March 6, 2023 • 18 mins
One of the most common questions I get from clients and followers is always about how much cardio people should do. This episode is about dispelling a few myths and exploring all the great benefits that cardio has. Then we also discuss how cardio actually fits into your goals, and what other exercise modalities we can incorporate to achieve fitness goals like looking lean and getting toned.
If you're loving my podcast content, but are looking for something more to support your wellness journey, here are my programs currently available:
Strong As A Mother: Postpartum (https://www.kellybryantwellness.com/strong-as-a-mother/)
Strong As A Mother: Live (https://www.kellybryantwellness.com/strong-as-a-mother-live/)
Strong As A Mother: Prenatal (https://www.kellybryantwellness.com/strong-as-a-mother-prenatal/)
As always, you can find me on Instagram @kellybryantwellness
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Shure MV5 (00:07):
Welcome back to the, not your mama podcast.
This is your host Kelly Bryant.
And this week we are diving intoa frequently asked question that
I get.
Every time that I feel like thisquestion has been answered,
there's no one else stillbelieving this myth.
It crops back up again.
So I figured I would do a wholeepisode about cardio.
(00:28):
How much cardio do I do and howmuch cardio do you need to do
and is cardio essential to beinghealthy or to meeting your
fitness goals?
Let's start with the myth.
So anytime I work with a newclient, There was almost always
a point in that firstconversation where they like
confess to me.
That they don't really likerunning.
(00:51):
In fact, they actually haterunning.
And I'm always kind ofunsurprised and remind them
that's completely fine.
They never need to run.
There's no innate benefit inrunning for some reason.
And I know the reason it has todo with the history of exercise
(01:13):
science, but because of, youknow, running, having had kind
of like it's early heyday beingone of the first kinds of
popular exercise.
People just believed thatrunning is innately healthy and
absolutely imperative to beinghealthy or to being fit or to
(01:34):
losing weight or to gainingmuscle or to whatever it is that
they want to accomplish.
And the reality is that theadaptations we gain from
exercise are correlated veryclosely to the specific thing we
do.
So there's not a one size fitsall.
Oh, if you do a lot of spinclasses or if you run a lot, or
(01:58):
if you go for a walk every day,then you are going to be quote
unquote healthy.
It depends entirely on whathealthy means, what measures
you're looking at.
And generally speaking, if yourun a lot, you get really good
at running.
That doesn't necessarily meanthat you get really good at
other forms of cardio.
And it definitely doesn't meanthat every single one of your
(02:20):
health indicators is going tomiraculously improve.
In fact, if I was going tochoose one thing for every woman
to do, to have the greatestimpact on her health, it would
not be running at all.
I'll tell you a little bit moreabout what it would be, uh, in a
moment, but the biggest thingthat I just want you to keep in
mind is that if you are doing alot of cardio, which you're more
(02:42):
than welcome to do theimprovements that you are going
to see are cardiovascular.
So you'll see things like yourresting heart rate improves.
You get faster, you get betterat doing whatever that form of
cardio is your, um, you may seesome changes in your VO two max,
which is a measurement of howmuch oxygen you're able to get
(03:02):
to your muscles as you exercise.
Those are all good things.
They are positive.
They are one component of healthand they may play a role in you
know, decades down the line,when you're aging, it is helpful
to be in good cardiovascularhealth.
It's going to help you to liveindependently and to function
(03:24):
well.
But there is something that isin fact more impactful, I would
argue than your cardiovascularhealth.
And that is your lean musclemass.
Lean muscle mass is going todetermine, oh, I mean, it plays
a role in many, many things, butit's going to determine, can you
get up out of bed when you're80?
Can you walk long distances.
(03:47):
I mean, you can have thegreatest cardiovascular health
in the world, but if you can't,if you don't have any lean
muscle mass you will not, uh, beable to do day to day
activities.
You will have improved metabolichealth if you have more lean
muscle mass.
People often think that theirmetabolism decreases as they
age.
That is not the case.
(04:07):
There has been a lot of reallyinteresting research on this
topic, but that's not the case.
What happens.
It's very, very minimal up toage 60.
The decrease that we see in ourmetabolic rate or the, uh,
increase that we see in ourweight is a result of decreasing
lean muscle mass, because muscleis your most metabolically
(04:29):
demanding tissue.
