WEBVTT - Can Strength Training Count As Cardio? 0:00:00.840 --> 0:00:05.880 Welcome to Fitness Disrupted, a production of My Heart Radio. 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:18.440 I am Tom Holland and this is Fitness Disrupted. All right, 0:00:19.400 --> 0:00:22.880 I'm a little fried. Now I take you back. I'm 0:00:22.920 --> 0:00:26.960 a lot fried, a lot going on. You know what 0:00:27.960 --> 0:00:31.760 you pushed through? You keep moving forward. That's what all 0:00:31.920 --> 0:00:36.640 my racing has taught. When you're tired, when your brain 0:00:36.880 --> 0:00:44.440 is just mush, keep moving forward. So I'm gonna do this. 0:00:45.200 --> 0:00:49.720 It's a great topic. It's a great topic. Can I 0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:53.760 count blank as blank? What do I mean by that? Well, 0:00:53.760 --> 0:00:57.400 it's a question I get all the time, and it's 0:00:57.400 --> 0:01:00.280 a little more complicated just in its format. It's a 0:01:00.320 --> 0:01:03.680 little more variable because there are variables within there, but 0:01:03.800 --> 0:01:11.119 it's essentially, Hey Tom, can I count blank? Is my cardio? Hey? Tom? 0:01:11.160 --> 0:01:17.000 Can I count blank as my strength? Workout? What do 0:01:17.040 --> 0:01:22.840 you think the two words are? Well, it depends, but 0:01:22.959 --> 0:01:26.360 it really doesn't in that We're gonna get right to 0:01:26.400 --> 0:01:29.679 the exercise science here. We can get right to the 0:01:29.760 --> 0:01:31.720 response that your body has to what you just asked 0:01:31.720 --> 0:01:36.360 me about. I mean, that's pretty cut and dried. I'm 0:01:36.400 --> 0:01:41.080 gonna try to keep this episode short and sweet. A 0:01:41.280 --> 0:01:43.120 tough time doing is and if you have listened to 0:01:43.120 --> 0:01:50.120 prior podcast. No, but you definitely have questions related to 0:01:50.160 --> 0:01:55.600 this topic. And it's a great question because if people 0:01:55.640 --> 0:01:57.280 are asking it, they know that they need to do 0:01:57.320 --> 0:02:00.160 it right. So I want to do strength workout out 0:02:01.400 --> 0:02:06.440 does it count? I want to do my cardio? Does 0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:13.280 this count? And what are specifics here? Well, I mean 0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:16.320 there's so many because there's so many options. But that's again, 0:02:16.680 --> 0:02:22.200 it's a good thing. I love this question, but it 0:02:22.360 --> 0:02:27.000 may be the following. Can I count swimming as my 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:32.919 strength workout? Can I count golf as my cardio workout? 0:02:33.800 --> 0:02:35.880 Now we get into are you walking? Are you in 0:02:35.919 --> 0:02:40.320 a cart? How many holes are you playing? Can I 0:02:40.480 --> 0:02:44.880 count tennis as my cardio workout? That always begs the 0:02:44.960 --> 0:02:48.799 question from me singles or doubles, And if they say doubles, 0:02:49.200 --> 0:02:51.880 they say no, and then they get angry, and of 0:02:51.919 --> 0:02:56.280 course I'm kidding. But again we're gonna go to the 0:02:56.480 --> 0:02:59.880 exercise science. The body's response to that mode that you're 0:03:00.000 --> 0:03:04.960 asking me about. Common question is can I count running 0:03:04.960 --> 0:03:09.360 as my leg workout? My legs strength work out? Oftentimes? 0:03:10.520 --> 0:03:13.720 And then one that is often thrown into both categories, 0:03:13.720 --> 0:03:15.760 and I talk about this and my book Beat the 0:03:15.800 --> 0:03:22.840 gym that was inten wow while back. But when it 0:03:22.880 --> 0:03:25.680 comes to yoga, I'm often asked, can I count yoga 0:03:25.720 --> 0:03:29.440 as my cardio workout? And or can I count yoga 0:03:29.480 --> 0:03:32.600 as my strength workout? And if I'm being totally honest, 0:03:32.639 --> 0:03:36.480 as I always am, oftentimes when it's yoga, I'm not asked. 