Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth - 118: Cardio Queens

Episode Date: July 23, 2015

What is the best cardio? HIIT? Steady state? Fasted?... This is a question the MindPump Crew gets asked all the time and Sal, Adam and Justin break it down for you in this episode.

If you want to pump your body and expand your mind, there's only one place to go. Mite, op, mite, op with your hosts. Salda Stefano, Adam Schaefer, and Justin Andrews. Adam has a, he's got one, he's got one fan that is just a rabid fan of his. It's him. It's him. It's him. It's himself. Yeah. It's himself. He's himself. You know who really likes me? Adam's not. Adam Shafer. Me. Yeah. He's one of the few people I know that looks in the mirror while he masturbates. Oh my god. You know what I mean? Yeah. Watches himself. Everything is awesome. We're not looking at myself. It's

fucking great. Have you guys seen that movie American Psycho? Oh god. looking at myself. It's fucking great. Have you guys seen that movie American Psycho? I've got a long time. What's his name? Fuck, what's the dude's name? He's a Batman. Oh, yeah, Christian Bale, yeah. What he's doing the trick.

So creepy and he's like watching himself. Yeah, he's looking at the beard. He's like flexing at himself. That's him. That's him. That's him. That's him. We figured out.

That's out of it. Is there been like a theme this month of like pick the fuck on me or First it was my dad you guys First you guys gave me a hard time for For that and you know, I guess it goes in cycles though, dude. I feel like I was the fat kid, right? Ever you guys are picking the shit out of me for all those months, you know, being the What the fuck? Doug call me. I wasn't even Pudgy. I'm the Pudgy. Yeah, Pudgy. Captain Pudgy over here. You know, I got a lot of resentment here.

You fucking ripped into me right into your ass. Talk about nerdy and you're right. Actually, we all get it. You know, it's funny. I like it when you guys call me nerdy. I know, that's like a backside of compliment, bro. That doesn't count. What are we saying about you? That's bad. That you'd love yourself.

You need new love. You admit that. Yeah. Hey, Adam, if everybody was like you, they would love themselves. Everett, you know what? It's so bad. I mean, because now what people have nicknamed us,

what do they call us? The ego, the, the ego, the nerd, and what do they call Justin, what do they call them? They called him the, I don't remember with them. The nice guy. Yeah, the nice guy, the nerd and the ego. I like the other guy. So the guy behind the guy. I think we need to let the listeners know.

The nice guy, I don't think that's very accurate because if we were all out, what? No, no, no, no, no, let's be honest. If we were all out and there? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no Like I'm very nice you are you are actually quite nice. Yeah to look at thank you And I think I think I think Sal is ego's bigger than might you go. I think so. I think it's very very much match I completely agree That's not the only thing that's bigger so I Definitely not your calves. All right, whip it up. Oh, see your thumbs up.

See your thumbs up. All right. Now, where's your comb? I thought you heard it. I just got it right. I got it in the quad shot. Oh, we're going to have to go. There was a quad shot as next.

I don't know if you want to do, bro. Hey, man. She looks a lot bigger on Instagram with filters. And then we'll all do a glute shot. I'll kill you guys. You know what? You know what, dude? Buddy, here's a deal. When I can when I can pose next to a IFBB professional physique competitor. That's right. He's a professional now. Yeah, you can. I'm a I've never competed in my life. Okay. That's fair. And in physique.

You know, I looked the way I do just because I'm awesome. You know, I mean some I job. Yeah, I'll push you're all natural So that's not a lot of kudos that I'm a specimen. I don't shave my calves for fuck sake No, and if we took away your veins, that's like an inch right off your calves Plus you're a lot older than I am to Yeah, I'm at least a year and a half older. You know what's you know what's crazy? Someers. Let's be honest though Bro, let's be honest a couple moons. Okay, our calves are still not like awesome, but bro, where are we started with our calves? Well, I think that's why I'm so proud of them right now. See, and here's a crazy part.

