By Elliott Hulse
Max Effort Cardio?
Discovering The Essence of Hard Core Fat Loss
Discovering The Essence of Hard Core Fat Loss
If you’re anything like me… you HATE doing cardio! I can’t even stand the word, “cardio”. It conjures up childhood memories of watching my mom follow along with a Jane Fonda VHS while wearing tights and those knee-high bushy pink socks. — *shiver*But I DO like the idea of burning off thick layers of beer belly fat and nastiness, without my butt going numb on a bicycle seat or bouncing around on colorful plastic blocks. In fact, the only thing I really enjoy doing in the gym is lifting heavy barbells and throwing around odd objects. So, as a part of my Lean Hybrid Muscle experiment I decided to utilize what I call “Max Effort Cardio”.
Max Effort Cardio is where I illicit a cardiovascular response via mulitjoint barbell exercises or strongman training. So, instead of the typical max effort singles and triples, I use a slightly lighter weight and perform back to back sets of 5′s… and here is the secret to this whole concept, with very MINIMAL rest intervals.
I know, I know… you’re probably saying, “Elliott, that doesn’t make any sense! Everything that I have been taught about weight training says that I should rest 2-3 minutes between max effort attempts — you must be going mad!”
Yes, I HAVE gone mad a long time ago… but all respected scientists do so eventually
Just bare with me for a moment!
If you consider that my Max Effort Cardio system forces your muscles to adapt by increasing Mitochondrial Density, you already understand that this means an increase capacity for fat burning ALL DAY LONG. In fact, it has been noted that weight training in a similar fashion to what I have described also keeps your metabolism burning at an accelerated rate for several hours after completing your training session.
This is in stark contrast to the immediate drop in metabolic rate when engaged in low intensity cardio, such as jogging or pedaling on a stationary bike.
Below is a workout for you to try… but you have to make me a promise. After you try the workout post a comment on this blog post about how you felt and if you think that this type of training can help ANYONE get bigger muscles and burn fat at the same time!
Try this:
Set a barbell with either 95 lbs or 135 lbs (more if you are a monster)
Perform 5-10 sets of 5 Thrusters (see the video below) with less than 30 seconds between sets.
If this doesn’t get your heart beating faster than a jack-rabbit’s in heat, then you’re probably dead.
I agree, I can not stand doing cardio for long distances or for a long time. This is why I have started doing HIIT (high intensity interval training). For example, I will ride the bike on a high resistance setting and keep the speed between 14-18 mph. Doing this for about 4-5 minutes will get about 1.5 miles and a real good sweat going. Then, I will hit the weights and start my workout. This is what I do every time I workout.
ReplyDeleteI also do something similiar to this with the weights. I first will do a low weight, high rep set, just to warm up the muscles and increase the bloodflow to the targeted muscle groups. I then begin my regular working sets of 12-10-8-6. Then to finish up I will either do supersets or dropsets. Which is doing the the 12-10-8-6 but with much less weight and only about 30 seconds or less between the sets. This will maximize the blood flow to the muscle and make you feel pumped. Ever since I have been doing my workouts this way, I have been sweating the entire time while I am at the gym.
Great comment. I still do some "typical" cardio, but when I do the elliptical or even the treadmill/running outside I do it as an interval. I usually do it a low intensity first to warm up then I do a level 6 ->7 ->8 ->9 and then at the very end an all out effort to failure. I am going to try and do some different cardio after reading this article. I will post it soon.
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