0:03:36.520 --> 0:03:39.640 I'm told. You know, I'll be having a discussion with 0:03:39.680 --> 0:03:43.360 someone and find out what I do and they'll say, oh, yeah, 0:03:43.520 --> 0:03:48.920 I do yoga for cardio. It's my cardio and my strength. Yes, 0:03:48.960 --> 0:03:53.000 but no getting ahead of myself, right, So it does 0:03:53.040 --> 0:03:54.920 come down to the science here, and it comes down 0:03:54.920 --> 0:03:59.080 to this people and jump way ahead. It comes down 0:03:59.120 --> 0:04:03.680 to living our best lives. So I could obviously say yes, 0:04:04.200 --> 0:04:06.680 people say does this count? Sure you can count for 0:04:06.680 --> 0:04:09.920 whatever you want. Sure you want to count your map 0:04:09.960 --> 0:04:13.400 plates as you know cardio and endurance. Sure count for 0:04:13.400 --> 0:04:16.159 whatever you want. But but that would be doing that 0:04:16.200 --> 0:04:19.280 person a huge disservice and that's not what I do. 0:04:20.760 --> 0:04:22.120 And so we're gonna get to the science. We're just 0:04:22.160 --> 0:04:27.360 gonna look at certain elements of this question and break 0:04:27.400 --> 0:04:31.600 it down so that you can start to put together 0:04:31.680 --> 0:04:35.000 your plan. And I want that plan to be as 0:04:35.080 --> 0:04:38.720 varied as possible. I want you to do so many 0:04:38.720 --> 0:04:43.080 different things, but I want you to know and start 0:04:43.120 --> 0:04:46.160 to realize that the response your body has to those 0:04:46.240 --> 0:04:52.800 different things answers this question. That's pretty easy. You don't 0:04:52.880 --> 0:04:58.440 really need any fitness tech to answer the question. Your 0:04:58.480 --> 0:05:00.680 body is really smart, and your respond to it, your 0:05:00.760 --> 0:05:06.680 your perception of it. We'll tell you just about all 0:05:06.720 --> 0:05:09.000 you need to know, alright, quick break, When we come back, 0:05:09.000 --> 0:05:11.520 can I count my strength workout as cardio? And many 0:05:11.560 --> 0:05:15.680 other questions like that, but basically, what is cardio and 0:05:15.720 --> 0:05:19.400 what is strength? And how much should we do? All right? 0:05:19.640 --> 0:05:22.080 And how do we do that so that it works 0:05:22.120 --> 0:05:25.719 for us as individuals? All right? Quick break, we'll be 0:05:25.800 --> 0:05:37.919 right back all right talking about can I count my 0:05:38.120 --> 0:05:41.160 strength to workout as cardio? So that's a specific one 0:05:41.600 --> 0:05:44.560 I have received, and it's pretty specific in this realm 0:05:44.560 --> 0:05:50.320 of this specific question, but it goes to again, the 0:05:50.400 --> 0:05:53.960 real question here is doesn't have the same effect, doesn't 0:05:54.000 --> 0:05:58.120 have the effect? Does it have a cardio vascular effect? Right? 0:06:00.360 --> 0:06:05.200 And so when people ask about strength, can I count 0:06:05.200 --> 0:06:07.880 my strength work out his cardio? And I just received 0:06:07.920 --> 0:06:12.360 a question right along these lines, very specific with circuit training. 0:06:13.440 --> 0:06:16.960 And as I've talked about, my first original fitness videos 0:06:17.000 --> 0:06:20.839 were just that self produced before I did all the 0:06:20.839 --> 0:06:23.359 other ones for other people. But I said, how do 0:06:23.440 --> 0:06:26.599 I give people like you, and specifically my wife at 0:06:26.600 --> 0:06:28.320 the time. If I were designing a workout for my 0:06:28.400 --> 0:06:32.880 wife super busy, you know, works, does it all? What 0:06:32.960 --> 0:06:35.839 would I do it with circuit training? And the first 0:06:35.960 --> 0:06:39.280 video was forty some odd minutes body weight and dumbells 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:42.720 circuit training format, so that there was a cardio vascular effect. 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:48.000 But this is such a perfect way to kick this 0:06:48.080 --> 0:06:50.880 off and to start. You know, when you go to 0:06:50.920 --> 0:06:53.839 a doctor, a specialist, and you're deciding on whether to 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:56.880 do surgery or something, you can often say to that person, 0:06:57.400 --> 0:07:01.440 if you were me, would you do it? Or if 0:07:01.480 --> 0:07:05.480 if you know, if I was your husband or wife, 0:07:06.040 --> 0:07:10.520 what would you recommend? And so the very fact that 0:07:10.880 --> 0:07:16.840 I designed the workouts that way showed that, yes, I 0:07:16.920 --> 0:07:20.440 was trying to build some cardio vascular effect into that workout. 