So at 25, if you have X amountof lean muscle mass, you're
going to burn a certain level ofcalories.
And then if you could asedentary job and you don't
necessarily play sports anymore,or you don't get to the gym as
often, and you're notmaintaining that lean muscle
mass, you're going to decreasedown to Y level of lean muscle
mass and your, the amount ofcalories you burn just existing,
(04:51):
your metabolic rate is going todecrease independent of how much
exercise you're doing, obviouslyexercise itself, burns calories.
And so that has an impact onyour weight and, you know,
various metabolic factors aswell, but just the amount of
lean muscle mass, your existingwith you're sitting at your
desk, you're walking around withis going to impact your
metabolism.
(05:12):
So.
That's also going to impact.
Strength training is going toimpact your, uh, joint health,
your connective tissue, yourbone density, all of these
things.
And so if there was oneadaptation that I could have
people focus on, it would betheir strength.
And their hypertrophy.
So getting more lean muscle masslifting weight to keep all of
(05:36):
the structures of the bodyhealthy.
No.
Do we want to be like a musclebound meet head?
Who has absolutely nocardiovascular health.
No, of course not.
There are a lot of benefits tocardio as well, and there are a
lot of different types ofcardio.
So let's talk about some ofthose benefits of cardio.
Why might you choose to includerunning or spin classes or going
(05:58):
for walks in your exerciseroutine?
One it's fun.
I have, you can't see it, but Ihave a spin bike sitting right
off camera.
Um, I enjoy.
I have the Peloton app.
I don't have a Peloton bike.
I have a Amazon spin bike, but Ilove as much as the next person
like getting on a ride,listening to awesome music, like
(06:21):
sweating, having fun, havingsomeone like cheer me on and
encourage me.
It's really fun.
It's also a great opportunity.
I know a lot of moms who feelthis way, it's mindless.
Right?
You can just turn your brain offand be like, I don't have to
count reps.
I don't have to think aboutanything.
I don't even.
Like I can literally just hit,start on a workout, turn my
(06:41):
brain off.
And for 30 minutes I get to goto Lala land.
Like, that's actually a reallygreat.
Uh, option to have for thosedays where you're like, I can do
physical work, but I can't domental work.
This is what I want to do.
And it's a great option.
Uh, mental health benefits.
So this is especially true whenwe are going for walks or going
(07:03):
for runs or going for bikerides, doing things outdoors.
There's lots of research thatshows that just being in nature
is really beneficial for ourmental health.
There's also sun exposure,right?
So there's some vitamin Dthere's a lot of really great
benefits to getting outside.
Now, can you strength trainoutside?
Absolutely.
You can totally strength, train,you know, drag your weights out
(07:23):
in your driveway or out on yourpatio and work out outside a
hundred percent.
Do I do that?
No, my pull-up bars outside.
So I do get outside a little bitwhen I'm working out.
But I also work out at 6:00 AM.
So it's not like not thegreatest vibe, but if you can
make it work work, you don't doany workout outside.
But generally cardio lendsitself because of the lack of
(07:45):
equipment lends itself togetting outside.
Another really big thing for usas parents is that it's really
family friendly, right?
Going on walks.
Pushing your kid in a stroller,either for a walk or for a run,
having them in a, in a trailer,on a bike.
It's a lot easier to do a lot ofcardio activity with little kids
(08:07):
in particular.
Whereas strength training.
You're like, are they going todrop a weight on themselves?
Like, are they, you know, I'mgoing to do some kettlebell
swings or are they going to stayout of the way?
Are they going to get injured?
So for sure cardio can be muchmore accessible because of the
equipment, because it's morefamily friendly because you can
turn their brain off.
Those are all great reasons todo cardio.
Outside of the cardiovascularbenefits, which are
(08:30):
considerable, right?
It's not, I'm not by any meanssaying that you don't need to do
cardio that you don't, that yourcardiovascular health doesn't
matter.
Just, uh, suggesting that foroverall health, it's not the
most impactful thing.
Let's talk a little bit aboutgetting toned or losing weight
(08:51):
or body recomp goals, because ifyou have one of those goals, I
would not recommend cardio asyour primary source of exercise,
do it for fun.
