gasp for air, or easier exercises where you go slow for a long time. Or something in the middle like S&S format aerobic.
2) Find out if you like outdoor or indoor.
3) The less ambitious you are, the more opportunities you have.

During spring, summer and autumn I enjoy cardio in outdoor stairs. I either do 10 seconds*10 with good rest between. Or I do a glycolytic work-out there where I go for something like one minute and rest for some minutes.

In summer and when it is warm I also like swimming intervals in a lake.

For zone 2 training late in the evening when the weather is a bit bad I like riding my stationary bike. Very meditative. Calming. You are quite literally not moving.

Step-ups. My father made me a normal sturdy chair and a small step-up in wood. Then I have two sizes of steps. The opportunities are endless: Slow pace, quick pace, no weight, weight added, load in a back-pack, load ovr-head, step-ups combined with push-ups. Side-stepping, step-up with foot in front of you, switching foot on every step, or do steps with the same foot for 7 steps.

I you have a child you could also take that child on your shoulders and walk up a more or less steep hill. I think that also will be quite hard.

My father is in a running-group. Twenty men in about the same age go for a run. Afterwards they go to the swimming pool and sometimes drink beer. According to my dad this is all very social and rewarding.

Risk and damage. Some people like to do drugs. Some people like to play football. They all involve high risk. When you are 30,40 and even 50 damaging you knee and ripping off some tendons and ligaments might not be such a big problem, but when you become 60 and 70 you start paying a price for the foolhardiness of your youth. You get constant pain and cannot even climb a small hill without getting pain. Many a friend and acquintant have told me they no longer can squat or bend their knees properly due to an injury they got while playing football with colleagues. I therefore don't do football, American football, drugs, basketball, handball or similar high risk team-sports.
 
Hello,

Slow and steady bag work, focusing on technique : not looking for speed or power, just pure technique with a lot of volume.

Otherwise, a mix of 6 counts burpees and rowing : legs are worked in both moves, burpees cover the push, rowing the pull. 1 minute of each for instance, then repeat. Also, 10 burpees, 10 rows, etc...

Kind regards,

Pet'
 
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