0:07:21.880 --> 0:07:25.720 But would I have said to my wife or would 0:07:25.720 --> 0:07:27.720 I say to my wife that that's all she needed 0:07:27.760 --> 0:07:34.320 to do? Were those workouts as far as cardio goes? No? No? 0:07:35.480 --> 0:07:41.920 So can you get a cardio vascular effect from that 0:07:41.920 --> 0:07:46.720 that type of strength workout. Yes, is that all you 0:07:46.760 --> 0:07:52.000 should do for cardio? No? And that's where we're gonna 0:07:52.000 --> 0:07:58.280 get to here. Okay, So when we talk about cardio, 0:07:58.360 --> 0:08:01.160 we're talking about raising our heart rates. You know, I 0:08:01.200 --> 0:08:04.080 try to keep it as simple as possible on first 0:08:04.160 --> 0:08:09.480 level discussion of this. Cardio exercises raising our heart rate. 0:08:09.960 --> 0:08:13.760 Strength exercise is challenging our muscles. And if we go 0:08:13.880 --> 0:08:15.880 to cardio, our heart is a muscle. We need to 0:08:15.960 --> 0:08:20.000 challenge it. Do we need to challenge it really hard 0:08:20.120 --> 0:08:23.800 every time we do cardiovasco exercise. No, that's the wrong 0:08:23.800 --> 0:08:26.840 way to do it. You don't want to interval train 0:08:26.920 --> 0:08:29.160 every single day. That will be a problem. You will 0:08:29.200 --> 0:08:32.120 get injured, you will get sick, you will overtrain. That's 0:08:32.160 --> 0:08:35.480 not how we evolved. And the same thing holds true 0:08:35.480 --> 0:08:40.240 with strength. We want to challenge our muscles, all of 0:08:40.280 --> 0:08:46.800 our muscles. Do we want to go all out every time? No? No. 0:08:49.400 --> 0:08:55.160 And so when we are deciding on whether something qualifies 0:08:55.400 --> 0:09:01.640 as cardio or something qualifies as strength, we want to 0:09:01.640 --> 0:09:03.840 look at our body's response to it. So let's use 0:09:03.920 --> 0:09:07.800 yoga because that is thrown into both camps now as 0:09:07.840 --> 0:09:10.360 many different forms of yoga. And again I'm gonna keep 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:15.160 this very basic, broad level and I'm gonna just start. 0:09:15.400 --> 0:09:17.559 I'm not gonna get into any studies for this discussion, 0:09:18.040 --> 0:09:22.800 but John Hopkins just a discussion on this very topic, 0:09:23.080 --> 0:09:26.400 the yoga heart connection. Right, So can I count yoga 0:09:26.920 --> 0:09:31.160 as my cardio? Now people will talk about, hey, I 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:33.559 do this specific form of yoga. Maybe it's hot, yoga 0:09:33.640 --> 0:09:40.680 gets my heart rate up, that's cardio. That should be enough, well, Courney, 0:09:40.800 --> 0:09:45.880 John Hopkins, and many others. It's it's just not is 0:09:45.920 --> 0:09:48.720 there a cardio vascar effect, of course, but if you 0:09:48.760 --> 0:09:52.720 put a heart rate monitor on you would see that 0:09:52.840 --> 0:09:56.480 for the vast majority of these type of workouts, you're 0:09:56.520 --> 0:10:03.360 not getting that cardiovascular effect that you would from other forms. Okay, 0:10:03.400 --> 0:10:06.199 and I'm just gonna quote directly from John to Hopkins, Uh, 0:10:06.200 --> 0:10:10.480 the yoga heart connection. Yoga as exercise. They say yoga 0:10:10.559 --> 0:10:14.800 can improve flexibility, muscle strength, and balance because it's not 0:10:14.880 --> 0:10:17.960 a form of aerobic exercise that raises the heart rate. However, 0:10:18.679 --> 0:10:21.520 you shouldn't count the time you spend doing it as 0:10:21.520 --> 0:10:25.120 a part of your recommended weekly total for moderate to 0:10:25.480 --> 0:10:31.320 vigorous physical activity. Now, many yoga people argue with me 0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:35.840 about this, and that's fine, and listen, I don't need 0:10:35.880 --> 0:10:38.560 to be right. I want the best for you. You 0:10:38.559 --> 0:10:41.800 can count anything for whatever you want. But I'm just 0:10:41.840 --> 0:10:45.840 going by what I read, what I experience the science. 