Do it for your mental health, doit because you can do it with
your family, do it because it'sjust generally like it is
beneficial for your wellbeing.
But for those specific goals, itis not the first line of
(09:13):
defense.
Like we talked about increasingyour lean muscle mass has the
most impact metabolically.
Generally, and I'm not backingthis up with a research per se,
because I think there's someresearch, both ways I'm backing
this up from like my livedexperience and the lived
experience of many of myclients.
When we do something like a 30,45 minutes spin ride, or go for
(09:35):
a run for three miles.
I tend to see that I'm hungrier.
Right?
So if you are trying to reach acalorie deficit, Cardio can be.
A little bit more challengingbecause you feel hungry.
At least I feel hungry.
Like I get off the bike and I'mdefinitely demonstrably hungrier
(09:56):
than if I do a strength workoutwhere I'm at a lower uh, calorie
burn or a shorter workout of anyformat, right.
So.
That's part number one is it's,it's harder.
It's harder to be in a caloriedeficit.
If you are doing.
Longer duration, like 30 plusminutes of cardio, particularly
(10:17):
if you're like sweating.
You know, over 150 BPM.
Kind of like zone three, zonefour cardio.
Obviously, if you're going forlike a 30, 45, 60 minute walk, I
don't think you're going to comehome and be ravenous.
If you're going for like a 10mile hike, you will.
But, um, you're likely not goingto have any trouble.
If you're doing a 10 mile hike,you're probably still going to
(10:37):
be able to find a caloriedeficit because that's fairly
uh, long duration and you'relikely not sitting there on the
trail just eating constantly.
Um, So.
There is another option thoughthat, you know, strength trend,
yes.
A hundred percent increases yourlean muscle mass, which has some
benefit, um, metabolically, butalso you can do what's called
(11:01):
metabolic conditioning, orbasically lift weights fast, or
do interval training.
So you can do strength or bodyweight, strength movements at a
faster pace that gets your heartrate up.
But as maybe shorter in durationand higher in intensity for that
short duration.
Then say a run or going on abike ride.
(11:22):
So that is an opportunity for usto burn some calories.
Also work on increase our musclemass cause we're strength
training and not do such a longduration that has as much impact
on our hunger levels.
So that is a great option if youdon't like cardio, but you want
(11:43):
cardiovascular benefits.
Cool.
Do other things fast, right?
So if you have this like mentalblock with getting on a machine
or like doing something that's,that's, you know, very
repetitive or maybe not asengaging.
One, I would recommend doingsome kind of guided cardio,
like, you know, Peloton is agreat option.
Um, I have guided cardio classesin my online studio, but you can
(12:05):
also do metabolic conditioningor a different form.
You know, interval trainingtabata is do some kind of, uh,
work that is differentmovements.
So therefore not as, uh,mentally like boring and
repetitive, but allows you toget your heart rate up and, you
know, push yourself on a cardiofront.
(12:27):
Now let's talk about what I dobecause everyone wants
everyone's like, yeah, sure,sure, sure.
I hear you saying science,science, science, but like
you're thin.
So what do you do the reality isI'm saying, because I'm thin.
I am not thin because I'm doingsome particular protocol.
I think that like, as people inthe wellness space, it's very
easy to kind of select what datayou want to present people with.
(12:50):
Show them what you look like andbe like, obviously I'm right
about this, because look, I'mthin.
I am naturally thin.
I have always been thin.
I have never dieted and thatcontributes to me having like a
fairly, uh, robust metabolism.
But if you really want to knowwhat I do.
(13:10):
Um, I do, this is when I'm notinjured.
Currently my arm is broken.
When I'm not injured, I do aspin ride once a week.
That is my only like dedicated,steady state zone three.
Like, you know, just hangingout, working kind of cardio.
I try to go for a walk.
Most days on weekends, I almostalways do like fairly strenuous
(13:33):
sweaty yard work.
That's not like at a high, um,uh, high heart rate that may be
a like zone two kind of heartrate, not, not very high
intensity, but it's longduration.
It's hot.
It's a lot of very I'm like,squatting down, standing up
reaching, lifting.
