Need help with cardio

Discussion in 'Health and Fitness' started by S&CMAN, Sep 19, 2012.

  1. S&CMAN

    S&CMAN Valued Member

    Just started doing TKD and being out of shape, the first class totally kicked my a**. As a general fitness background, I'm 5'11'', 195lbs and pretty sedentary. I don't get out of breath just walking or anything like that but it doesn't take anything much more strenuous to get me huffing and puffing.

    I won't run since I hate it and there's no point in even trying. What I've decided to do is walking on my treadmill(3.5-4mph) along with doing some other types of cardio such as burpees and mountain climbers, which I can only do about 5 of each before I'm out of gas. That's pretty much all I've got figured out at this point. I've read that jumping rope is really good but I've got low ceilings so that's out I think.

    I can only do my tkd one day a week so I have to supplement it with other physical training the rest of the time. Any other suggestions?
     
  2. righty

    righty Valued Member

    Skip outside.

    Do intervals. e.g. your 5 burpees. Have a rest and then do another 5.
     
  3. Razgriz

    Razgriz Valued Member

    Rowing,cross trainer, skipping as mentioned.
    Swimming.

    All of these you can do interval training.

    Raz
     
    Last edited: Sep 19, 2012
  4. Sketco

    Sketco Banned Banned

    Skipping for sure. I hate running so skipping is my go to along with a few other exercises like burpees, hill climbers, shadow boxing, and a few others.
     
  5. Simon

    Simon Administrator Admin Supporter MAP 2017 Koyo Award

    S&CMAN, take a look at this, it should help with some ideas.

    Basically you are getting out of breath because you are going anaerobic, which means you cannot supply enough oxygen to your muscles when the intensisty raises.

    During those first few minutes you are aerobic, meaning you are able to supply enough oxygen to your muscles. What you need to do is last longer before going anaerobic.

    How do we do that?

    There are several things you can do, the best of which is to stick with the martial arts training. Regular attendance means regular gains.

    Outside of class the skipping rope and treadmill are great options.
    If you have a back yard or local park then skipping is easy. There is a tutorial in the link in the opening paragraph.

    As for the treadmill I suggest warming up, a slow walk will do, then do 30 seconds at a much faster pace, then go back to regular walking pace.

    These bursts of intensity should have you out of breath, if they don't then I'm afraid a light jog or run is necessary.
    By dropping back to a walking pace you will go from anaerobic to aerobic.
    Over time it will take longer before going anaerobic, meaning you are getting fitter.

    This method can be used with all forms of exercise, skipping, stair climbing, running, rowing etc.

    Good luck and please keep us posted. Further questions welcomed.
     
  6. icefield

    icefield Valued Member

    I agree with Simon you need to increase you aerobic base, but I wouldn’t suggest doing any anaerobic or close to anaerobic work at the beginning of your training
    Buy yourself a heart rate monitor, increase the incline on your walking machine and go for a walk, keep your heart rate in the 130-150bpm area for at least 30 minutes 3 times a week, as it get easier simply increase the incline you are walking at. Increase the time and sessions weekly until after 5 weeks you are exercising for a hour a session 4 times a week. You should see a 5 beat drop in your resting heart rate using this method. If your resting heart rate is 65 or higher you shouldn’t be doing any interval or anaerobic work until you bring this down
    What this will do is force your heart to grow bigger, specifically the left ventricle which means with each breath you will be putting moiré oxygen into the blood stream and thus be able to work longer and harder before going anaerobic. If you work too hard or with too much intensity your heart will beat too quick for this growth in the left ventricle to happen, what you will do is raise your blood pressure and thus pressure within the heart and over time this will lead to a thickening of the cardiac walls.
    what will happen is you will thicken the walls is you will be pumping blood around the body faster, but you won’t be increasing the volume of what you can produce, just how you use it……and you will have a very hard time increasing the size of the heart in future.
    It’s really Eccentric hypertrophy V Concentric hypertrophy. You want to build a base with Eccentric hypertrophy methods, steady state work, and then when necessary move to more aggressive methods
     
  7. S&CMAN

    S&CMAN Valued Member

    Every now and the I'll check my blood pressure when I'm in the pharmacy just to see. It's usually somewhere around 100/60 with my heart rate being 65-70 but I dont' think that is really my resting heartrate.

    So thanks for the info guys. I'll take a closer look and try to figure out what all that means and go from there.
     
