Improving your Conditioning or “Cardio” is one of the most universal goals. It improves heart health, circulation, recovery, and even cognitive function. It makes it easier to keep up without gasping or lots of hands-on-knees when doing nice hikes with friends. The feeling of being able to breathe and sustain an effort is closely tied to entering flow state. It’s also one of my favorite subjects!
There are generic ways to improve Conditioning, like going for a walk or run right now. This is easy to poke fun at because it’s so vague, but perhaps the most popular form of exercise. Honestly if we could get the whole world to do this more often… it would do a lot of good. Just put on your shoes and go. Getting moving now is better than not, making early improvements doesn’t take a whole lot of thought, and starting something now is probably much better than scrolling down a rabbit hole of random workouts, or even reading further!
So assuming you are interested in learning more… what is Conditioning even?
“Aerobic conditioning is a process whereby the heart and lungs are trained to pump blood more efficiently, allowing more oxygen to be delivered to muscles and organs.”
Okayyy. But like, what do I do?
“Aerobic conditioning is the use of continuous, rhythmic movement of large muscle groups to strengthen the heart and lungs (cardiovascular system).”
Nice. But what do I doooo to strengthen my heart and lungs?
This is where a lot of popular fitness myths around heart rate monitoring, the fat burning zone, the cardio zone, and the “danger zone” come out of the woodwork to scare and distract you.
The simple truth is these zones don’t really exist. Proportionally you burn more fat (compared to carbs) at lower heart rates, so the secret to fat burning is to… stay really still. Sleep more, walk more, fast a little, and reduce your overall intake.
Similarly, the cardio zone is a road to nowhere, because staying at the same 70-80% of maximum heart rate all the time won’t create the necessary adaptations to increase the stroke volume or overall cardiac output. You need to strengthen your heart and lower your resting heart rate (RHR) to improve overall health outcomes.
You can measure this right now! Hold two fingers to your wrist or neck to the side just under your jaw, and count the beats for 20 seconds. Multiply that by 3. That’s your RHR. 60-90 BPM is considered healthy.
Contrary to the popular myths, the way to lower your RHR is primarily through anaerobic (without sufficient free oxygen) interval training, AKA taking rides into the “danger zone,” which is perfectly safe to do for a nominally healthy person (no prior heart condition). If you do have a heart condition, you will of course want to consult with your provider before engaging in any type of exercise.
The best intentional way to improve your RHR is by cycling through Metabolic Pathways, and you don’t need a heart rate monitor to do this, though a reliable one (chest strap) can be instructive for learning purposes.
A stopwatch is enough, because when training anaerobically the intent is to have a high heart rate the entire work interval time (~90%+ of the old 220-AGE formula), so we need some other metric to gauge performance improvements: your interval times (if the work is fixed), or your rep scores (if the time is fixed).
If you do use a heart rate monitor, you will find the measurement during your resting time more informative than during the work times, where it will lag at the start due to the ramp up, and just be near maximum otherwise. In any multi-interval workout the cumulative effect will leave your heart rate higher and higher during the rest, and a better conditioned version of you will be better able to bring your heart rate down during the rest interval. This is a basic indicator of your cardio recovery ability: how fast you can bring your heart rate down after stressing it.
True story: I had not even heard of the metabolic pathways until becoming a trainer in 2009. Pretty sure it was not covered in undergrad, though I did determinedly avoid Chemistry.
Anyhow, all you need to know for workout design and training purposes is that there are 3 “metabolic” or simply energy pathways, which are 3 unique ways your body can create and sustain muscle contractions to flex and extend your joints in your bag of bones (with fancy computer on top), thus creating movement. The precise mechanism for these processes are complicated biochemistry that are beyond the scope of this post. But here is a brief summary:
The Phosphagen pathway is your short burst, explosive energy source that is immediately available to you. Squeeze your hand right now. There it is. It does not require oxygen, it’s right here ready for use, but the catch is that it only lasts up to 5-8 seconds and then it’s spent. This is what you use for a maximum effort lift, like a heavy deadlift or squat, the initial acceleration out of the blocks in a sprint event, kicking or throwing a ball, etc.
The Glycolytic pathway is the mid range, supplying energy — still without oxygen — in the 5-75 second time domain. There is some chemistry here (read up on Glycolysis) for how glucose gets converted to Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) to become usable energy, but the important things are the time domain it occupies and forces it can generate. Longer burn, medium forces.
The Aerobic pathway is what we came here for, which is the only pathway that uses oxygen to convert a bunch of complex chemistry (read up on the Kreb’s cycle here) into ATP once again. The important things are that it kicks in later on, becoming the dominant pathway around 90 seconds into a sustained effort, and can generate much less force compared to the other two pathways. But it keeps on going for a long time, which is why it is so important.