Like, I post the picture, I'm not expecting people to be like, those are massive calves. I'm happy because they are a million times bigger than they were. My calves were so small, my shin was bigger. So my calves. My uncle, my uncle? Yeah, I was all ankle and knee. My girl, my

girl said to me, she goes, she goes, honey, you got to post like a before and after your casual. I cannot believe how much. Never. So, well, here's what I said to her. I said, here's the shitty part is I did, I just started taking pictures of my calves, like maybe a year ago, because before that, I was fucking avoided at all costs. So I don't have any before. So I don't have anything like from three, four years ago, which I would love to show everybody the work that's put in right now. I just, and it sucks to be like, yeah, look at my cats. Everyone's like, yeah, they're decent.

It's like you're at normal status. Yeah, I'm like, no, but you don't understand. They were like crazy small. Hey, do you measure your calves? I don't. I don't measure anything really. I don't. Lie. I swear, either. You measure. No, I don't, I don't measure anything really. I don't. I swear, either.

There's you measure. No, even my dick, I don't measure anything. Yeah, you do. The last time I measured my dick was when I was probably like, you're pumping, no, like eighth or ninth grade, I mean, it's been a long time, I mean. Cock pumping. That's when that shit matters, you're trying to figure that out.

You're like, am I average or am I above average right now? Oh, fuck, I'm below average. What do I do with that? What do you do? You start Googling shit and you find they have penis pumps. You fix that problem and you're fine for it. And you have that argument with your buddies. Wait, no, no, no, no. You don't measure from under the balls.

You start at the freaking ball and then you come up. That's right. That's still inside. You gotta pull it out. And then I found out when they do all the measurements similar to that, that's actually what a hard penis is. And I was measuring when I was flaccid. I was like, oh, I'm fucking good. There's apparently some growers and showers.

Have you heard of the toilet paper roll test? Have you heard of this? The toilet paper roll test? This is a real thing apparently, I guess, maybe, I don't know, maybe I'm making it up. If you can take a toilet paper roll, if you can fit your dick in the toilet paper roll, then your average girth, if you can't fit it in,

then you're big. Then you're a weird coffee can yeah so Yeah Now everyone's gonna go home and try that's something to be proud of but yeah, I'm gonna go and try that one Yeah, yeah, that does you're gonna scare a lot of people He's also you guys a picture later man meat. I can't get it off that One of those Chinese finger traps. Yeah, like one of those Chinese finger traps. Oh shit.

What's your options? I mean, if it's hanging down to your leg, to your like all the way down past your knee, like you have like two options in life. Pornstar. Pornstar or just that guy that just shows it off at party. So I got a story. So there was a story.

So there was a dude that used to, and now I never saw this myself, but he used to work for the same company we used to work for. So this is how legend travels. Now here's a deal. When I got no any companies, here's a deal.

A lot of guys make jokes and be like, oh I got a big dick. When the dude legit has a massive dick, he shows, dude. Yeah, he shows people. Yeah, for sure. He pulls it out. He pulls it out. Like, we applaud it.

Yeah, nobody's like, put your dick away. If it's big, you're like, damn, bro. Like, holy shit, bro. So there was this guy apparently, this short, like skinny dude, like you'd never know. And people used to talk about him. And apparently, he'd pull it out and it was like a mini forearm. It would like come out and just lay on the table.

Holy shit. And he'd show all the time. And it's great when you're like a mini forearm. It would like come out and just lay on the table. And he'd show up all the time. And it's great when you're like a skinny little guy too because it just looks that much bigger too. Because you know, you're like five, six, skinny, 150 pounds. So he used to like pull it out like 30% cock. Yeah. Try pod. That's exactly it, dude.

And you show people all the time. I know this poor guy, and we'll not poor guy because obviously he's like insanely hung like a horse. This black and blessed guy. Yeah, this blessed guy. And like, I don't know, I'm pretty sure he gave himself the nickname rock, you know? And it was like, okay dude, you know whatever.

And so we're all hanging out and like of course, he's gonna take it out and show us, because it's like, yeah, whatever dude, you got a big, big shlong dude, yeah, whatever. Oh, check it out, then boom, lace it up there. It's like, it's seriously, it's about as big as my forearm, you know? Jesus.

And, but the thing is, dude, the guy would go on dates and everything, and like, girls, like, it would not last for very long. Like, once, I'm thinking like, after a couple of dates, like, it gets to the business, and then they girls, it would not last for very long. I'm thinking after a couple of dates, it gets to the business and then they actually see it and some of them, it's too big. Yeah, they were scared of it. And he was talking about that.

