Is all cardio the same...

[LanceBoggs]

No matter what I end up doing for a routine I always end up back doing lots of cardio. I primarily consider myself a martial artist, so while I like being strong and defined I?m overall more concerned about my ?functional strength? and cardio.

What I?m trying to figure out is if cardio is cardio is cardio. What I mean by this is when you take pure cardio activities such as jogging, swimming, cycling, etc do they each carry over to other activities the same way.

So lets say I have a 5 year post op knee and jogging my usual 5 miles really does a number on my knees and ankles, but cycling 30 miles is something I can do with little or no joint pain. What I?m trying to figure out is if cycling is going to carry over to hitting the heavy bag and sparring that running (which pretty much every person I know who fights does) does.

My five mile jog is at a pretty consistent pace, until the last quarter mile where I just sprint it in. When I cycle though I tend to really jack it out on the hills then recover from the lactic acid buildup, and I can change my gear ratios around to make it more of a muscular burn or run a higher cadence for a more sustained cardio.

My preference would be to cycle, but I also want my cardio to carry over to my martial arts training.

I know there are some people on these boards who really know their stuff when it comes to fitness and I would greatly appreciate any insight you could offer.

[SocratesTX]

I'm not quite sure what your goal is. As for is cardio, cardio? yes and no. 30 minutes of jogging is not the same as say 30 minutes of cycling. It's all about effort and heart rate and what zones you are working within and those zones to use are based on your goals.
Your comments about your runs seem to be leading towards whether you think you should be doing tempo runs or not. Let us know some more and I'll try to help out - your goals being the most important piece of information.

[LanceBoggs]

Originally Posted by SocratesTX

I'm not quite sure what your goal is. As for is cardio, cardio? yes and no. 30 minutes of jogging is not the same as say 30 minutes of cycling. It's all about effort and heart rate and what zones you are working within and those zones to use are based on your goals.
Your comments about your runs seem to be leading towards whether you think you should be doing tempo runs or not. Let us know some more and I'll try to help out - your goals being the most important piece of information.

With jogging I don't do allot of intervals, and when I do it's far harder to recover than when I do intervals on the bike. Once I get my 30 mile ride down on the bike I hit right at 19 mph average over the 30 miles and while I'm tired and a little stiff when I get off the bike my joints are not screaming like they are from running.

Defining a goal is kind of hard, but I would say the closest I could relate it to would be similar to an MMA fighters goals, though I have no intention of ever competing so it's not an exact carryover.

I want to be strong, fit, flexible, fast, with great endurance (don't we all!), and honestly I would prefer to not have lots of extra "show muscle" to slow me down.

I break my six days a week of training down into pure cardio days, and skill specific training + weight days and then I do one on one lessons with my martial arts instructors on Sat and Sun which is usually pretty brutal.

Mainly I'm trying to sort out how to push my cardio to the next level and have it carry over to my martial endurance.

I hope that makes sense.

[SocratesTX]

You sound like you are on the right track. I think you know what you have to do, you said it above, you have to push it to the next level. The only way to get there is to do what you are doing, but for longer and with more effort.

You might want to look at Cross Fit too - that will push you to the next level.

[Captain Crunch]

You really want to get everything out of your cardio.....get one of these.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_e/...onitor&x=0&y=0

[Greg1975]

Originally Posted by LanceBoggs

No matter what I end up doing for a routine I always end up back doing lots of cardio. I primarily consider myself a martial artist, so while I like being strong and defined I?m overall more concerned about my ?functional strength? and cardio.

What I?m trying to figure out is if cardio is cardio is cardio. What I mean by this is when you take pure cardio activities such as jogging, swimming, cycling, etc do they each carry over to other activities the same way.

So lets say I have a 5 year post op knee and jogging my usual 5 miles really does a number on my knees and ankles, but cycling 30 miles is something I can do with little or no joint pain. What I?m trying to figure out is if cycling is going to carry over to hitting the heavy bag and sparring that running (which pretty much every person I know who fights does) does.

My five mile jog is at a pretty consistent pace, until the last quarter mile where I just sprint it in. When I cycle though I tend to really jack it out on the hills then recover from the lactic acid buildup, and I can change my gear ratios around to make it more of a muscular burn or run a higher cadence for a more sustained cardio.

My preference would be to cycle, but I also want my cardio to carry over to my martial arts training.

I know there are some people on these boards who really know their stuff when it comes to fitness and I would greatly appreciate any insight you could offer.

Usually cardio is cardio, but try doing 20 minutes of jump rope vs. 20 minutes on the eliptical and you'll see there are indeed some major differences.

If you are into functional training, I'd do the jump rope as much as you can. Fantastic for MA training.