Cardio

If you are in a fat loss phase, then you might have cardio in your plan, and this was included in your spreadsheet.

However, even if you don't have cardio in your plan and/or your goal isn't fat loss, cardio is still worthwhile to add for the health benefits! It's certainly not mandatory but recommended if you want to prioritize your health.

Rating of Perceived Exertion

The RPE scale (Rating of Perceived Exertion) to classify cardio is very useful in order to have an idea of what type of intensity you should be working in and how to determine that intensity (with the talk test). This is for reference only, you don't have to read each one.

RPE 1 - Very light

Talk test: Normal breathing, can talk normally

MHR: 40-45%

Example: Standing

RPE 2 - Light

Talk test: Normal breathing, can talk normally

MHR: 46-50%

Example: Walking

RPE 3 - Moderate no sweat

Talk test: Can carry on a conversation, light breathing

MHR: 51-55%

Example: Brisk walk

RPE 4 - Moderate sweat

Talk test: Can carry on a conversation, moderate breathing

MHR: 56-60%

Example: Fast walk / Light jog

RPE 5 - Moderate vigorous sweat

Talk test: Can carry on a conversation, heavy breathing

MHR: 61-67%

Example: Very fast walk / Jog

RPE 6 - Vigorous

Talk test: Only able to complete 1-2 sentences, heavier breathing

MHR: 68-75%

Example: Run

RPE 7 - Vigorous strenuous

Talk test: Broken sentences; heavy breathing

MHR: 76-80%

Example: Fast run

RPE 8 - Strenuous

Talk test: Only able to speak in syllables; very heavy breathing

MHR: 81-85%

Example: Very fast run

RPE 9 - Strenuous severe

Talk test: Can't talk; very heavy breathing

MHR: 86-92%

Example: Sprint

RPE 10 - Severe

Talk test: Can't talk; gasping for breath

MHR: 93-100%

Example: Maximum sprint

What level to do

What intensity you should do your cardio on depends on your situation.

If you're doing it for fat loss, you generally want to keep it low-intensity, around RPE 4.

If you're doing it for health, you want the intensity a little bit higher, around RPE 6.

The more advanced you are, and the more you want to optimize strength and muscle gain, lower intensity is prefered since there is an inference effect of cardio and strength training, reducing your strength/muscle gain results.

When to do it

If you are a beginner, it doesn't matter. Do it whenever it's most convenient for you.

If you're an intermediate/advanced lifter, it's a little bit more complicated. Send me a message and tell me you want to incorporate cardio, I will do so in the most optimal way possible.

Type of cardio

Walking is a great form of cardio, especially for fat loss. It adds very little fatigue to your training and has a very little injury risk. If you are walking outside, walk at a fast pace. If you are walking on a treadmill, use inclination. For fat loss, running would be the worse form of cardio as it interferes with training adaptations, albeit dose and timing dependent.

For beginners, you can use any form of cardio. You should pick what you like the most. You can choose from:

• Treadmill

• Biking

• Elliptical

• Rower

These are the main ones found at most gyms. Although if you're lucky, you maybe have some fancier ones, like a ski machine, ladder step machine, and others.

Workload

For health and overall work capacity, I recommend starting at 15 minutes two times per week at RPE 4. Ideally, you would want to increase this to 30 minutes 2x per week or 45 minutes 3x per week at RPE 7.

There is no rush in getting there. If you are new to endurance training, progress towards this level over the course of a few months.

If you happen to have a watch that reads your heart rate, you can aim for the percentages described in the RPE scale. But if you don't, don't worry about it. It's a minor detail and evaluating by how much you can talk is a pretty good indicator. Your maximum rate heart is 220 minus your age, so if you're 30, that would be 190.