He was like, yeah, so. I think it's poor problems. I think it's mostly just a bragging rights to your boys. It is. It's that big. Just throw it out there. Yeah, let it swing in the wind. bragging rights to your boys. It is. It's that big. Just kind of throw it out there. Let it swing in the wind.

You know, I want to, I feel like we've had a lot of people asking about some of our questions that I feel like we've kind of addressed in earlier episodes, but I realize now that we have like a hundred something episodes. And there's some topics that I think that we should kind of revisit that we haven't talked about in a long time and probably the most common one that I get hit up a lot with right now is the cardio debate. And there's a lot there's a lot of people that keep asking the questions about cardio with me is, you know, do you do fasted cardio is fasted better than then hit cardio and should I do what time should I do this and or should I do cardio if I'm trying to gain? Yes, exactly. So cardio has become like the is a hot question right now and I feel like if you've listened to all of our episodes

you've kind of you we've given that information out but maybe you haven't caught all the dedicated episode to cardio. Yeah, I would like I would like to kind of you know share Maybe we go around and we share a little bit about our own philosophies, how we utilize cardio. Cause I mean, we've all been on the bulk and we've all been on the cut. We've all trained for sports and we've all not trained for sports

and just overall health. So, how have we utilized cardio in our routines and our philosophies behind that? Yeah, I'm glad you brought this up because cardio is probably one of the most misunderstood aspects of altering the way you look. Yeah. It's easily one of the most misunderstood,

even in the hardcore fitness realm. I think it's one of the most abused too. It's just misunderstood. I mean, on all levels. Well, it's the easiest to step into. Yeah, like, yeah, if you're, if you're average person and I know that nobody that's listening is like the average person because we know, or listen to a lot of, our listeners are pretty sexy. Yeah, I'm sexy. They're intelligent. Yeah, they have a lot going for them. I'm talking about the people

that don't that sit on the couch and I mean that's that's a very high majority like you're 80 90% of people and all they know like they're like okay weights yeah I know that that does stuff for me but like I'm just you know that's intimidating whatever it is I'm just gonna go walk I'm just gonna go run and so then that becomes their thing and and it's just easy, right? You just, okay, I'm gonna, I'm gonna walk and then now I can jog a little bit because I'm losing the weight. Now I can run and so that's like the answer.

That's a great point. I think as we get into, we're gonna dive into this topic here. I think you can break cardio, the reasons why people do cardio down, or even the benefits of cardio down into a few categories. Okay, we're gonna make them pretty general because there's a lot more than the ones I'm going to name, but cardio vascular activity for health, longevity, cardiovascular activity to burn calories and burn body fat, and then cardiovascular activity to increase athletic performance.

I think those are the three main broad categories, right? That you can plug them into. So we should talk about all three and how they're either different or how they cross over into each other. Okay. All right. So let's start with, you know, I'll tell you what,

I'll tell you what, before we start. But I feel like since this is so dedicated to cardio, I need to like have a song for it. Okay. cardio queen. Baining, baining, baining, baining. In my heart, can't beat as one. No more love on the run.

No more love when you got the runs. I'm ready. Why don't we each take one of those? You said sports performance, aesthetics, or... I'll take the longevity one. Health and longevity, and I'll take aesthetics, just when you take sports performance, and it's about wraps this all up anyways.

Yeah. Why don't you, since health and longevity is the most boring, why don't you go ahead and start? Okay. Okay. Turn your nerd hats on. It's time to party. Yeah. So, so ladies and gentlemen, you're about to get information that is legitimate and

back my side. No, no, here, like, here's, here's something cool. Here's something cool about cardio. So you, you, you've all heard me talk about myostatin. Myostatin is a potent muscle growth regulator. So when myostatin is high, muscle doesn't grow, when myostatin is low, muscles grow. It's so potent in fact that if you just block myostatin

and didn't do shit, you build a lot of muscle. Antibolic steroids don't even do this, okay? The reason why I'm talking about this is because cardiovascular activity done regularly lowers overall body, myelostatin levels. And I want to say that because people have this misconception that cardio doesn't build muscle, bullshit. If it's done properly, it will tip the body into a more favorable position to build muscle. If it's done right. Very good wording right there. Now, that being said,