0:10:46.640 --> 0:10:48.640 When you put a heart rate monitor on and you 0:10:48.679 --> 0:10:52.199 see the effects of that form of exercise, what does 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:57.840 it do? And it doesn't compute the same way. But 0:10:58.320 --> 0:11:00.600 let me just quickly say this, and I'm gonna vote 0:11:00.600 --> 0:11:03.160 again from Johns Hopkins, they say yoga as heart booster. 0:11:03.840 --> 0:11:07.920 Beyond offloading stress, practicing yoga may help lower blood pressure, 0:11:07.920 --> 0:11:12.320 blood cholesterol, and blood glucose levels as well as heart rate, 0:11:12.720 --> 0:11:16.600 making it a useful lifestyle intervention. I'll go away further 0:11:16.640 --> 0:11:18.920 than that. You know, look at those benefits. By the way, 0:11:19.080 --> 0:11:23.240 those are the same benefits you get from cardio vascular exercise, 0:11:23.280 --> 0:11:28.800 but not the only ones, not the only ones. And 0:11:28.880 --> 0:11:32.800 that's a huge part of this question. There's so many 0:11:32.840 --> 0:11:39.160 benefits of exercise, cardiovascular and strength training. That's what this 0:11:39.200 --> 0:11:43.280 podcast and all my books are about. But when you 0:11:43.360 --> 0:11:47.760 limited to just one, you say, yoga is my cardio. 0:11:48.080 --> 0:11:53.199 That's that's my cardio. That's a problem. We want to 0:11:53.800 --> 0:11:57.920 mix up all our forms of movement and hit all 0:11:58.120 --> 0:12:03.680 five components of fitness us and within that do it 0:12:03.720 --> 0:12:09.680 at different intensities. Okay, So that's really a huge part 0:12:09.720 --> 0:12:13.080 of this discussion. You know, people say gardening. You know, 0:12:13.440 --> 0:12:17.280 I garden for five hours. I'm super sore after. Can 0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:20.200 I count that as my strength training part of it? 0:12:21.000 --> 0:12:25.079 Are there strength benefits? Absolutely? Is that all you want 0:12:25.120 --> 0:12:28.920 to do? No? And as I say that, you go, well, 0:12:28.920 --> 0:12:35.640 people have different goals. But the lifestyle we live, our 0:12:35.760 --> 0:12:40.760 modern lifestyle and our weaknesses and imbalances, we need more. 0:12:42.960 --> 0:12:46.080 I mean, yes, I always go to the evolution two 0:12:46.080 --> 0:12:48.800 Blue Zones type books and things like that. We have 0:12:48.880 --> 0:12:53.400 to look they don't have to. I I believe it's 0:12:53.400 --> 0:12:57.280 a huge problem with so many of the approaches to 0:12:57.360 --> 0:13:00.640 fitness and wellness and nutrition and exercise, is that we're 0:13:00.679 --> 0:13:03.440 not looking at how we evolved. Kind of important in 0:13:03.480 --> 0:13:07.040 my opinion. But you could make that arguments as actually 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:14.120 many people do, who say we should you know, run 0:13:14.200 --> 0:13:16.959 like certain animals, You go, well, they have four limbs 0:13:17.000 --> 0:13:21.240 and eat a certain way when we really didn't. So 0:13:21.480 --> 0:13:26.840 kind of twisting and perverting the evolution. But it's very 0:13:26.880 --> 0:13:30.320 simple to say, and it's true. You know, people who 0:13:30.360 --> 0:13:31.960 live in blue zones, people who live to be a 0:13:32.000 --> 0:13:37.280 hundred and beyond and thrive generally don't go to the gym. 0:13:37.320 --> 0:13:41.520 But they're also not sitting all day long, not even 0:13:41.520 --> 0:13:44.800 close to sitting all day long. So that's where it's 0:13:44.880 --> 0:13:47.920 a little apples to orange is in regards to what 0:13:47.960 --> 0:13:52.960 we need to do to counter the effects, the ridiculous 0:13:52.960 --> 0:13:57.280 effects of the lifestyle that we have made for ourselves. 