  8. Kuma

    Kuma Lurking about

    What's the reasoning behind this just out of curiousity? I ask because I've always had a higher RHR than most.
     
  9. icefield

    icefield Valued Member

    it was explained to me the higher yuor resting HR the quicker you will hit the lactic thresold when you start going really hard, its usually a product of doing lots of intervals or heavy lifting (thickening the wall of the heart) and it usually means you have good lactic tolorance, ie onc you hit the threshold you can last longer than most, but you get there quciker and find it harder to recover, ie you are great for the first round but you fade badly after that. For me, and i used to have a resting HR in the 70's after doing lots of intervals and powerlifting work this was very true

    its usually a sign that aerobically you are not as fit as you can be, the lower your resting heart rate usually the larger your left chamber and heart is,which means the more blood and oxygen you can pump round the body with each beat. This normally means you will have better endurance because you will be able to tolerate more work before going lactic. Guys doing triathlons and marathons have a resting HR usually in the 40's, this is obviously too low for MMA because we need some explosiveness as well as aerobic fitness joel jamision (who used to be the offical S and C coach for pride, and who trained guys like franklin) wrote a lot about this over on sherdog and his forum and also in his books and articles, its one measure of aerobic fitness, as is how fast your HR comes down between rounds.

    Of course some people just have high heart rates lol
     
  10. S&CMAN

    S&CMAN Valued Member

    I have a jump rope and can use it outside so I am going to start trying to do that until it gets too cold.

    I saw in the link that starting with 3x1min rounds is a good starting point, however my daughter had a health and fitness class at college and she tells me that to be effective, cardio needs to be a least 20mins, but she didn't know if it had to be sustained or if it could be broken up into intervals.

    I'm guessing I could do the skipping and follow it with the treadmill for a half hour or so?

    Really have to get on it as tkd once a week is not enough. Finding that out the hard way.
     
  11. YouKnowWho

    YouKnowWho Valued Member

    If you can just repeat right punch, right front kick, left punch, left front kick 200 times none stop daily, it won't take long for you to get back in shape again. You can even do it when you watch TV. This is what I call to "kill 2 birds with 1 stone". Not only you will get back in shape, your will have better punch and kick too. You don't have to do it very fast. The slow the better. If you can hang your kick leg in the air, it will even enhance your balance (kill 3 birds with 1 stone?)
     
    Last edited: Sep 25, 2012
  12. Bozza Bostik

    Bozza Bostik Antichrist on Button Moon

    I can't run as I have a bad ankle and swimming, rowers are not fun as I have tennis elbow. So, I do a lot of rounds mixed up with body weight activities (cos I like 'em)...I try and work around the injuries.

    Usually I do 2 mins of shadow boxing / stick work / pad work, followed by 30 secs of a random body weight move, 15 or 30 sec rest and go again.

    I do about 10 rounds then finish off with practicing some escrima.

    It's not the best thing in the world, but there has been noticeable improvements in my conditioning and I've lost a couple of kilos in a few weeks.

    Why don't you like running? If you want to run, you might wanna try the couch to 5 k programme. My girlfriend and I used it and it was quite good...bit easy for me so I ditched it early. It breaks you in really gently.
     
  13. Hapuka

    Hapuka Te Aho

    There's no point in skipping or running if you're overweight or out of shape or have a history joint injuries, you'll end up hurting yourself.

    However, what I've found to be a good and free alternative is jumping on a truck tire. You will get the same cardiovascular benefits from it as if you were skipping but without the impact on your knees or other joints. You can usually go down to your local mechanic and pick an old truck tire for free (as far as they're concerned, you're doing them a favor).

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFm6FxO4c9M"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFm6FxO4c9M[/ame]

    As you get fitter and loose a bit of weight, you'll be able to do what this guy does;

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbpcXZsnufM"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbpcXZsnufM[/ame]
     
  14. S&CMAN

    S&CMAN Valued Member

    Mainly because I haven't the requisite willpower to do that on my own without a drill sergeant threatening endless 8-count bodybuilders if I dont' "move my a**"...which leads me to my dislike of intense cardio in general. However, I have found I am much more willing to do anything that doesn't leave me miles from home when I run out of steam...and as for running on a treadmill, I have a hard enough time walking on one without stepping off the side.

    As far as skipping rope goes, I discovered today that trying to do it for a minute might a bit too high a goal at this point. I need to work on doing it 10 times in row first. Not the most coordinated of people as it turns out.
     

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