let's talk about longevity here. Longevity is different than performance. In fact, training for maximum performance can be counter to longevity. So if you look at an athlete who's trained at an extremely high level to perform at a particular sport or event, they are not going to have long-term health like someone who eats and trains to live a long life. Now, you can definitely do both. You can definitely do both. And most of us are not looking to be at that top upper 0.1% of training. Now, for me, I like to combine the two quite a bit. And I'm always trying to train to be at that top level. But I notice that when I incorporate longevity into that, not only do I still get at that level, that's

high, but I can maintain that level long term. Whereas before I'd find myself bumping in and at that level because of over training injury, you know, I'd burn myself out whatever. When it comes to cardio for longevity, frequency and low intensity is as important. And they know this from doing studies on people who live the longest. And they do daily activity, daily cardiovascular activity, but it consists of things like walking, hiking, rowing a boat out to fish, stuff like that.

It's not connected to running long distances, sprinting, doing hardcore type of cardio. I personally, the type of cardio that I tend to do tends to be very low intensity, and I do it 20, 30 minutes at a time. It's not really a workout. I use the time to meditate and it's for my health.

And I notice I build more muscle and I stay leaner and I feel better when I do it that way. So that's where you get the longevity aspect. So if you want to do cardio just for health, a 20 to 30 minute walk every single day in addition to your normal activity is where it's at for that. So yeah. Yeah, so now we'll now. So let me go over what I read in men's health.

Yeah. Great. So, it's great that you let out with that because I'm going to come from the aesthetic point because that's the world I live in. Because you're so aesthetic. And I want a point out that this is definitely a. I think that we all 100% agree on it's just like why we we separated these in categories is because it is you It's really about and I think this is why people get so confused is You're you're not gonna hear me talk a totally different about my my theories and philosophy on cardio But it's not different because I disagree. It's different because I have a different focus. And I have things that

are more important to me than overall health. So I think that's important for people. I think people, they ask basic questions like, what's the best cardio to do? When you know, you ask a trainer, like one of us, that I can't answer that to you because you got to tell me, what are your priorities and your goals? And what's the main thing that you you care about because based off of what you tell me is based how I'm going to give you your advice whether I'm going to advise you the way Sal is talking right now or what Justin's about to say or what I'm about to talk about right now. And now for me when I speak I speak in the aesthetic world because it's men's physique it's what I let it's about the way I look it's not that doesn't mean that I neglect wanting

to perform good or I don't care about being healthy, it just means that that's always a priority for me. So that being said, I use cardio as a tool. And a couple of things to keep in mind that people don't realize is that neuromuscular adaptation happens to us within two to four weeks of cardiovascular training. So what that means is our body becomes adapted to whatever modality that we're doing this cardio in.

And so it becomes less effective as far as from a calorie and fat burning standpoint, than it was the very first time you got on. So if I hopped on a treadmill and I started blasting away, whether it be hit, whether it be moderate intensity, whether it be high intensity, doesn't matter. Regardless of what the intensity level is, if the first time I got on that piece of equipment and I started doing something, the very first time, I'm getting maximum aesthetic benefits from it the very first time opposed to the 15th time that I did it. By the 15th time that I've done that exact modality or that way of training, cardio-wise,

my body is becoming way more efficient at being able to, which is why you notice, you know, if you were doing hill sprints the first time you did them, you about died. And then two, three months later, they're beginning to easier and easier for you. Well, that's great because you're showing that you're becoming better at performing, but on a, on an aesthetic thing, when you're wanting your body to change because of it, and you're wanting to maximize fat oxidation because of it, and you're wanting to maximize fat oxidation because of it, you are getting less and less benefits from that.

So, that being said, for me, it's always about confusing the body and making sure that my body is not getting used to whatever it is I'm doing. So, I utilize, hit, I utilize, fasted, I utilize steady state. And for me, it's really, like I said, it's more like a tool. So, you know,

when I actually want to design my weight training and I want to design my nutrition plan around zero cardio. So I put together a plan that says, okay, I'm not doing any cardio. I need to figure out what I need to intake as far as food. I need to figure out how many days of week I'm training and how I'm going to split that up to get me to whatever my goals are. And that doesn't matter whether I'm gaining or leaning. So whatever it is, I start my program design around no cardio. And then cardio gets introduced as a tool, whether it be a plateau breaker, whether it be like I'm using it right now in my reverse diet. So right now I'm reverse dieting from a show. And I'm slowly increasing calories. So typically I would not want to be doing cardio right now, but I'm doing cardio

right now just to negate the extra intake that I'm in taking right now. So I don't have this huge caloric surplus in my body doesn't put on this extra body fat. But as soon as I kind of level out my metabolism and my body is now used to in taking 4,000 to 4,500 calories again, I will start to tailor off and get rid of cardio until it's time for me to cut and get shredded again for a show. And all of that is because I once again, I want my body to get used to not doing cardio. I want it to not be used to getting on a treadmill and power walking up an incline or doing the stair master for 20 or 30 minutes because when I do decide to do that again,

