An Updated Cardio Regime

As I mentioned in my recent interview on Natty Talk Radio (see post below), I have reconfigured my cardio routine during my contest prep this year. Most of the changes I made are based on research presented at Layne Norton's fantasy camp, namely several studies by Jacob Wilson at the University of Tampa. In prior years, I have incorporated mostly steady-state cardio during my contest prep, walking for 15-20 minutes on an incline treadmill (making sure not to hold the handles! - that is a pet peeve of mine). I did some high-intensity interval training (HIIT), but typically only when I felt fat loss had stagnated. After reviewing the research presented by Dr. Wilson, however, I am incorporating more HIIT cardio this year, and doing a version of it I never had before - on the stationary bicycle.

The studies on concurrent (cardio + weightlifting) vs. resistance (only weightlifting) training have some basic and expected findings: Dolozel et al. (1998) found that concurrent training significantly reduced bodyfat compared to a resistance only group, while Wilson et al. (2011) performed a meta-analysis of 21 studies to demonstrate that concurrent training leads to decreases in strength, power, and hypertrophy. To try to minimize this loss, the Wilson et al. study compared hypertrophy, strength, and power changes among three distrinct groups of athletes: 1) those who performed running as their cardio (and also lifted), 2) those who performed cycling as their cardio (and also lifted), and 3) those who only lifted (no cardio). As expected, the resistance training only group had the largest gains in strength, power, and hypertrophy, ...BUT those performing cycling as their cardio outgained those that performed running. This same Wilson study also demonstrated that the biggest "bump" for fat loss occurs when heart rate reaches 81 - 90% of its max, which does not happen with steady state cardio but does occur under HIIT. Similar results were found in Balibinis et al. (2003) study on NCAA basketball players who trained with a variety of cardio workouts.

So, what am I doing this time around?

• 2x a week: Cycling HIIT
• 15 minute session: 6 30s all-out sprints, followed by 2.5 minutes slow pedaling
• 1 x a week: Car pushes
• 6 30s pushes, 4-5 min rest in between

I'm also doing SOME low-intensity cardio, as well as some blood flow restricted cardio (which is pretty fun!)

I'll touch on my current diet in a later post