0:13:57.640 --> 0:14:02.760 All right, so back to yoga. Yoga's phenomenal on so 0:14:02.800 --> 0:14:07.480 many levels. But what I tell someone like my wife 0:14:07.520 --> 0:14:09.360 that that's all she needed to do, that's that was 0:14:09.400 --> 0:14:12.000 her strength, and that was her cardio not if I 0:14:12.160 --> 0:14:15.280 truly as I do, wanted her to live her longest, 0:14:15.280 --> 0:14:18.760 best life. And that goes to get a little deep 0:14:18.800 --> 0:14:25.600 into the basic exercise science osteoporosis. Right, we need to 0:14:25.680 --> 0:14:28.720 challenge our muscles and our bones more than just that. 0:14:31.360 --> 0:14:34.280 It goes to heart health. Even though you get those 0:14:34.320 --> 0:14:39.240 incredible benefits of yoga, and by no means diminishing the 0:14:39.320 --> 0:14:42.080 incredible heart benefits, but I want more. I want it's 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:47.040 not enough. And you may have yoga as part of 0:14:47.080 --> 0:14:52.440 your repertoire. And then you may walk, and you may swim, 0:14:52.480 --> 0:14:56.080 and you may do you know, a group exercise class 0:14:56.120 --> 0:14:59.040 twice a week total body. Now you see where I'm 0:14:59.040 --> 0:15:04.160 getting to. Yes, you can and should count these things 0:15:04.520 --> 0:15:09.400 as one of your forms of cardio and or strength. 0:15:11.400 --> 0:15:14.119 But let's go to those recommendations that are so confusing, 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:17.200 but we have to talk about them real quickly. You 0:15:17.200 --> 0:15:20.360 know what does the American Heart Association recommend, Well, you've 0:15:20.400 --> 0:15:21.960 heard it a million times, get at least a hundred 0:15:22.000 --> 0:15:25.320 fifty minutes of moderate aerobic activity or seventy minutes of 0:15:25.400 --> 0:15:28.640 vigorous aerobic activity a week, or accommodation of moderate and 0:15:28.680 --> 0:15:33.200 vigorous activity. Most people have no idea what that means. 0:15:33.280 --> 0:15:37.920 Most people overestimate there level of activity. In other words, 0:15:38.280 --> 0:15:42.680 low is moderate and moderate is hard. We need to 0:15:42.720 --> 0:15:46.160 mix it up. And so when we're looking at your 0:15:46.200 --> 0:15:50.840 strength and your cardio, does it challenge you? Does it 0:15:51.000 --> 0:15:54.800 challenge your muscles when you do that form of strength 0:15:54.840 --> 0:15:58.680 work that you are trying to put into your routine 0:15:58.720 --> 0:16:04.320 as strength and is it a full body workout? That's 0:16:04.320 --> 0:16:07.160 a huge problem. So let me just go real quickly 0:16:07.200 --> 0:16:11.480 to the question can I count running as my leg workout, well, 0:16:11.520 --> 0:16:15.600 of course, holy smokes, is that going to strengthen your 0:16:15.680 --> 0:16:21.680 legs and be you know, make your legs sore? So yes, 0:16:21.720 --> 0:16:27.600 that is part of your strength workout. But it's not enough. 0:16:29.280 --> 0:16:33.200 In other words, what I said at the beginning, we 0:16:33.280 --> 0:16:37.960 need to mix things up to balance out not only 0:16:37.960 --> 0:16:44.400 our modern lifestyle, but our weaknesses and imbalances individually. So 0:16:44.440 --> 0:16:46.240 in other words, if you just run running in and 0:16:46.280 --> 0:16:51.360 of itself, you're going to build up certain imbalances and 0:16:51.360 --> 0:16:54.479 it's going to be a problem. So we do leg workout, 0:16:54.640 --> 0:17:00.240 specific leg workouts with body weight and machines and free 0:17:00.240 --> 0:17:06.959 weights and bands two fix those imbalances and fix those weaknesses. 0:17:08.480 --> 0:17:13.359 So do you see the theme here is yes, doubles tennis. 