I want it to go oh shit This is crazy. I got a question for you Adam you When you say cardio you're talking about specifically getting on a cardio machine doing cardio Even when you're not doing cardio how often do you take your dogs for walk and stuff like that? Okay, so I'm a good question because I'm a huge neat guy So I do focus a lot on my activity levels and moving around. So which is probably more related

to your steady state, right? So that's why I asked, because I know you have dogs and I know you take them for walks. So how often does that happen? Every day. So, how long, if you were to accumulate the total amount of walks

that you did like that, would it be like 20, 30 minutes? Okay, so each day would fluctuate a little bit because I also would, my highest activity actually of like walking or brisk walking or actually getting my steps up and elevating my heart like a little bit more than resting, right? Like a walking the dogs is actually more so you when I'm teaching a class. So I just now today I got off of teaching four classes in a row. In four classes, within four hours,

I stepped 13,000 steps. That's more than most, the average American steps, 3500 to 4,000 steps in one whole day. And the reason why I brought that up is because you're gonna hear people, there's gonna be people listening right now that are gonna be like,

oh Adam doesn't do cardio. Right, he just works out that one hour for whatever it is. And most people don't teach classes like you do. And a lot of people don't even take dogs for walks and shit every day. So you've got the dude that sits. Yeah. The woman or man who sits on the couch or you know, not the couch, but sits at their desk all day long. You have to remain active is basically the point you're trying to make with that. Right. Yeah. Because I don't have dogs. So I don't

walk dogs. And I don't teach classes like you do. And so I would venture to say that my activity, including my cardio that I consider cardio every day is probably equal to yours when you're not doing your quote, quote, quote, cardio. What's great is that I actually, you know, I track all of this. So I can give you a day when I don't teach any classes,

I don't really walk any dogs. I'll only step about 5,000 steps. So that's a day like. And that's more like an average American. Yeah, and it's actually even on the higher rate of average American. I'm still pretty active. I'm also animated with the way I talk. So that even makes a difference.

People don't realize that. But if you're a hand talker, you move your hands a lot or you fidget a lot, like I'm pretty sure I have ADD, although I've never been to God's day notes with it. Those, that burns a lot of calories. It adds up throughout the day. So I'm definitely fidgety. And I burnt, so I burn 5,000, or I mean, I have 5,000 steps and a low calorie expenditure day for me is about 2,800 to 3,000.

That would be low. So 5,000 steps, 2,800 to 3,000. That would be low. So 5,000 steps, 2,800 to 3,000 calories. Now, I make an effort to make sure I never do less than 10,000. And that so it may be walking the dog or I might just get on a treadmill. And so I don't count that as cardio. So it was a very good question that Sal asked that because I'm not like getting on there,

even breaking a sweat. I might get on my treadmill and literally walk on my treadmill, why I'm emailing, doing social media, reading something, I'm like, I'm walking that slow, like literally like a three speed and like on one end climb, you know. It's not deliberate. So like what you're doing, like you're still active. Yes, yeah, but it's not like you're accounting for that.