So there's a lot of, um, reallyhealthy movement pattern variety
(13:56):
in there.
And then.
Sometimes that's currently whatI'm doing in my current strength
cycle of we're just pretend I'mI'm over here living in this
fantasy world, or I'm still in astrength cycle, despite the fact
that my arm is broken.
Um, I'm not really following anorganized program right now
because I am doing whatever Iphysically can, which ends up
being like a lot of rehab typemovement.
(14:18):
But.
Uh, and a lot of walks, a lot ofmental health walks, but the
phase that the cycle that I wasdoing prior to breaking my arm,
um, was.
Cardio, you know, spin classonce a week, going for walks,
doing physical manual, workaround the house.
That's it.
Sometimes I will do a strengthcycle that has more metabolic
(14:40):
conditioning, more intervaltraining in it.
That is, um, you know, if I'mreally like, I want to work on
aesthetic gains right now, Iwant to like, look super
sculpted and toned and likeslightly jacked.
That's where I focus.
I do a couple strengths days andthen a lot of more like
metabolic conditioning typework.
(15:01):
I still do not do.
Any long duration, she steadystate cardio.
If I'm focused, exclusively onaesthetic gains.
The the cycle that I was workingin prior to breaking my arm was
a max strength cycle.
I was working on a specificstrength skill, which is a
pull-up.
And I was doing very, verylittle, you know, metabolic
(15:22):
conditioning or high heart ratestrength training at all.
So that's what I do.
It really is completely optionalto run.
Running as a choice if you loveit, no judges, but it is not
imperative for health.
If you are like in the habit ofseeing, you know, a mom with a
jogging stroller jog by whileyou're driving and thinking
(15:45):
like, oh God, she's like such agood person.
She's so healthy, so fit thatmay not be true at all.
One.
She's out there jogging when thejogging stroller.
I said, no judges.
I take that back.
I take back the tone.
But two, she's not necessarilygetting the best bang for her
buck health or fitness wise.
(16:06):
She would probably, if that'sall she's doing is out there
jogging every single day withher jogging stroller, she would
probably be better off strengthtraining and her bones and her,
uh, Immune system and hermetabolic health, her hormones,
all of those things would thankher in her forties, fifties,
sixties, if she was strengthtraining right now, rather than
running.
(16:26):
Hot takes.
So I hope this has been helpfulif you are a guilty non runner.
Um, and if you are a person whoabsolutely loves running.
Uh, but needs a kick in the buttto do a little bit more
resistance training.
This is that kick in the butt.
Thank you so much for joining methis week.
Have a great week.
Welcome back to the, not your mama podcast.
This is your host Kelly Bryant.
And this week we are diving intoa frequently asked question that
I get.
Every time that I feel like thisquestion has been answered,
there's no one else stillbelieving this myth.
It crops back up again.
So I figured I would do a wholeepisode about cardio.
(00:28):
How much cardio do I do and howmuch cardio do you need to do
and is cardio essential to beinghealthy or to meeting your
fitness goals?
Let's start with the myth.
So anytime I work with a newclient, There was almost always
a point in that firstconversation where they like
confess to me.
That they don't really likerunning.
(00:51):
In fact, they actually haterunning.
And I'm always kind ofunsurprised and remind them
that's completely fine.
They never need to run.
There's no innate benefit inrunning for some reason.
And I know the reason it has todo with the history of exercise
(01:13):
science, but because of, youknow, running, having had kind
of like it's early heyday beingone of the first kinds of
popular exercise.
People just believed thatrunning is innately healthy and
absolutely imperative to beinghealthy or to being fit or to
(01:34):
losing weight or to gainingmuscle or to whatever it is that
they want to accomplish.
And the reality is that theadaptations we gain from
exercise are correlated veryclosely to the specific thing we
do.
So there's not a one size fitsall.
Oh, if you do a lot of spinclasses or if you run a lot, or
(01:58):
if you go for a walk every day,then you are going to be quote
unquote healthy.
It depends entirely on whathealthy means, what measures
you're looking at.
And generally speaking, if yourun a lot, you get really good
at running.
That doesn't necessarily meanthat you get really good at
other forms of cardio.
And it definitely doesn't meanthat every single one of your
(02:20):
health indicators is going tomiraculously improve.