0:17:13.440 --> 0:17:18.680 It's a form of cardio and it's fun. And I 0:17:18.720 --> 0:17:21.720 did that podcast on how you Know. There was a 0:17:21.760 --> 0:17:27.320 study that said, well, many studies, group of studies, how 0:17:28.640 --> 0:17:33.880 racket sports. If you look at longevity and sports, people 0:17:33.880 --> 0:17:37.639 will play racket sports live really long lives, no longer 0:17:37.720 --> 0:17:44.560 lives than most and correlation not causation, and many great 0:17:44.640 --> 0:17:50.000 as a great debate, but it's fun, it's social. These 0:17:50.000 --> 0:17:53.440 are the reasons I gave an interview on ABC News 0:17:53.480 --> 0:17:58.560 about this. It's a great topic, but it also goes 0:17:58.640 --> 0:18:02.000 to you're not gonna say, what's the least amount of 0:18:02.040 --> 0:18:07.359 time I can play doubles tennis? Does that count? You 0:18:07.400 --> 0:18:10.320 want to do it because you enjoy it, and doubles 0:18:10.320 --> 0:18:14.680 tennis tennis, you know, racket sports and sports like that. 0:18:14.840 --> 0:18:20.600 Basketball sudden starts and stops. It's aerobic and it's anaerobic. 0:18:22.840 --> 0:18:24.840 And that's where we're gonna bring this all to. We 0:18:24.880 --> 0:18:31.639 want to vary our intensities. We don't want just enough. 0:18:32.960 --> 0:18:36.480 And as I say that, if you think that when 0:18:36.520 --> 0:18:40.600 I say we need to do more, that doesn't mean 0:18:41.119 --> 0:18:45.040 it's not enjoyable. And that doesn't mean it's an hour 0:18:45.400 --> 0:18:52.159 in duration necessarily at all. It's the totality of the 0:18:52.240 --> 0:18:57.760 overall movement, how many minutes you move, and how you 0:18:58.000 --> 0:19:03.119 strengthen that entire body in different print ways. I do 0:19:03.160 --> 0:19:07.159 body weight exercises, I use machines, I use bands. I 0:19:07.200 --> 0:19:10.520 do a little bit of everything, not a lot of 0:19:10.640 --> 0:19:14.760 one thing. And I will constantly remind you of that 0:19:14.920 --> 0:19:23.120 excessive moderation works. Okay, let me just grab that swimming 0:19:23.160 --> 0:19:26.160 as my strength work out. Another great way to look 0:19:26.200 --> 0:19:30.720 at this swimming awesome form of cardiovascar actors sercise. For 0:19:30.760 --> 0:19:33.240 so many people it means to keep from drowning. For me, 0:19:33.840 --> 0:19:37.439 but I do it because it's different, and for me 0:19:37.480 --> 0:19:43.360 it's a huge flexibility just overall, like body massage as 0:19:43.400 --> 0:19:48.719 I'm struggling through the water, but your body is supported 0:19:49.880 --> 0:19:53.080 by the water. So it is actually not a great 0:19:53.119 --> 0:19:56.879 form of strength. Do you build strength? Of course you do. 0:19:58.720 --> 0:20:02.960 If you just did swim and nothing else, you would 0:20:03.040 --> 0:20:06.199 run into problems strength related. I mean you can go 0:20:06.240 --> 0:20:11.320 to the extremes, you know, NASA and the issues they 0:20:11.359 --> 0:20:17.919 have with space is the body is not being stressed 0:20:18.000 --> 0:20:21.160 in the right way, and that's a huge problem. So 0:20:22.000 --> 0:20:24.840 a lesser example of that is swimming and the body 0:20:24.880 --> 0:20:29.000 being supported in water. So again a phenomenal form of 0:20:29.000 --> 0:20:33.400 cardiovascular exercise. I would throw it into the flexibility category 0:20:33.440 --> 0:20:38.800 as well, But you need to do strength training so 0:20:38.840 --> 0:20:42.840 it doesn't count. All right, quick break, When we come 0:20:42.840 --> 0:20:45.320 back and put it all together and tell you how 0:20:45.400 --> 0:20:51.359 to put together your plan that you can do wearing 0:20:51.440 --> 0:21:04.040 lifetime that you enjoy, we'll be right back. All right, 0:21:04.240 --> 0:21:06.399 we are back talking about can I count my strength 0:21:06.400 --> 0:21:11.119 workout as cardio? It's basically looking at what is cardio, 0:21:11.240 --> 0:21:14.240 what is strength? And how much of it do we need? 0:21:14.960 --> 0:21:18.560 And at what intensities? And this is why I do 0:21:18.800 --> 0:21:22.200 all the different shows for you on why we should 0:21:22.240 --> 0:21:25.520 do hills, why you should do intervals, why you should 0:21:25.560 --> 0:21:29.280 do steady state, why when you read these dopey articles 0:21:29.320 --> 0:21:31.480 on you know, here's the one way to do it. 0:21:32.080 --> 0:21:34.919 You know, Oh, cardio makes you fat one of my 0:21:35.080 --> 0:21:39.679 favorite ones. Hate the term. Don't even you know you 0:21:41.640 --> 0:21:44.160 you aren't fat, you have fat. It's a great