You're just like assuming that, you know, I'm always pretty active on some that, you know, I'm always pretty active on some form, you know, some level. Yeah. So like in talking about performance, I have to rev specifically my cardio up when I'm going into conditioning mode. The fact that athletics involves so many specifics. Yeah, I'm just going to say that because it's for longevity, cardio is very general. It gets more specific when you're doing it to burn body fat, but nothing is as specific as doing cardio for athletic performance,

because then you gotta measure things like VO2 max and output, not that shit, right? Right, and the problem is that, I can't be generalized. I can't take something and say, hey, well, you know, during the week you're gonna do X amount of cardio in between your workout sessions and apply that to most of my athletes when I don't, when I'm not

like completely specific to that sport. So if I'm training, for instance, for football, and I'm doing Hill sprints, or I'm doing these real high intensity type movements that I'm trying to get more explosive work for them, it's in periods. So I'm doing interval training. I'm doing certain things to bring out that explosiveness and performance, but then I'm cutting it off. And then we're working on a lower intensity. And then in between that, you have to recover. So recovery is another element to that

that when you're raising that intensity up, now we have to account for that right afterwards. And so basically, it's about the movements in the process. It's getting stronger in these movements that produce what you want within the athletic event. That's really the main focus for me when I'm training clients or I'm going through this myself is how am I going to be more explosive in this first step? How am I going to, yes, conditioning is definitely a component to that.

So conditioning-wise, talking about that adaptation that's two week period or month period or whatever it takes your body to acclimate. And so like you're talking about like double days, you're talking about hell week or you're talking about these weeks leading up prior to your sporting events. You do that purposefully to get your body condition in order to perform at a pretty high level, but keep the endurance side of it.

Well, I'm glad you brought that up. Well, I was gonna say, when I did, when I used to compete in train in Brazilian Jitsu, I trained with some pretty high level guys and I I did. Well, I was gonna say, when I did, when I used to compete and train in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, I trained with some pretty high level guys, and I got to the point, I was trained four days a week, and I got to the point where I could roll at a high intensity, high level for, you know, match to match to match for an hour, hour and a half,

which is a lot. I mean, that's wrestling. Now, I went from there at that fitness level, and then I went and did some boxing, and my endurance was shit for boxing in comparison to how my endurance was for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and vice versa. We'd have guys come in who are great runners

or sprinters or whatever, and on the ground, they'd gas out after five minutes. So it's super specific. The type of cardio training you're doing, it's very specific for sports. I think it's also great to point, I mean, this is why it's so great. You know, the type of cardio training you're doing, it's very specific for sports. I think it's also great to point, I mean, this is why it's so great we did it this way, with Justin now talking about that.

So I talked about adaptation almost being a bad thing, you know, for what I'm trying to do. And in your case, it's a positive thing, because you want necessary. Yeah, it is necessary. You want to become efficient. Exactly, you want to be, and that's, I think, so important to note, and I think why people get so confused because they might hear from one

trainer who's like, Oh, you know, we want to get good at this. We want to do that. We want to show performance and increase in this and that and then people are like, Oh, wait a second. He said this and I've been told that but then this trainer tells me this or I hear that. So it really depends on you and what you're trying to do. So it has its benefits and its place for all types, you know, for sure. So. I think a good rule of thumb for most people, and I say most people because most people are just average person who wants to get better shape. Number one, what kind of cardio should I do?

Pick the one that you like the most. No, no shit because- No, I exactly. Because waking up at 5am and swimming in a cold lake might burn more calories than going for a walk after dinner outside, but you're not going to wake up at 5am and swimming in a cold lake might burn more calories than you know going for a walk after dinner outside But you're not gonna wake up at 5am and go swim in a cold lake for a very long before you tell yourself fuck this, right? Yeah, you don't want to burn out, you know, just because it's you might think that you're gonna burn more calories at X You know exercise. It's it's a matter of how often you can do it and

If you think of if you think of cardio more as a conditioning element to it, that's something that you're going to want to keep doing consistently and then cycle it out. Yeah, like I said, again, second thing I'd say, so pick number one, pick a cardio that you like the most. And number two, this is again, for the average person, save the intensity for the weights. Yes. So this again for the average person. Save the intensity for the weights. Yes. So this is for the average person. Again, you're just looking for overall fitness and health.

Wates, you gotta be intense. Cardio, you don't. Unless again, like Justin was saying, unless you're an athlete specifically training for some type of cardiovascular endurance, cardio, save the intensity for the weights because that's where you're gonna get the benefit. If you are always applying intensity to your cardio

You're asking for trouble the high even the highest level freaking endurance athletes in the world, you know periodize their They're cardio. So you have to I have something that's I don't want to say it's conflicting to that, but it's a little bit different My approach to cardio how I introduce so I tell you guys I go from no cardio. For me, I'm in the gym seven days a week at a minimum of 60 minutes. And so I'm always trying to maximize my time and I'm trying not to be in there more than that as little as possible.

