Weight training or Cardio?

 It is best to focus on weight training AND cardio for OVERALL fitness. You never know when you might need one or the other — and can adjust accordingly and appropriately. That is true for most of the real life situations one is likely to encounter — in every aspect of life. That is what we mean by “fitness” — being able to rise to the challenge of that particular instance, and not simply to go about our business no matter what. That is the very definition of “unfitness” — and one who is not long for this life, or basically doesn’t want to know what is going on. Instead, they will blissfully listen to their playlist and record for their Instagrams while the world is crumbling around them.

It is usually implied in these discussions that strength and stamina are two different qualities — rather than one and the same — dependent on a third variable, which is oxygen, or aerobic capacity. There is nothing inherently anaerobic in weight training; it can be done aerobically — which is at a rate that can be sustained indefinitely — as required. Otherwise, one does a single lift, and has no capacity for sustaining further efforts — just like running a 100 yard sprint. One can’t simply decide that they will run at that pace for a mile. It just cannot be sustained — at that level.

In most activities, one has to determine how much to leave in reserve — and not just exhaust oneself by the end of the first quarter. Championship teams have this ability to pace themselves properly for the entire duration of the game or effort; that means remaining in the game. It’s like going for a cross country bicycle ride: one can ride as fast as one can but after a mile, the legs have cramped up so severely nothing else is possible, but after a prolonged rest, they decide to slow down and see how much further they can go — and that becomes the cadence they know they can persist. That is not a formula but the trial and error of learning one’s actual capacities. That is what one is learning as one does it — and not that they’ve read some academic study — and so every outcome is assured, and then one just goes through the motions.

The best way to do cardio is by weight training because one is developing the rest of the musculature — and not just demanding the heart work harder, so one has an enlarged heart, and pipestem legs, arms, and neck — characteristic of a corpse. Hopefully, one is aiming to develop robustness obvious on sight — and not that we have to go to obscure measurements to know that for a fact.

Every effort raises the heart rate — but whether it produces meaningful and productive work is another matter entirely. As long as one is going to make the effort, they might as well build up the musculature — which is the storehouse of that capacity. Productive exercise in this sense is enhancing the flow (circulation) that builds by removing the waste products and providing nutrients by which cells grow and function well. That happens not because one wants it to — but is the very principle by which life works — and that makes a difference.

So when people say they exercise daily and get no results — that is not possible, because I’ve never seen it not work in anybody — training properly and effectively. Most of those people train improperly, and would be well-advised to seek out competent instruction — rather than continuing to do whatever they’re doing, which is usually playing with their phones — as their “exercise.” That’s what got them into the poor condition and shape they are — and will persist no matter what new theories they entertain. And that is what it is for them — merely more entertainment to waste their time, energy and money.

Even longtime exercisers are not immune from this — which they invariably attribute to “age,” rather than no longer doing it with the same attention they formerly gave to it — in their most productive years. If one compares the video of 50 years ago to how they train presently, it is quite obvious they are not doing the same thing — but now getting no results just like everybody else training in similar fashion. That’s not because they can’t lift heavy anymore, but because of noticeably restricted range of motion, inadequate repetitions, and overly generous rest periods recovering from improperly done movements.

If they’ve been conditioned to believe that the weight they are using is the most significant measure of productivity, they will think that anything less is unproductive — rather than realizing that the objective and measure, should be on the difference between the contraction and the relaxation as the indicator of flow — which is the given in how the heart works as an effective pump. It has to fully contract alternated by a full relaxation — but no voluntary (skeletal) muscle works that way unless consciously and deliberately worked that way. Otherwise, it will just remain at rest — and thus fluids will accumulate in the tissues — because of that lack of strong pumping action from the skeletal muscles. In some people, it is worse than others.

The remedy is not making the heart work harder and faster — but in producing similar pumping action at the extremities to optimize the circulation (circuit) by contracting (compressing) the residual fluids out first — so then the tireless heart, has space to pump the blood into with as little resistance possible. Otherwise, the stagnant fluid is the resistance — that prevents new nutrients from entering. In this way, weight training complements the work of the heart for its greatest effectiveness and health — and not that one OR the other is sufficient.