way 0:21:44.200 --> 0:21:47.040 to look at it, right. We all want to be 0:21:47.040 --> 0:21:50.680 a healthy weight, but you want to mix up all 0:21:50.720 --> 0:21:54.320 of the above, the intensities and the workouts. But at 0:21:54.359 --> 0:21:56.520 the end of the day, it does come down to 0:21:58.000 --> 0:22:03.200 in so many different ways. Okay, so eighty percent of 0:22:03.280 --> 0:22:06.040 the time you do something you need. The other eight 0:22:06.080 --> 0:22:08.960 percent of time you try to eat healthy. At the 0:22:08.960 --> 0:22:13.320 time you do whatever you want. Right, you can argue 0:22:13.359 --> 0:22:15.600 with me about that simple math and break it down again, 0:22:15.720 --> 0:22:19.960 number of days in the year, blah blah blah. And 0:22:20.200 --> 0:22:24.120 most people do it the opposite, eating healthy twenty percent 0:22:24.160 --> 0:22:26.719 of a time eighty percent at a time there they're not, 0:22:27.600 --> 0:22:31.120 and slowly work your way to that then it's eighty 0:22:31.160 --> 0:22:34.560 percent of time your workouts, your cardio should be moderate, 0:22:35.400 --> 0:22:41.120 easy to moderate. That's great news. So you're golfing your 0:22:41.160 --> 0:22:46.800 doubles tennis, that's great and that's enjoyable. And then twenty 0:22:46.840 --> 0:22:49.840 percent of the time you want kind of not kind 0:22:49.880 --> 0:22:53.040 of you want to go anaerobic. You want some breathless 0:22:53.160 --> 0:22:56.800 exercise in there. And that may be singles tennis, that 0:22:56.840 --> 0:23:00.520 may be a hard doubles tennis, that may be you know, 0:23:00.800 --> 0:23:04.760 whatever it is for you getting on a piece of 0:23:04.800 --> 0:23:07.720 exercise equipment. And this is the short workout people, this 0:23:07.800 --> 0:23:11.359 is the twenty minutes. Actually, I did a phenomenal thirty 0:23:11.359 --> 0:23:15.840 minute basic workout the other day on the treadmill. Ten 0:23:15.880 --> 0:23:20.480 minute warm up, one minute sprint, one minute walk. I 0:23:20.560 --> 0:23:24.160 repeated that nine times and a four minute cool down. 0:23:24.200 --> 0:23:26.600 I think that was the math. Yeah, four minutes, I 0:23:26.600 --> 0:23:32.440 believe thirty minutes, breathless for sixty seconds, recovered for sixty 0:23:32.560 --> 0:23:36.440 nine times three minutes, three minute cool down with the 0:23:36.520 --> 0:23:41.040 other one. You get my point. So when you're trying 0:23:41.080 --> 0:23:45.920 to determine if something is strength or cardio, just remember 0:23:45.960 --> 0:23:48.680 that this is the long term and you don't want 0:23:48.680 --> 0:23:51.959 to short change yourself and oftentimes you know the answer. 0:23:52.640 --> 0:23:55.560 You know the answer, and when you mix it up, 0:23:56.080 --> 0:23:59.720 you ask the question less often. In other words, if 0:23:59.720 --> 0:24:03.000 you're doing many forms of cardio, if you're doing many 0:24:03.240 --> 0:24:06.760 micro workouts throughout the day, some core workouts five minutes 0:24:06.760 --> 0:24:11.399 here there, some body weight exercises here, they're going to 0:24:11.480 --> 0:24:14.360 the gym maybe a couple of times a week. Then 0:24:14.400 --> 0:24:17.960 you're good. Then you're less likely to ask this question. 0:24:18.440 --> 0:24:22.040 But I want to reiterate one final time. When you 0:24:22.160 --> 0:24:26.000 find the plan you love, you're not gonna ask this question. 0:24:27.400 --> 0:24:30.400 Not in the same way. I mean to understand the 0:24:30.400 --> 0:24:33.879 physiological aspect to it, but oftentimes it's people again trying 0:24:33.920 --> 0:24:39.640 to get around what they need to do, and it's 0:24:39.680 --> 0:24:43.320 prehab versus rehab. As I've said, right, you gotta think 0:24:43.320 --> 0:24:46.320 long term, and that's the hardest thing for so many 0:24:46.320 --> 0:24:47.960 people to do. We live in the here and now. 0:24:48.359 --> 0:24:52.439 We don't think about our health until it's challenged. And 0:24:52.480 --> 0:24:56.680 so let me give you the final simple breakdown. You 0:24:56.760 --> 0:25:00.800 generally want two to three strength