And obviously as I'm getting closer to a show, I kind of have to. So one of the things that I do is the first thing that I actually introduce is 12 to 15 minutes of post workout hit. So that, the very first bit of it. Yeah, I remember you, that's what you always talk about. Yeah, so the very, and I agree with Sal

when he's talking about the intensity for sure, but for me, it's a time thing. So I would, I would rather spend 30 to 45 or an hour of steady state and just kind of cruise along and read a book and just in burn those extra calories that way. But then that adds an extra 45 to an hour to the already hour. I just spent lifting weights. So for me, what I'll do is I'll add the 12 minutes of hit post workout first to get some

benefits from the cardio from that. And I'll run that for a couple of weeks. And then after that, then I'll start introducing like 30 minutes to 40 minutes of steady state or fasted cardio into my routine. And that way, once again, I'm confusing the body. It's not used to that modality. And then on top of that, I'm waiting to add more time

till later because for me, I don't like doing cardio. I'll just be straight up on it. So I fucking hate cardio. And I'd rather put the time in the weights You know that makes you what's that normal? Yeah, right So you know and I'm always trying to avoid it For me I used to always when I first got in this competing world I saw these these competitors and they used to be like they all be backstage like oh my god

The two day two hours a day of all this that's so stupid crazy, and I'm like dude I would just rather just eat less. Yeah, I'd rather be more disciplined on my eating and just eat less. I don't got time to be in the gym for three hours. I got two question for you. So on your, because you talk about doing, like you'll say you'll do 12 minutes post workout of,

of hit cardio. Yeah. Two things. Number one, what are you using typically when you do that? Like what piece of cardio? And number two, how do you break it up? What do you mean the, how do I do the interview? So like are you using elliptical treadmill bike and then how are your intervals broken up?

I'll do on I typically I'll do either treadmill elliptical or stairmaster and my kind of three go to, although I still do stuff like warrior ropes and other things with that, but those are probably my go to of what we do that. And then, you know, for me, what I'll do stuff like warrior ropes and other things with that, but those are probably my go to. Okay. We'll do that. And then, you know, for me, what I'll do is, so most people have probably, you know, I'm Mr. Not structured. So most people have this, you know, oh, you sprint for one minute, then you walk for 30

seconds. I go as hard as I can until I got to take a breath. And then I'll kind of walk, let my heart rate come down, gather myself, and then I go hard as hard as I can. So you're ready to do it again? Yeah. It's just easier for me to manage that than it is to like...

It's a time-ass. Yeah, time-ass, time-ass, time-ass. Actually, you know why I like your method better? Why? Because it's gonna follow how you're feeling closer than the other way, because I can easily, this is one of the reasons why I'm not against hit cardio,

but you don't hear me promoting it very often.'ll tell you why I've seen way too many people Overdo that shit Than other forms of cardio besides the freaking get on cardio Because they're not really listening to their body. They're just trying to follow a form right and it's like you know I started doing hit cardio, but now I'm losing strength in the gym and I'm feeling like you know So I like your method better like go hard and then when you think you need to take a break, take a break, you know, go slow until you feel like you're ready to go and go again. And then, but all you're doing is you're taking,

you're keeping track of the total 12 minutes or whatever. Yeah, and I think to bring it back to your point of like, you know, what motivates you as an individual, like for me, I can't stand going on the treadmill. I can't stand, you know, and so you're talking about cardio, like, oh God, I don't want to even do it. And I just want to lift weights. Well, I enjoy, you know, doing moitai, enjoy doing things that are like aggressive and like punching the shit out

of something and wearing myself out, right? Like that's great. Like it gets out of aggression. The nice guy. You know what I'm saying? The nice guy. I get it all out there. But you know, like that's part of my training.

