How EXACTLY do I get better at running long distance, swimming, general endurance cardio, etc?
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You should not do excessive cardio; as it does not improve body composistion and it is stressful and damaging to the joints. If you are to training for cardio, then performing high volume in zone 2 seems to be far the best program for success.
Put yourself on fire for peak energy metabolism.
Ignore, judge, overcommit.
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@Norwegian-Mugabe second this. Compare Olympic sprinters vs Olympic marathon runners
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Obviously, you need to train some of the volume with higher intesity too. This should go without saying.
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@donovan Both look good, but I'd rather have a body closer to a marathon runner. I don't especially need to lift a lot of weight, I want a body that can run long distances & do cardio-intensive excercize for long periods of time. I will realistically need to run far more then lift a heavy barbell. No disrespect
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@Lovesickhs18 If this is your goal, then you should just get topped on grinder.
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@Lovesickhs18 you should look more towards harm reduction in this case then. Damages knees, muscle wasting, incredibly faster aging, and much more. It is not healthy long term at all. Take care of your knees, increase muscle retention, and keep collagen high. Otherwise you’ll look like everyone else in my dads running club with hip replacements and knee surgeries, and wrinkly skin at 45
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@donovan Respectfully, I can't understand how one of the very things that sets us apart as humans is something to seriously avoid. I'm not looking to do Iron-man's every year, I just want to be able to comfortable jog fast a lot.
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@Lovesickhs18 i mean all in all this is a forum that is about optimizing health and long distance running is inherently against this. Just because we can do it as humans doesn’t mean we should. Essentially any sport that is highly stressful and/or catabolic is against this. I’m not saying you shouldn’t do it, just look for ways to reduce the damage. I do Muay Thai, getting hit in the head is not healthy, so i am looking for ways to do damage reduction.
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@donovan Alright then. Is there any outdoorsy excercize I could possibly do?
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@Lovesickhs18 well you’re interested in rock climbing which i think is very cool, i was into it for a bit not too long ago. I think i did one v4 or v5. I think the idea of badminton or tennis or volleyball are cool especially as they are done in the sun. Sprints are cool. Rucking.
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@donovan OH absolutely. Climbing is expensive as shit I hear so I'll just do it in the summer. Guess it's long walks & no juice for me lol. Thanks both of you @Norwegian-Mugabe @donovan
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@Lovesickhs18 Walking is the best activity. There is another post regarding [Walking]. Hiking in nature will decresses the stress, while much jogging will increase it. Walking in nature will also improve mood, mobility, and take care of your joints. You should also lift weights at least once every second week.
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@Lovesickhs18 no problem man good luck. Long walks are great too.
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I think if you want to do it "safely" you just have to make it personalized and listen to your body. The danger of long-distance running (in my opinion) comes from the worn down level of huffing and puffing you see runners get to after a while. Track time and distance and adjust based on how you feel from day to day, but progression will come from understanding your threshold for huffing and puffing and extending that threshold. Humans have been doing this for a long time. Do not think about a regimen, or schedule, or rest days. Do not think about it at all and keep language far from your running experience. This is a feelings and response based journey.
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@LinDaiyu Thank you. Staying within your limits is especially important with running, I surmise
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Here is what worked for me a decade(ish) ago when I took my five-mile run time from 38 minutes to 30 minutes in about 9 months:
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don’t overtrain; workout no more than 5 times a week and have at least 2 pure rest days
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A majority of your workouts should be 400 to 800m intervals with at least 1:1 work-rest ratio
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Don’t neglect skill work
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your distance work should alternate between paced medium runs and long meandering jogs
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every once in a while, replace a long run with a long bike ride if you’re sore
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do some lower and upper body strength work, especially calves and tibialis
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I think there is generally an excessive prejudice against cardiovascular exercise by some followers of Ray's work. As long as you're eating a surplus of calories, avoiding PUFA, and re-carbing after or during your workouts you will be far better off doing low intensity cardio than not.
The overwhelming majority of examples given in which 'cardio' causes bad outcomes are cases of people pushing beyond a zone 2 HR threshold for the majority of their training and eating inadequately. You should be capable of maximal force production, you should be capable of hill sprints, and you should be capable of moving great distances on foot- anything less is laziness and life-denying.
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I like hiking in the forest hunting for mushrooms lots of fun.
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I am a collegiate endurance athlete. I love my sport and I think peating should open doors and allow you to do what you enjoy, not close them.
Do lots and lots and lots of low effort endurance exercise, and crosstrain liberally. I am a rower and most of the year probably spend more time biking and skiing than I do actually rowing.
Low effort work will increase your work capacity and aerobic base, allowing you to recover from efforts faster, and do more efforts. I typically spend 14 hours a week doing easy cardio (zone 2) and never finish a workout feeling fatigued, stressed, serotnogenic, cortisolic etc. Eating peaty snacks while working out keeps you out of fatty acid oxidation and away from producing stress hormones.
If all you want to do is improve endurance and work capacity just spend as much time as you want to doing very easy cardio. It will improve climbing as you will recover faster, both between spurts of effort while climbing, or after the climb when you are resting.
