Cardio Question

Random question I've received on cardio, the questions simplified, do I prefer high or low intensity

cardio? Are weighted walks good and how do you feel about the sprinter / marathon runner

argument which is often repeated? 

I prefer low intensity cardio because it burns a higher percentage of fat although you need to perform more of it compared to high intensity cardio. Low intensity cardio might burn 80% fat and 20% glucose/glycogen, high intensity cardio might burn 20% fat and 80% glucose/glycogen. It's important to remember that high intensity cardio burns more calories per unit of time so 1 hour of high intensity cardio will burn more fat than 1 hour of low intensity cardio. The benefit of high intensity cardio is less time is needed to burn the same amount of calories, the downside is that you burn a lot of glucose/glycogen which can interfere with your weight training unless you eat extra carbohydrate to help offset the extra glucose/glycogen burnt during high intensity cardio although this is essentially taking 2 steps forward and 1 step backwards. In order for low intensity cardio to work you'll need 2-3 hours per day, going for 2 long walks (60-90 minutes each) will work well, although it takes more time to burn the same amount of calories compared to high intensity cardio there is one very important advantage to low intensity cardio, it doesn't burn much glucose/glycogen. Weighted walks are not good, it increases the % of glucose/glycogen burnt. We want to burn as much fat as possible while burning as little glucose/glycogen as possible, this is why we need very low intensity exercise (walking or very gentle cycling or swimming etc). High intensity cardio is best for improving heart/lung fitness, low intensity cardio is for weight loss purposes only. Get on an exercise bike and pedal as hard/fast as you can for 10 seconds and then pedal lightly for 20 seconds, then pedal as fast as you can for another 10 seconds followed by

another 20 seconds of light pedalling, keep going in 30 second blocks like this until you've completed at least 10 minutes in total. You could do this everyday if you felt up to it and consumed enough carbohydrates.

If you you really cant push yourself into doing any cardio (it's not a requirement) and you want something lifting based, I would advise trying 100 reps of a back squat, starting with your 20 rep maximum. Once your able to complete all 100 reps without a pause then slightly increase your weight and try again, the frequency on this is your choice, I wouldn't do it all the time though because it will slightly interfere with hypertrophy and strength gains.

Sprinters train in the gym with weights, marathon runners intentionally make themselves skinny/light so that they don't have to carry as much body weight, comparing the two is a really stupid thing to do.

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