In fact, if I was going tochoose one thing for every woman
to do, to have the greatestimpact on her health, it would
not be running at all.
I'll tell you a little bit moreabout what it would be, uh, in a
moment, but the biggest thingthat I just want you to keep in
mind is that if you are doing alot of cardio, which you're more
(02:42):
than welcome to do theimprovements that you are going
to see are cardiovascular.
So you'll see things like yourresting heart rate improves.
You get faster, you get betterat doing whatever that form of
cardio is your, um, you may seesome changes in your VO two max,
which is a measurement of howmuch oxygen you're able to get
(03:02):
to your muscles as you exercise.
Those are all good things.
They are positive.
They are one component of healthand they may play a role in you
know, decades down the line,when you're aging, it is helpful
to be in good cardiovascularhealth.
It's going to help you to liveindependently and to function
(03:24):
well.
But there is something that isin fact more impactful, I would
argue than your cardiovascularhealth.
And that is your lean musclemass.
Lean muscle mass is going todetermine, oh, I mean, it plays
a role in many, many things, butit's going to determine, can you
get up out of bed when you're80?
Can you walk long distances.
(03:47):
I mean, you can have thegreatest cardiovascular health
in the world, but if you can't,if you don't have any lean
muscle mass you will not, uh, beable to do day to day
activities.
You will have improved metabolichealth if you have more lean
muscle mass.
People often think that theirmetabolism decreases as they
age.
That is not the case.
(04:07):
There has been a lot of reallyinteresting research on this
topic, but that's not the case.
What happens.
It's very, very minimal up toage 60.
The decrease that we see in ourmetabolic rate or the, uh,
increase that we see in ourweight is a result of decreasing
lean muscle mass, because muscleis your most metabolically
(04:29):
demanding tissue.
So at 25, if you have X amountof lean muscle mass, you're
going to burn a certain level ofcalories.
And then if you could asedentary job and you don't
necessarily play sports anymore,or you don't get to the gym as
often, and you're notmaintaining that lean muscle
mass, you're going to decreasedown to Y level of lean muscle
mass and your, the amount ofcalories you burn just existing,
(04:51):
your metabolic rate is going todecrease independent of how much
exercise you're doing, obviouslyexercise itself, burns calories.
And so that has an impact onyour weight and, you know,
various metabolic factors aswell, but just the amount of
lean muscle mass, your existingwith you're sitting at your
desk, you're walking around withis going to impact your
metabolism.
(05:12):
So.
That's also going to impact.
Strength training is going toimpact your, uh, joint health,
your connective tissue, yourbone density, all of these
things.
And so if there was oneadaptation that I could have
people focus on, it would betheir strength.
And their hypertrophy.
So getting more lean muscle masslifting weight to keep all of
(05:36):
the structures of the bodyhealthy.
No.
Do we want to be like a musclebound meet head?
Who has absolutely nocardiovascular health.
No, of course not.
There are a lot of benefits tocardio as well, and there are a
lot of different types ofcardio.
So let's talk about some ofthose benefits of cardio.
Why might you choose to includerunning or spin classes or going
(05:58):
for walks in your exerciseroutine?
One it's fun.
I have, you can't see it, but Ihave a spin bike sitting right
off camera.
Um, I enjoy.
I have the Peloton app.
I don't have a Peloton bike.
I have a Amazon spin bike, but Ilove as much as the next person
like getting on a ride,listening to awesome music, like
(06:21):
sweating, having fun, havingsomeone like cheer me on and
encourage me.
It's really fun.
It's also a great opportunity.
I know a lot of moms who feelthis way, it's mindless.
Right?
You can just turn your brain offand be like, I don't have to
count reps.
I don't have to think aboutanything.
I don't even.
Like I can literally just hit,start on a workout, turn my
(06:41):
brain off.
And for 30 minutes I get to goto Lala land.
Like, that's actually a reallygreat.
Uh, option to have for thosedays where you're like, I can do
physical work, but I can't domental work.
This is what I want to do.
And it's a great option.
Uh, mental health benefits.
So this is especially true whenwe are going for walks or going
(07:03):
for runs or going for bikerides, doing things outdoors.
There's lots of research thatshows that just being in nature
is really beneficial for ourmental health.