I'm not going to eliminate that. Just as much as weight training, but it's because it's something I'm motivated to do. And so I'll just I'll just kind of work that into the programming. Well, see, I do every single morning I wake up, I don't know, 536 am and I do 30 minutes of steady state on I have a stationary bike next to my bed. Now, if you were to see me, look, it's fucking slow. I'm peddling. My hands aren't even on the handles because I'm either reading or I'm doing social media

or I'm doing my, you know, something that has to do with the business. So for me, it's just, I'm going to get up and do some work, and I can sit on this bike and move while I do it. And that's why I enjoy doing it. And also, by the way, for you, you know, nerdy people out there, repetitive motion, low intensity, repetitive motion, frees up the brain and increases the ability to perform abstract thought. So this is why, you know, when you're, if you're a writer

and you get writer's block, one of the first things I'll tell you to do is go for a walk. Yeah. When you're doing something over and over and over again, where you don't have to, like, I'm riding a bike, I don't have to think about what I'm doing. It occupies certain parts of the brain and it frees up other parts of the brain.

And that's when I have some of my best thoughts. And that's why sometimes I'll be annoying and text you guys at, you know, 5.30 in the morning with some random shit. No, I think I, so I have something to piggyback off of what you just said too. I personally, in my own personal experience with all the different modalities and ways of attacking cardio, I actually think that has been one of the most effective things for me for overall reducing body fat and leaning out is waking up an extra hour early getting on there and doing some fasted low intensity cardio. Now, and there's all kinds of studies and especially if you're a laying Norton fan who debates that now because he used to be a fast guy now he talks about the benefits of being fed cardio, blah blah blah. Here's the thing and here's what I've realized with myself, is when I schedule that or I do that,

first of all, I'm getting up an extra hour early, that I wouldn't be getting up if I wasn't getting my ass over to the treadmill. And if I don't get my ass up to go over to the treadmill, or whatever it is, whether it be a walk at home or treadmill, whatever your mode is you wanna do, that I would be kind of mosey and around the house, getting up slowly, you know,

having my cup of coffee, you know, kind of getting ready for work, getting in the car, driving, doing very low, and I haven't really kicked up my metabolism. Getting on there and doing that, I noticed like, I noticed like, okay, so let's say, in order for me to do it before work, I'd have to get up at 6 a.m. So I had to get up at 6 a.m. I do it from 6 to 7, and because let's say my work life starts at 7 o'clock.

Well, let's say Adam doesn't get up for Fastic cardio from 6 to 7, he just goes about his work life. Well, from 7 to 10, I'm kind of slow mo at work. I'm there, I'm going to the motions, I'm moving, I'm doing so with that, but my energy levels isn't the same. I'm not as animated, I'm not pushing this hard. I get up, I go to that Fastic cardio from 6 to 7. I hit work at 7 o'clock. I'm like way more vibrant, I'm not as animated. I'm not pushing this hard. I get up. I go to that fasty cardio from six to seven. I hit work at seven o'clock

I'm like way more vibrant. I'm moving more which in turn always ends up burning more calories and because I track all this shit I can see that and so I find getting up in the morning Extremely effective for me. Well the science you you can find science to support it and you can find science that says no and I'm gonna break it down in a nutshell. Here's it Here it is Fasted cardio you will Utilize more fat for as energy. That's not disputed. That's actually that's pretty much scientific fact Here's where it gets disputed

Fed cardio tends to be more intense. Yeah, cuz you can push harder because you're fed you got more energy So overall if you're doing fed cardio, many times you'll end up burning more calories. And although the percentage of calories are less of them are gonna come from fat, overall you're burning more fat. So this is where the argument goes. Now for me, I'm not gonna do intense cardio

first thing in the morning. So whether I'm fed or not, I'm gonna get on the bike and do my car and read or whatever. So I do it fasted. When you wake up first thing in the morning, a lot of us are in ketosis, and so you're gonna get some more of those fatty acids. And then as Adam said,

there's two types of people. There's people that wake up in the morning with just enough fucking time to get ready to leave. That's me. Yeah, me too. Or there's people that wake up and like to give themselves 30, 40 minutes to relax or whatever. I'm one of those people,

but rather than giving myself the 30, 40 minutes to relax and gather my thoughts, I use it to be a little active. But again, it's low intensity, I'm on there and I'm reading. And this is, I really value that time. Like I got kids at work a lot. I really value that 30 minutes of, I keep the lights off in my room.

I don't wake up my wife, put my headphones on, and I'm telling you, man, I've had some of my best ideas during that time. So, something I think a lot of people should do and enjoy. Thank you for listening to Mind Pump. For more information about this show and to get valuable free resources from Sal, Adam and Justin, visit us at www.Mine Pump Radio.com. Until next time, this is Mind Pump.