What is the best way to train general endurance or cardiovascular health? I don't care about training for a specific sport, I don't even care about losing weight. I'm not fat but I get gassed going up a few flights of stairs.
Obviously I hate doing cardio in general, I'm sure some of you guys can relate, so what is the most time-and-effort efficient way to get your heart levels up?
The best cardio is the one you can do without getting bored. Personally, I like running, just not on a treadmill. I can go for a 2 hour run outside and it feels great. If I'm on a treadmill for more than 5 minutes it feels DREADFUL. Find the cardio you can do for 30+ minutes and then stick to that.
This is fundamentally good advice, however, my issue is that I have yet to identify any that I find particularly tolerable so I'm looking to approach the issue from the angle of getting the most out of the time that I do put in. Is 30 min running equivalent to 30 min on a bike? Jumping rope? Swimming maybe? As always the most important thing you can do at the gym is walk in the door, but surely some of these are a better use of time than others.
Give rowing a try
find not one cardio you enjoy but a few so the variation keeps it fresh.
i bike to pretty woods and run there. sometimes i just bike. in summer i bike to lake and swim.
a bike is always a good idea. on rainy days i do kettlebell swings.
>rotate
Good idea, I like this approach. The slog of going out Running 3x a week forever is part of what makes me hate it so this could help for sure.
Rowpill me, I always thought of this as more of an upper body thing than straight cardio
>Jumping rope is more intense and high-impact than running.
Is this true? Maybe my running technique sucks (likely) but I find the rope a lot more approachable and less unpleasant on the slamming my feet into the pavement front. If it's more intense that suggests it might be a good lead in terms of getting a lot out of relatively less time though.
Not if you have proper form and technique. A decent amount of power comes from your legs (think I read 60% somewhere). Try doing a 5k row under 20 min to see if it gets your heart pumping.
Rowmachines are based
I like bicycles though, the burning in legs is awesome
You should be pretty fit before running, also running should be done outside if possible or on an indoor track so you can catch wind and reduce heating/sweating.
Jumping rope is more intense and high-impact than running. Great exercise but be careful.
If you're fat the best exercise for health and fat burning is probably incline treadmill walking. Just don't jack it up so much you have to hold onto the bars and have bad posture.
I don't swim or bike so I won't comment on those.
Try them all. Rotate through them over the course of several weeks. Don't worry about specifics; just get on the treadmill, hit start, and pick a speed that feels comfy. Pick up a hope and start jumping rope. Eventually you'll find the one(s) you like. At that point start looking into dedicated workouts for them.
In terms of straight efficiency, it's probably
Swimming >>> running > biking > rowing > jumping rope
but, again, the efficiency of an exercise doesn't mean jack shit if you can't actually do it. Cardio isn't lifting. It's not over fast. It's as much a mental exercise as a physical one. Find the ones you can do and go from there.
>Swimming >>> running > biking > rowing > jumping rope
Efficiency as in watts output?
sounds like stationary bike at zone 2 is what your looking for. Peter Aitta has lots of podcasts and stuff about this you can also look into 80/20 training good luck bro.
bike while watching something on my TV.
I still hate it, but is not boring.
The type of cardio that gives the strongest exercise response and anabolic hormonal response is intense cardio like 100-200m sprints, after that hiit, and so forth
If you want good cardiovascular health then do not do cardio. It strains the heart.
Based take I guess and really I care more about the endurance than the Health aspect, sucks being out of breath after exerting myself for a fairly fricking minimal amount of time. Like I lift and don't even skip leg day but my heart's pounding and I'm ready to pass out after a set of 5 squats. So redpill me on how to build endurance without straining my heart.
Swimming burns an obnoxious amount of calories because of heat loss.
Good to keep in mind but not necessarily the point of the thread, I'm in decent shape in terms of body comp and appearance but shit shape in terms of actual Fitness. I might look like a beefcake but if I actually had to fist fight somebody I'd be out of breath and dying in like 2 minutes without even getting hit
Intervals of moderate effort to max effort.
For example, jog for 1-2 minutes and sprint for 20-30 seconds and repeat until you complete your distance.
You can do this with any exercise really, you just switch back and forth between moderate to max effort intensity.
Obviously this is fricking brutal but in 10 minutes you can get better conditioning than jogging several miles.
Tried out the rowing machine tonight, feeling pretty good about this one
This is good, exactly what I'm looking for really. Works with anything and cuts down on the time investment, for my personal taste in workouts I'd much prefer to go hard in shorter bursts.
>I get gassed going up a few flights of stairs.
Hop on the stairmaster you dumb homosexual
I do 21.5 minutes every day (so 150 minutes a week) on a concept2 bikeerg and just monitor heart rate. I shoot for 70% ish of my max and maintain it there...I literally cover my rpms/distance with a towel and play clash of clans lol. seems to work pretty well.
doesn't matter wtf you do to get the heart rate up but how high you get it going and also how long you do it for is what counts, pic related
Last year I started using a bike for most of my transportation; in my city it's usually faster than public transit, and depending on distance and traffic can be faster than driving. It lets me do a decent amount of cardio without feeling like I'm devoting extra time to it. It's also pretty fun, and a good way to explore where you live.
Couch to 5k. Will probably save your life, even if you hate cardio