Little known fact: the aerobic system is the only system that contributes to your recovery. Meaning, if you have good aerobic capacity, you recover faster from workouts and can hit it hard again sooner. If you have poor aerobic capacity, it takes you longer to recover (feel more sore and tired for days). This is yet another reason why you shouldn’t smoke, and even weightlifters should “do cardio.”
Back on the main thread. What is a “good” system of Conditioning? A good system of Conditioning is one that improves Resting Heart Rate by systematically improving your measurable output (scores) in structured tests built around the 3 metabolic pathways.
At their core, good Metabolic Conditioning or “Metcon” systems cycle through the energy pathways intra- and inter-workout, and follow periodized progressions to develop them.
That last sentence was a lot of jargon, so I’ll try to simplify.
-Cycling through energy pathways intra-workout means within a single workout all 3 pathways are addressed (to varying degrees). This is your classic CrossFit metcon or circuit. Circuit literally means “rotate through these exercises.” CrossFit just figured out when you do it quickly (i.e. with minimal rest) you get the most bang for your buck in terms of time-efficiency and results.
Alas, this is still a simplification, as there are thousands of different ways to combine 2-3 exercises via loading/intensity and repetitions/duration, and even doing one movement repetitively — like going for a slow and steady run — is still conditioning, just very skewed conditioning. You can make a totally different “run” workout and conditioning effect by shortening the distance (400m), adding rest (2 minutes), and repeating (5 rounds), i.e. classic interval training!
-Cycling through energy pathways inter-workout means across multiple workouts varying the dominant energy system being developed by… changing the total workout duration and its internal parameters by varying the loadings/intensity and reps/round durations. Simplest example I can think of: Doing a rotation of 10, 15, and 20 minute workouts. Even changing the order of movements, or doing variations like step ups instead of box jumps, creates unique effects.
The possibilities are endless! Which is part of what makes workout design and selection fun, but also what makes it pseudo-scientific. This only matters if… you care about your results.
As I wrote about previously, my experience has been that a lot of people simply like exer-training: exercise as a je ne sais quoi experience where the unpredictability of the day’s challenge is the main attraction. “Confuse the muscles!” They trust their coaches or favorite athletes who provide programming to take care of the details. Admittedly, the details are a lot to take on, so finding a someone or something you trust is a decent start.
But this model breaks down when the athlete goes beyond their beginner gains, or when there are specific goals and deadlines. Like taking 1 minute off of your 1 mile run time in 8 weeks. Which is where the last part of that jargon sentence from about 5 paragraphs back, “…follow periodized progressions to develop them,” shows its worth.
This has taken me a long time to understand and fully appreciate myself, but a System of Conditioning is only a system at all when it is at least progressive, and probably periodized too.
-Progressive means that your daily training goals for a given exercise or quality, like aerobic capacity, increase gradually over time. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and it also wasn’t built in chaos. If you want to reach your potential, you will do best to think of all of your personal development goals as the intersection of overlapping systems, especially something as multifaceted as Conditioning.
-Periodized means recognizing that you can’t just keep progressing indefinitely, and will need time to back off and rest specific capacities (which enables you to focus on others). 8-12 week cycles are “normal,” but that’s mostly due to attention span limits.
Here is an example of how you might you about doing this for Conditioning:
Test simple benchmarks quarterly (every 3 months), like your 1 mile run time or 500 meter row or swim, or whatever exercises are relevant to your goals.
If you want to include a direct heart rate measure, you can measure your RHR at a defined pre and post workout time, such as 5 minutes before starting training, and 5 minutes after the intensive workout. This will give you a sense of how your RHR is improving in response to training over time. You will want to be systematic about this, as haphazard measurements will lead to inaccurate conclusions.
Pick at least 2-3 for conditioning tests that cover the energy pathway time spectrum. One short (<30 sec), one medium (1-3 min), one long (5+ min). You can skew it to one end or the other if you have niche goals, like a 50m freestyle swimmer, but still maintain some variety to cover your bases.
Then, come up with a system to improve at your next test date. This can seem intimidating, but it’s as simple as this: breakdown the test into smaller parts, and then train each part individually.
For example, with the 1 mile run:
Week 1: Benchmark 1 Mile. Only do this if you are currently exercising regularly. Otherwise you will need some gentler 2-3 week build up prior to a first Benchmark.
Week 2: 4x400m, 1:1 rest ratio, 5 seconds faster per 400m than mile pace.
Week 3: 4x400m, 1:1 rest ratio, 7 seconds faster per 400m than mile pace.
Week 4: 6x400m, 1:1 rest ratio, 5 seconds faster per 400m than mile pace.
Week 5: 6x400m, 1:1 rest ratio, 7 seconds faster per 400m than mile pace.
