You might be amused to note that my favorite left-wing blog (Naked Capitalism) has linked to this (with very positive comments). Sometimes the truth transcends politics.
I wear a heart rate monitor when I lift to keep an eye on the "quality" and "value" of the cardio I am getting. Even on the more moderate loads of a 5-3-1 routine it ranges from peaks of 90% of MHR to never less than 70%. This includes the 3+ minute rest periods between sets. My log shows it. Although I have been remiss the last couple of weeks recording those figures.
Anyone who believes there is no cardio benefit from lifting has never bothered to keep an eye on what's really going on with their body when they lift.
You might be amused to note that my favorite left-wing blog (Naked Capitalism) has linked to this (with very positive comments). Sometimes the truth transcends politics.
I wish i could keep calm and indifferent on those comments but
I just hate when people waste they lives like that.
Could this lack of familiarity in the mainstream media and mainstream academia also be found in the detrained portion of society? In conversation with my older brother about fitness, he brought up the fact that "running around a box and doing an increasing amount of pushups after each lap" tired him out. He wouldn't hear of the benefits of lifting following the idea of progressive overload and seemed to hold endurance in higher esteem. I've also heard of crossfitters asking the question of "but can he run X distance in Y time?" as a response to a feat of strength as though proving themselves to be "more balanced" seemingly irrelevant things in context (vide "but can it read" from South Park and the nonsensical "but can he throw a football"). You could say the media and academia account for this warped view of fitness, but, in some cases, I'd posit that people's own unwillingless to look beyond single personal experience to a broader picture is perhaps more damaging in the long term ("eigen kind, schoon kind" as we say in Belgium; "my child's better than yours [because it's mine]").
Yeah, those heart rate spikes after deadlift and squat 5s are huge. I also sometimes get mild hypoglycemic headaches during rest periods (only after squats though).
Maybe people can't differentiate between one's cardiovascular system getting better and being able to run 10km in 40 minutes every second day. Maybe people can't tell that the latter isn't necessary in light of the former. That's what I pick up from the comments on PJMedia. People have this obsession with moving at relatively slow speeds over long distances.
There was some talk about cycling, so here is an Olympic cyclist squatting 440lbs for 10 reps: TOTAL LEG DAY Bodybuilder VS Cyclist feat. Robert Foerstemann - YouTube
Honorable mention goes to:
The weakness and stupidity required to think that carrying 25lbs around is difficult is quite spectacular.Mr. Rippeto is hung up on power lifting as the end all, be all of fitness. If all you want to be is a very strong couch potato then weight lifting is the answer. A combination of aerobic exercise and strength training is better than one or the other alone. I would challenge him to play a round of golf at my club carrying a mere 25lb bag for the 4 mile walk. My guess is if he is really only lifting he would have a very difficult time finishing.
I didn't wear a heart monitor, but checked my heart rate several times during rest periods the other day during my training session. I didn't check it after my first two or three squat warmups, but periodically after that.
I'm weak and out of shape, so the weights were low (squats were 175lbs), but every time I checked my heart rate was between 160-170. The session took 45 minutes to complete (squat/press/deadlift). I used to jog (bouncy walk) for heart health, never more than 35 mins, and my heart rate was similar. Why try to run when I could lift and get stronger as well, while working my heart just as (if not more so, especially DURING sets) well in the process?
Here's an anecdotal example of endurance that's associated with strength training. I shingled a roof this past summer after having not done one since I started training a couple years ago. At the end of a hot, twelve hour day I had noticeably more endurance. My untrained brother was about useless towards the end of the day, but I was able to continue lugging around 80 pound bundles of shingles with little drop off in performance.
Good article. Hopefully, it will continue the trend of more people lifting weights and/or questioning the prevailing wisdom so that more PHDs will lift weights and undertake studies with real value. The pendulum has already started to swing, in no small part due to your writing Rip.