Or, how to use a non-aesthetic performance goal to achieve a superficial physique-goal.
Above are my results from last season’s
5K race, which I trained for rigorously.
It was the annual Fantasy of Lights Holiday 5K,
in Howell, Michigan.
Howell is one city over from my personal training studio,
in Brighton, Michigan (Livingston County.)
I placed 36th out of about 600 runners
with a total time of 22:05, and a pace time of 7:07 / mile.
It was a fairly hilly route, harder than the average training route.
It was my first ever race of any distance,
and my first year training like a true runner.
This was my last workout:
There was supposed to be a costume contest, which was of course cancelled,
and so I got to show up as John McClane from Die Hard,
and scare the sweet old folks behind the bib table at the Presbyterian Church half to death, pre-race.
I’ve been a trainer awhile. But I’m not set in my ways.
Lest ego rob me or my clients of information or results,
I maintain a student’s attitude, always.
What I learned this go-round, with my running experiment, is:
1. Inert cardio is fairly useless, and doesn’t tend to deliver leanness.
2. VO2 Max should be your main snapshot for both weight-training AND cardiovascular fitness.
I’ve written before about how adopting use of a WHOOP
has changed my perspective on many aspects of fitness.
Whilst running with this device tracking my progress,
my VO2 Max skyrocketed,
and my Resting Heart Rate decreased significantly.
My 3-Day training week included:
1: Event Distance (3.15 miles, Moderate Pace)
2: Tempo Run (Split Intervals, Easy / Hard) or Hill Repeats
3: Long Run (6-7 Miles, Easy Pace)
CLICK HERE TO VIEW MY FULL RUN JOURNAL, LOADS OF DATA!
I developed and worked through a posterior tibialis strain
during this training year, due to increasing my mileage
too quickly.
Through running, without additional focus on calories or nutrition,
just maintaining ~50-100 calorie deficit a day on top of training-
I dropped 20lbs and 4% bodyfat.
Once I had developed a cardiovascular base,
every time I ran, my muscle vascularity surged.
My appetite became naturally more regulated and controlled,
(less desire for junk food)
my VO2 max spiked upward as my RHR plunged downward,
and my recovery, energy, and libido increased progressively.
This was despite the fact that I was taxing my body harder than I ever have before
while maintaining all of my normal lifting days-
aside from leg training, which i relegated to one lifting
session every 14 days, to avoid cannablizing my
cardiovascular gains.
It’s also worth noting here, I’m 38, and I use zero hormone replacement, testosterone, steroids, or human growth hormone.
I am a natural lifter, but not necessarily a traditional “bodybuilder.”
Running created a completely different adaptation than the fatigue and malaise
of steady state cardio on the bike in my studio.
There is one key takeaway I bid you remember if you take nothing else from this:
VO2 MAX is THE MAIN VARIABLE by which to judge when you are in striking distance of any physical goal.
(Assuming you still meal prep and track your nutrition.)
For athletic power and endurance, and ALSO body leanness, VO2 Max is the read.
Even if your goal is aesthetic.
e.g “i want abs,” “i want a butt,” “i want low bodyfat / muscle tone.”
VO2 Max is the variable for recovery, optimal training load,
and overall fitness level measurement.
It is the grade by which you should judge:
1. how fit you are.
2. how much you should do.
3. how well / quickly you can expect to recover.
4. whether you’re moving toward leanness or not, and whether your hormones are (probably) in a healthy spot.
This event made me realize all the steady-state cardio I’ve ever done,
was pretty much a complete waste of time.
It’s boring, mind-numbing, obsessive, tedious,
unnatural, and in the long run, it doesn’t work anyway.
not because it doesn’t “work” scientifically if you adhere to the plan-
It does. But next to no one maintains it when you look at lifelong trends.
Tedious cardiovascular behavior, generally, is a habit held by people with eating disorders and other forms of OCD,
rooted in excessive anxiety and concern over one’s appearance. That’s not the look we’re going for.
Steadystate cardio fails because it’s psychologically doomed to in it’s tedium.
It works against your body and mind rather than in rhythm with it.
You’re better off just learning to control your appetite and dodging treats.
Steadystate cardio leaves you winded and depleted, and causes your metabolism
to resist you from sapped ghrelin. Whereas higher intensity cardiovascular training
(but not necessarily “in-place” HIIT, which like treadmills and stationary bikes is also a “simulation” exercise.)
involving movement will just beat you into shape naturally like a blacksmith beats a cube of steel,
without a bunch of extra thinking and mathing.
You were made to move. Through space. From one point to another.
When you circumvent this economy you pay the price.
In sanity, (think staring at a regiment of TVs on an incline treadmill with CNN vs FOX
at your local big box gym)
in time, (think endless hours per month on the same old in-home contraption, bored
to tears, when you could be doing something more fun with better results)
in results, (when you look soft and dont see the muscle cuts youve
worked so hard for because youre burning muscle off and your metabolism is resisting
your poor cardiovascular fitness from overtraining at high volume, low intensity.)
Your body is made to move. Lifting is irreplaceable. But it isnt moving. It doesnt cover ground.
When you accept that movement is the economy your body wants and you find an activity
that you enjoy within this economy,
(hiking, running, walking, biking, kayaking, sprinting, jumproping)
if you are disciplined– the results you crave just begin to open their hands to you naturally,
instead of resisting you when you try to control variables for beauty.
So without going on and on, remember: VO2 MAX is the overall marker by which to measure success.
Shockingly I made gains I didn’t even intend whilst doing run training-
PRs on almost every lift, faster recovery than just lifting at a lower VO2 max,
charged sexual health, regulated appetite.
Every textbook bodybuilder will tell you this is impossible to expect.
That everything should feel depleted as lower bodyfat is grasped.
Apparently not so, if done patiently and sustainably.
The higher my VO2 Max soared, the more weight I could lift,
and the more muscular endurance I had.
So the running was, contrary to popular belief,
feeding my muscle gains and continuous PRs on the barbell,
and an unbelievable ability to recover more quickly than if I were merely lifting
at a lower VO2 Max.
I’ve never been more chiseled and I’m taking it further this year
to test this theory further.
VO2 Max = A healthier, proper, more effective lever toward leanness.
A huge perspective shift that explains why all of my attempts at progressive,
“cutting-style” steadystate cardio have failed to produce lasting leanness for me.
This training year also cemented for me that using a separate performance goal,
is the optimal way to daisy-chain and achieve your superficial goals,
while keeping your psychology healthy.
Take this writing as your reminder to get outside,
and get after it.
Jameson Blade, CPT
Founder & Trainer
ph: (313) 970-0072
