Cardio and Starting Strength Question Thread

[bango skank]

Answer as many or as few as you care to, but please be specific about what you're referring to.

These questions all relate to cardio work with Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength:

A. HIIT:
1. On-days or off-days?
2. Morning or Afternoon?
3. Before or after workout?
4. What duration?
5. How many days per week?
6. What exercises?

B. Low Intensity:
1. On-days or off-days?
2. Morning or Afternoon?
3. Before or after workout?
4. What duration?
5. How many days per week?
6. What exercises?

C. Low Intensity or HIIT:
1. Which do you prefer?
2. Which is better for muscle recovery?
3. Which is better for burning fat?
4. Which is better for the heart?
5. Which is better for extended endorphin release?
6. Which is better for bones/tendons/joints?

Thanks. I'll try to organize the answers into something cognizant.

[bango skank]

(I'll organize the answers here, if and when I get some replies.)

[bango skank]

Bump

[malman]

I think it would be useful for a lot of people if the above questions were answered.

[bango skank]

Answer as many or as few as you care to, but please be specific about what you're referring to.

These questions all relate to cardio work with Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength:

A. HIIT:
1. On-days or off-days?
2. Morning or Afternoon?
3. Before or after workout?
4. What duration?
5. How many days per week?
6. What exercises?

B. Low Intensity:
1. On-days or off-days?
2. Morning or Afternoon?
3. Before or after workout?
4. What duration?
5. How many days per week?
6. What exercises?

C. Low Intensity or HIIT:
1. Which do you prefer?
2. Which is better for muscle recovery?
3. Which is better for burning fat?
4. Which is better for the heart?
5. Which is better for extended endorphin release?
6. Which is better for bones/tendons/joints?

Thanks. I'll try to organize the answers into something cognizant.

I'm ashamed that once-upon-a-time I started this thread... I will now respond to it much the same as I would expect myself to answer it had someone else asked it:

These are mostly pretty stupid questions. If you're doing Starting Strength, then Strength should be your primary concern. If you want something to help you shed bodyfat then adjust your diet, if you want something to strengthen your heart then do power cleans as part of Starting Strength. SS in and of itself will strengthen your heart. As far as extended endorphin release... who knows, who cares. What's important is how it makes you feel... getting big and strong made me as happy as anything.

Outside the context of SS, HIIT is the preferred exercise. Long Slow distance will put more wear and tear on your bones/tendons/joints, so I think that is worth mentioning, mostly due to the long duration. This is not as much of a consequence of HIIT since it should be kept short, 15-20 minutes or less. Exercise, any exercise, is best done on on-days... and resting, and only resting, should be reserved for Off-Days. And when done, cardio should be done after the strength/power workout. Not neccesarily directly after, though it could be, but afterwords at some point in the same day. As far as exercises; low intensity is limited to running, biking, swimming and possibly rowing. HIIT can conceivably be done with those exercises and also with bodyweight exercises, such as pull-ups, push-ups, deps, sit-ups, squats, etc. Days per week, I'd say 2-3... but it really comes down to your specific goals, there is no one size fits all, and I think that is what I was looking for by starting this thread... so long ago.

You can read more about HIIT here:

http://musclemedia.com/training/hiit.asp

Here's an alternative variety of HIIT called Tabata:

http://www.rosstraining.com/articles...intervals.html



(what an embarrassment this thread is... but I was young(er) and uninformed when I made it)

[malman]

Well, I guess I am as uninformed now as you were then. Anyway thanks for answering some of those questions - your last post contained almost everything I was looking for. Sorry I brought up the thread.

[tonester]

What you are trying to do is a great intellectual exercise but unfortunately most questions end in "it depends" - on such things as:

life schedules
sport priorities
goals
recovery abilities
etc etc.

For example, sprinters will always do their speed/tempo work before they lift. Bodybuilders will do their lifts before they do their runs. They do this because of priorities. They perfect their chosen discipline while they are fresh.

Again good intellectual exercise. Great research list.