There's also sun exposure,right?
So there's some vitamin Dthere's a lot of really great
benefits to getting outside.
Now, can you strength trainoutside?
Absolutely.
You can totally strength, train,you know, drag your weights out
(07:23):
in your driveway or out on yourpatio and work out outside a
hundred percent.
Do I do that?
No, my pull-up bars outside.
So I do get outside a little bitwhen I'm working out.
But I also work out at 6:00 AM.
So it's not like not thegreatest vibe, but if you can
make it work work, you don't doany workout outside.
But generally cardio lendsitself because of the lack of
(07:45):
equipment lends itself togetting outside.
Another really big thing for usas parents is that it's really
family friendly, right?
Going on walks.
Pushing your kid in a stroller,either for a walk or for a run,
having them in a, in a trailer,on a bike.
It's a lot easier to do a lot ofcardio activity with little kids
(08:07):
in particular.
Whereas strength training.
You're like, are they going todrop a weight on themselves?
Like, are they, you know, I'mgoing to do some kettlebell
swings or are they going to stayout of the way?
Are they going to get injured?
So for sure cardio can be muchmore accessible because of the
equipment, because it's morefamily friendly because you can
turn their brain off.
Those are all great reasons todo cardio.
Outside of the cardiovascularbenefits, which are
(08:30):
considerable, right?
It's not, I'm not by any meanssaying that you don't need to do
cardio that you don't, that yourcardiovascular health doesn't
matter.
Just, uh, suggesting that foroverall health, it's not the
most impactful thing.
Let's talk a little bit aboutgetting toned or losing weight
(08:51):
or body recomp goals, because ifyou have one of those goals, I
would not recommend cardio asyour primary source of exercise,
do it for fun.
Do it for your mental health, doit because you can do it with
your family, do it because it'sjust generally like it is
beneficial for your wellbeing.
But for those specific goals, itis not the first line of
(09:13):
defense.
Like we talked about increasingyour lean muscle mass has the
most impact metabolically.
Generally, and I'm not backingthis up with a research per se,
because I think there's someresearch, both ways I'm backing
this up from like my livedexperience and the lived
experience of many of myclients.
When we do something like a 30,45 minutes spin ride, or go for
(09:35):
a run for three miles.
I tend to see that I'm hungrier.
Right?
So if you are trying to reach acalorie deficit, Cardio can be.
A little bit more challengingbecause you feel hungry.
At least I feel hungry.
Like I get off the bike and I'mdefinitely demonstrably hungrier
(09:56):
than if I do a strength workoutwhere I'm at a lower uh, calorie
burn or a shorter workout of anyformat, right.
So.
That's part number one is it's,it's harder.
It's harder to be in a caloriedeficit.
If you are doing.
Longer duration, like 30 plusminutes of cardio, particularly
(10:17):
if you're like sweating.
You know, over 150 BPM.
Kind of like zone three, zonefour cardio.
Obviously, if you're going forlike a 30, 45, 60 minute walk, I
don't think you're going to comehome and be ravenous.
If you're going for like a 10mile hike, you will.
But, um, you're likely not goingto have any trouble.
If you're doing a 10 mile hike,you're probably still going to
(10:37):
be able to find a caloriedeficit because that's fairly
uh, long duration and you'relikely not sitting there on the
trail just eating constantly.
Um, So.
There is another option thoughthat, you know, strength trend,
yes.
A hundred percent increases yourlean muscle mass, which has some
benefit, um, metabolically, butalso you can do what's called
(11:01):
metabolic conditioning, orbasically lift weights fast, or
do interval training.
So you can do strength or bodyweight, strength movements at a
faster pace that gets your heartrate up.
But as maybe shorter in durationand higher in intensity for that
short duration.
Then say a run or going on abike ride.
(11:22):
So that is an opportunity for usto burn some calories.
Also work on increase our musclemass cause we're strength
training and not do such a longduration that has as much impact
on our hunger levels.
So that is a great option if youdon't like cardio, but you want
(11:43):
cardiovascular benefits.
Cool.
Do other things fast, right?
So if you have this like mentalblock with getting on a machine
or like doing something that's,that's, you know, very
repetitive or maybe not asengaging.