specific work outs per week. 0:25:01.160 --> 0:25:05.760 Now you can do more, as many of you listeners do, 0:25:05.880 --> 0:25:10.240 as I know, but that's for the basic looking better, 0:25:10.280 --> 0:25:13.199 feeling better, living longer, being injury free, being able to 0:25:13.200 --> 0:25:15.360 do what you want quality of life. Two to three 0:25:15.400 --> 0:25:18.600 full body strength workouts, and it's got to be where 0:25:18.600 --> 0:25:24.960 it challenges your whole body muscularly okay, And I know 0:25:25.040 --> 0:25:28.280 there's gray areas as I say this, there will still 0:25:28.320 --> 0:25:32.360 be questions, but I think deep down, you know, deep down, 0:25:32.400 --> 0:25:38.879 you know now whether it's machines or bands or free weights, 0:25:39.560 --> 0:25:41.879 body weight, mix of all the above at the same time, 0:25:43.320 --> 0:25:48.080 two to three times a week. All right, three cardio, 0:25:48.400 --> 0:25:52.240 three specific cardio. We can go you know I put 0:25:52.280 --> 0:25:56.960 I pushed that, or you know I went longer. I 0:25:57.040 --> 0:26:00.280 went for that three mile walk, I did that thirty 0:26:00.280 --> 0:26:03.960 minute bike ride. I took that forty five minutes zomba class. 0:26:04.600 --> 0:26:07.639 This is get your heart rate up extended period of 0:26:07.680 --> 0:26:15.200 time or the interval side right, so steady state, longer, intervals, shorter, 0:26:16.119 --> 0:26:18.080 and then one or two other. What do you mean 0:26:18.080 --> 0:26:24.600 by other? For me, that is plots yoga a different 0:26:24.600 --> 0:26:29.280 discipline that works on yes, aspects of cardio and strength, 0:26:29.280 --> 0:26:36.960 but it's also flexibility and cognitive training, meditation. We need 0:26:37.000 --> 0:26:39.240 to be as active as possible. We need to mix 0:26:39.280 --> 0:26:41.760 it up. We need to focus on the five components 0:26:41.760 --> 0:26:46.520 of fitness, body composition, how much muscle and excess body 0:26:46.560 --> 0:26:50.840 fat you have, flexibility, muscular strength, muscular endurance, and cardio 0:26:50.920 --> 0:26:53.560 respiratory endurance. We need to do our strength, need do 0:26:53.560 --> 0:26:56.040 our cardio, We need to work on flexibility, and we 0:26:56.119 --> 0:26:58.639 need to eat a healthy diet so our body composition 0:26:58.800 --> 0:27:04.400 is healthy. And this is about being active. So can 0:27:04.560 --> 0:27:08.919 you count your strength workout as cardio? Yes? Does that 0:27:08.960 --> 0:27:15.359 mean that's all you should do? No? No, it can 0:27:15.400 --> 0:27:19.199 be fun. You need to find what you enjoy and 0:27:19.280 --> 0:27:22.919 when you do. As I did as a coach in 0:27:22.960 --> 0:27:26.680 my final years of really coaching people specifically, it wasn't 0:27:26.720 --> 0:27:31.400 making people do more, It was making them do more 0:27:31.480 --> 0:27:36.320 variation and do less of just one thing. And that 0:27:36.400 --> 0:27:39.760 can be you. In other words, that intrinsic motivation where 0:27:39.800 --> 0:27:46.040 it feels good, and that's what it's about. Enough. This 0:27:46.080 --> 0:27:49.159 is more complicated than I thought it would be, but 0:27:49.240 --> 0:27:53.920 it's really not. It's just tough to kind of impress 0:27:54.000 --> 0:27:57.720 upon those of you who think it has to be 0:27:57.840 --> 0:28:02.359 work that it can't be fun. Kennon should be fun 0:28:02.400 --> 0:28:06.920 and not work. All right, Questions comments reach out. Tom 0:28:07.080 --> 0:28:10.760 h Fit is Instagram. Tom h Fit is Twitter Fitness 0:28:10.800 --> 0:28:14.399 Disrupted dot com. Can email me through the site, follow, subscribe, 0:28:14.400 --> 0:28:18.280 whatever way you can follow. This show greatly appreciated. The 0:28:18.320 --> 0:28:22.080 Micro Workout Plan is my most recent book, and thank you. 0:28:23.040 --> 0:28:27.840 These these things topics are tough, but they're rooted in science. 0:28:28.119 --> 0:28:31.080 And again I think, deep down you know, deep down 0:28:31.119 --> 0:28:35.240 you know. And the final thought is this with whatever 0:28:35.320 --> 0:28:39.960