Week 6: 4x400m, 1:1 rest ratio, 9 seconds faster per 400m than mile pace.
Week 7: 6x400m, 1:1 rest ratio, 9 seconds faster per 400m than mile pace.
Week 8: Benchmark 1 Mile
…
As you can see, this progression does a few smart things:
- The 2nd week starting pace (5 seconds faster per 400m than mile pace) is informed by the benchmark you just did (or recently I hope).
- The 3rd week is a little more challenging than the first (2 seconds faster per 400m)
- The 4th week builds in volume but goes back to week 1 pacing
- In each interval you are working through all 3 energy systems, but predominantly the Glycolytic (where most people fade), though the net effect of all the intervals combined is highly aerobic.
- The 1:1 work:rest ratio ensures that you are sufficiently recovered to maintain the pacing plan, but will accumulate a deficit by the end and be glad to be done
- If you are able to holder or slightly exceed the 9 seconds faster pace for your 8-week Benchmark… you will come very close to a 1-minute improvement in 8 weeks, a very ambitious goal to be honest (it looked good on paper when I wrote it).
But this is what I mean by a progressive plan. You’re doing more thoughtful work than “going for a run,” but the amount of work you’re doing is still contained and time-efficient. You are doing somewhere between 1-1.5 mile workouts to train for the 1-mile benchmark. It’s specific to your goal.
Is this the only way to write an 8-week mile run program? Of course not! I can already think of some ways to improve it. But that doesn’t matter as much as… doing any semi-intelligent System of Conditioning for this goal. I can count on one hand the number of recreational runner I have met that do this. Track workouts don’t have to be only for track athletes, they work really well, and they’re not that hard, really.
I hope I am not discouraging you if you like going for walks or runs, but if you are interested in improving beyond that, I do want to encourage you to be more systematic about it.
For a more varied workout, like the CF classic “Fran”: 21-15-9 of Thrusters & Pull-ups:
First, choose a light enough weight (30-40% 1RM Thruster) and pull-up scaling (band, jumping) so that you can do the whole workout unbroken or close to. Otherwise this will be a stamina test.
Week 1: Benchmark
Week 2: 12-9-6 reps of “Fran,” repeated 3 times with 3 minutes rest between each
Week 3: 15-12-9 reps of “Fran,” repeated 2 times with 5 minutes rest between each
Week 4: 21 Round, Rest 1:00, 15 round, Rest 0:30, 9 Round
Week 5: 18-12-9 reps of “Fran,” repeated 2 times with 4 minutes rest between each
Week 6: 12-9-6 reps of “Fran,” repeated 3 times with 5 minutes rest between each
Week 7: 21 Round, Rest 0:30, 15 round, Rest 0:15, 9 Round
Week 8: Benchmark
…
The reasons why this works is… it’s a system!
To provide a counterexample (of what not to use), “Murph” — a hero workout with large volume of pull-ups, push-ups, and squats + running — is not a simple benchmark, that’s an exer-training test for fun, more stamina demanding than cardio, and probably too complex to draw conclusions from. Though I know that probably won’t stop those that love it ;).
Ok, assuming you got this far and are game for being more systematic, what am I saying you should do? Write or find a progression for every Conditioning goal you have, and track your performance and RHR regularly? Well, yeah you could do that, and I would recommend that if you have a very specific goal and/or deadline.
But, more realistically, the criteria I have for you is this:
-measure your RHR semi regularly under similar conditions (1x/month or quarterly, e.g. 1st thing in the morning and 5 min post workout)
-follow programs where at least 1-2 workouts per week are dedicated to real interval training
-where the intent is to move with higher speed/intensity (than your typical 10-20 min workout)
-repeated intervals are 1-3 min duration (to catch the middle chunk of the energy systems)
-with rest intervals that let you recover enough to bring it on each one (1:1 or 1:2 is recommended)
-At least 1 workout per week is dedicated to steady-state aerobic Conditioning (SSA). This is technically optional, but I find most people do better with a lower intensity effort (~60% max HR) where you get to settle in and breathe at a sustainable pace. It feels good (compared to intervals) and cements good pacing habits.
You can do a little better if the program’s weeks “talk to each other,” meaning that you can see patterns and progressions of how one workout connects to others over at least several weeks. But you’ll be lucky to find this, as the trend still seems to be towards training everything all the time, which dilutes the development of any single quality (like running Conditioning for the mile).
And you can do better still where there are deloads built to break from the grind of constant progression, go enjoy some other form of movement for some weeks, and come back fresh and ready to build again.
My personal favorite way to program is with monthly or quarterly meso cycles where the focus is narrowed to 2-3 specific Conditioning tests, and the written week by week to work on the smaller pieces that build towards the re-test. It’s one system among many, but it’s a system!
Coach Mauricio