Please Limit Your Usage

That's what a sign in the cardio area of my gym says -- please limit your usage. The idea, of course, is that so many people want to get on those elliptical machines and treadmills that you need to limit the time you spend on them.

But I know how to limit your usage -- do something else. People spend far too much time on those machines, and get too few results. There are times when it seems like the same people are on them when I start and finish my workout, which includes cardio.

Here was my cardio tonight: one-arm dumbbell snatches, four per arm; five box jumps; 10 ice skaters (jumping side to side quickly as if you're skating); eight burpees; and five medicine ball throw-downs (raise it over your head and using your core throw it straight down).

Run through eight sets, each of which took about a minute, with 30 seconds of rest between each one, and I was done. In other words, no time at all. And I promise you I worked harder than anyone on any of those machines.

Another Reason to Dump Low-Intensity Cardio

As I've noted many times before, I've feel better, enjoy my cardio more, save time and have lost body fat since switching to high-intensity intervals instead of going for a 30-minute run or something along those lines.

Super-trainer Craig Ballantyne recently wrote about a new study that backs up the benefits of high-intensity cardio.

The Drawbacks of Endurance Training

Here's an interesting post from super-trainer Jason Ferruggia's blog about why someone he respects stays away from endless cardio, compared to interval training like sprints.

Standing Out in a Crowd

At least one day a week I use the Versaclimber for intervals. It's a rarely used piece of equipment sitting among the treadmills and ellipticals Every time I climb on it, people doing their 30 minutes of cardio give me looks.

Of course I'm done long before any of them. The Versaclimber gives me an incredible workout. It's hard. Really hard. After each one-minute interval, I climb down out of breath. But it's also an incredibly efficient workout, much more so than anyone around me. So they can look all they want, because doing what everyone else is doing at the gym rarely makes sense.

Make Getting Fit Fun

Every time I see the treadmills and elliptical trainers full at the gym I think to myself about the time all these people are wasting. They're on these machines for at least 30 minutes, while I finish my cardio workout in less than 20 thanks to intervals.

Now I clearly believe that my version of cardio is healthier than what they're doing but much of what I do has another advantage -- it's more fun. When I go into the empty yoga studio and throw six medicine balls to various parts of the room and then sprint to them and bring them back, I not only am getting a great workout but also I am basically playing a game. Every other drill I come up with has some game aspect to it as well. In other words, it makes my cardio fun, which I can't imagine can be said for all those souls on the treadmills watching TV.

Mark Sisson points out that there are even more adventurous ways to get and stay fit. My favorite -- skateboarding, which I picked up again this past summer.

No Marathons for Me

I passed one New York Marathon finisher after another today as I walked back to my apartment. The finish line is near where I live. I was coming from the other direction -- the garage where I'd just parked after a day of surfing. I have great respect for what they all did. I just don't want to do it.

There was a time where I did some distance running, a fair amount of it. But I have to say that I feel healthier since I switched to intervals for cardio. I've become a believer that endurance running breaks the body down in some not so good ways, something shared by trainers such as Craig Ballantyne.

Of course plenty of people disagree and love distance running and cycling and of course they're healthier than those who sit on the sofa. But it's just not for me anymore.

A Better Warm-up, Part 2

Just as with lifting, you want to run through a warm-up before cardio that prepares you for what you're about to do. And that's exactly what I did yesterday before my cardio work. (My cardio involved running an arrow drill -- sprint five yards to the top of the arrow, shuffle about five steps to the left side of the arrow, back to the point, then shuffle to the right, back to the point, and then backpeddle to the start -- three times in a row with a minute rest between each set of three. There were seven sets of it, followed by three of a bodyweight circuit, both from the latest Men's Health. Then I was done, all in less than 30 minutes with the warm-up included.)

So I do things like jumping jacks, skipping, lunges and high-knee running in place. A warm-up like this also stretches the muscles, but does so in a dynamic manner instead of static manner, something Bill Hartman explained not too long ago. Experts believe that static stretching, the kind where you stretch and hold a muscle, can actually weaken the muscle, something you obviously don't want before a workout (it's fine afterwards).

Here's a great video from the James Madison University Strength and Conditioning Program showing a dynamic warm-up. It's fairly easy to do modify many of these so that they work standing in place, which makes them easier to do in a gym.

As we get older, injury prevention begins to become even more important. And dynamic warm-ups can play a big role in helping you stay injury free.