“This will surprise some people, but lifting can be a form of cardio,” begins Alice (Alice Miller, fitness trainer from the Strong Women Collective). “As long as your heart-rate is above around 60% of your maximum heart-rate, you’ll be working the cardio-vascular system.”
“If you increase your heart rate and keep it elevated, your cardio-vascular system will be working,” adds Emma (Emma Obayuvana, fitness trainer from the Strong Women Collective). “Most of us will raise our heart-rate when we’re lifting weights, so yes it definitely can be cardio.”
Too often old school coaching principles still pervade UK sports' clubs. The worst being track and field clubs, where coaches continue to instil a ‘them and us’ mentality regarding types of training. Keeping a physiological and social divide between ‘runners’ and ‘gym bunnies’ (as track coaches disparagingly call those who work-out in the gym - solely). This archaic outlook is holding-back track runners of all distances.
In the simplest terms ‘cardio’ means heart. ‘Vascular’ means blood vessels.
In etymological terms ‘cardio’ refers to your heart, stemming from the Latin "cor" and Greek ‘kardia’. ‘Aerobic’ refers to oxygen intake, with the term ‘aerobic’ stemming from the Greek ‘with oxygen’. Thus, ‘aerobic’ exercise is defined as exercise that promotes a greater oxygen intake, and ‘cardio’ exercise is exercise that promotes a greater heart-rate.
When you raise your heart-rate, your oxygen in-take automatically increases and vice-versa. While ‘cardio’ and ‘aerobic’ are technically different, they happen simultaneously and cannot be separated. When you perform a ‘cardio’ workout, you're working ‘aerobically’.
As we explore the true meaning of these words, we can see, that, the mistake runners make is thinking, that, 'running' is purely cardio-vascular. What they often seem to be implying is, actually, pulmonary: which is the exercise of the lungs.
Colloquially, the words ‘cardio’ and ‘aerobic’ seem to be used inter-changeably by running coaches. Both words refer to exercise, that, requires pumping of oxygenated blood by the heart to deliver oxygen to working muscles.
So, running, certainly, improves lung function: as does swimming and cycling. However, improving the heart and the vascular system merely needs a rise in heart-rate. This can be done in many ways.
The house-hold chore of vacuuming, sexual inter-course, walking the dog et al, all have a benefit to improve the cardio-vascular system: simply by increasing the heart-rate!
Indeed, Vorsprung’s own research showed, that, vacuuming pre-exercise was far more beneficial in warming-up the body and preparing it for exercise than a jog around a track or field.
However, lifting weights, in recent studies seem to indicate, that, it can be a significant fat-burning and cardio-vascular activity.
“The key is to reduce recovery times, to have a sustained activity, so the heart-rate is raised for a significant period of time.” Dr Mark Burnley (physiologist).
Terminologies, that, have been perverted and continue to be mis-used do not help the education and understanding of cardio-vascular exercise.
Sports coaches, particularly track and field ones, are often over-protective of their charges to the point, that, they no longer allow outside advice and in-put that would benefit them and their charges.
It is similar to the behaviour of midwives in hospitals, who can have a tendency to over-identify with the babies in their charge and take-on a possessive nature: referring to them as 'their babies’.
Sports coaches have a tendency to do the same. They 'possess' their charges to a detrimental effect. Prevents growth and education, and maintaining the misunderstanding of exercise terms.
Coaching knowledge, that is certified by certain sports federation are valueless, due to their federation's lack of up-to-date information and training knowledge. FIFA/UEFA and UKA sports federations are two of the worst. Many of the coaches in these sports seem never to have participated in the disciplines they are coaching, so have no first-hand knowledge or experience. Many in soccer, seem to use knowledge and phrases they have gained through television punditry or FIFA computer games!
Too many in these sports, too often, hang-on to archaic identities that discriminate activities, that, are no longer scientifically acceptable, like the use of the word 'cardio' used by runners who think it is simply applied to running, as opposed to gym-work.
Time to move-on!
How do you calculate target heart-rate?
The heart-rate you should aim for during cardio workouts is 50 to 90 percent of your maximum.
Subtract your age from 220. This is your maximum heart rate (MaxHR). Multiple your MaxHR by 0.85. This is your maximum target rate. Multiple your MaxHR by 0.50. This is your minimum target rate.
Thus, the maximum heart-rate of a 30-years-old would be around 190 BPM.
© The Vorsprung Project 2020.
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