One, I would recommend doingsome kind of guided cardio,
like, you know, Peloton is agreat option.
Um, I have guided cardio classesin my online studio, but you can
(12:05):
also do metabolic conditioningor a different form.
You know, interval trainingtabata is do some kind of, uh,
work that is differentmovements.
So therefore not as, uh,mentally like boring and
repetitive, but allows you toget your heart rate up and, you
know, push yourself on a cardiofront.
(12:27):
Now let's talk about what I dobecause everyone wants
everyone's like, yeah, sure,sure, sure.
I hear you saying science,science, science, but like
you're thin.
So what do you do the reality isI'm saying, because I'm thin.
I am not thin because I'm doingsome particular protocol.
I think that like, as people inthe wellness space, it's very
easy to kind of select what datayou want to present people with.
(12:50):
Show them what you look like andbe like, obviously I'm right
about this, because look, I'mthin.
I am naturally thin.
I have always been thin.
I have never dieted and thatcontributes to me having like a
fairly, uh, robust metabolism.
But if you really want to knowwhat I do.
(13:10):
Um, I do, this is when I'm notinjured.
Currently my arm is broken.
When I'm not injured, I do aspin ride once a week.
That is my only like dedicated,steady state zone three.
Like, you know, just hangingout, working kind of cardio.
I try to go for a walk.
Most days on weekends, I almostalways do like fairly strenuous
(13:33):
sweaty yard work.
That's not like at a high, um,uh, high heart rate that may be
a like zone two kind of heartrate, not, not very high
intensity, but it's longduration.
It's hot.
It's a lot of very I'm like,squatting down, standing up
reaching, lifting.
So there's a lot of, um, reallyhealthy movement pattern variety
(13:56):
in there.
And then.
Sometimes that's currently whatI'm doing in my current strength
cycle of we're just pretend I'mI'm over here living in this
fantasy world, or I'm still in astrength cycle, despite the fact
that my arm is broken.
Um, I'm not really following anorganized program right now
because I am doing whatever Iphysically can, which ends up
being like a lot of rehab typemovement.
(14:18):
But.
Uh, and a lot of walks, a lot ofmental health walks, but the
phase that the cycle that I wasdoing prior to breaking my arm,
um, was.
Cardio, you know, spin classonce a week, going for walks,
doing physical manual, workaround the house.
That's it.
Sometimes I will do a strengthcycle that has more metabolic
(14:40):
conditioning, more intervaltraining in it.
That is, um, you know, if I'mreally like, I want to work on
aesthetic gains right now, Iwant to like, look super
sculpted and toned and likeslightly jacked.
That's where I focus.
I do a couple strengths days andthen a lot of more like
metabolic conditioning typework.
(15:01):
I still do not do.
Any long duration, she steadystate cardio.
If I'm focused, exclusively onaesthetic gains.
The the cycle that I was workingin prior to breaking my arm was
a max strength cycle.
I was working on a specificstrength skill, which is a
pull-up.
And I was doing very, verylittle, you know, metabolic
(15:22):
conditioning or high heart ratestrength training at all.
So that's what I do.
It really is completely optionalto run.
Running as a choice if you loveit, no judges, but it is not
imperative for health.
If you are like in the habit ofseeing, you know, a mom with a
jogging stroller jog by whileyou're driving and thinking
(15:45):
like, oh God, she's like such agood person.
She's so healthy, so fit thatmay not be true at all.
One.
She's out there jogging when thejogging stroller.
I said, no judges.
I take that back.
I take back the tone.
But two, she's not necessarilygetting the best bang for her
buck health or fitness wise.
(16:06):
She would probably, if that'sall she's doing is out there
jogging every single day withher jogging stroller, she would
probably be better off strengthtraining and her bones and her,
uh, Immune system and hermetabolic health, her hormones,
all of those things would thankher in her forties, fifties,
sixties, if she was strengthtraining right now, rather than
running.
(16:26):
Hot takes.
So I hope this has been helpfulif you are a guilty non runner.
Um, and if you are a person whoabsolutely loves running.
Uh, but needs a kick in the buttto do a little bit more
resistance training.
This is that kick in the butt.
Thank you so much for joining methis week.
Have a great week.
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