My recommendation is to rest only long enough between sets to allow the cardiovascular system to recover enough to not limit the effort you are able to put into the next exercise. If the reader doesn’t understand how a strength training exercise can have this effect, they’ve never done one correctly.

Less rest and you compromise the overall intensity of each exercise. Rest too much, and you’re wasting time you could be putting to better use or enjoying in the pursuit of activities outside of the gym.

Have you seen this post?

http://www.thedreamlounge.net/2009/08/12/strength-training-superior-to-p90x-cardio-crossfit-functional-group-exercise-fitness-classes/

I discuss crossfit a bit there.

The short version: crossfit does not fit into my model of “proper exercise”, which is universal to everyone. The principles I’ve seen are not safe, promote long term overuse injuries, are too frequent, and not intense enough to produce best results.

While Crossfit may be a step above “cardio” and “aerobics”, it is not optimal for anyone to be practicing, and in my eyes, is not “exercise” to begin with (it is a collection of physical activities mistaken as exercise).

The “athletic achievements” I’ve seen are impressive as well, but do not correlate to “exercise”, the same way sports like football are not “exercise”. Better, safer, results can be had in less time by simple, hard, and progressive strength training. If one wants “functional” improvements, that person needs to specifically practice what they want a high functional ability in. If you are a cop, and want to have a good sprinting ability- you need to practice sprinting (a skill), and support it with proper strength training- not do all sorts of random activities in hopes that they mystically transfer over to a better sprinting ability.

A bit harsh =), but I hope this answers your question. Thanks for commenting

-Anthony

Since this is a better way of contacting you than email, I’m writing you here.

You’ve covered in depth your thoughts about the P90X approach, but I was wondering if you could perhaps address your thoughts on the other hot workout trend, Crossfit.

The athletic achievements I’ve seen from Crossfit seem pretty staggering and it seems to be working for a lot of people, providing them with functional fitness through powerlifting and gymnastics exercises (you’re probably already familiar with it).

Anyways, would love your thoughts and insight on this style of exercise.

“Too many contradictions in your assertion that “cardio” is unhealthy. ”

Admittedly, this was not the most well thought out post – I had ideas I wanted to share about new developments, but worried many people would not be up to speed on what was already in my head about “cardio”, so the beginning of this post was more of a quick primer than anything.

See my 2009 21 Convention speech for a better articulation of my ideas.

“The walking, jogging for hours is most likely what we evolved to do. This is healthy – it has to be. OR, at least, it is most likely in our evolutionary repertoire. This is also called “cardio”. Most people, imo, quit before they should because, yes, it’s hard to jog and walk for hours at a time. Easier to denigrate it than to do it.”

I know how it seems…and I know how you feel with your current knowledge (I too once drew the same conclusions), but I have to strongly disagree.

We never “jogged” (continuously) for hours – not on a grand scale anyway. Modern tribes generally DO NOT do this, and it would make very little sense for ancient man to do so. To go even further, “aerobic metabolism” is a relatively new development in our evolution. The mitochondria involved were actually bacteria that found their way into our cells, and made permanent residence. Anaerobic metabolism is far more ancient, because it has always been a necessity. In short, aerobic was more of a random mutation than anything from my understanding – a random mutation that has destroyed millions of knees and hips over the past few decades with the stupidity that is the “aerobics” movement, which has now evolved into the “cardio” movement.

The rest of your comment I either don’t follow or have little to say (not a fan of Crossfit though, although, it’s better than “aerobics”, but still not “good”).

thanks for commenting (if any of this came off offensive or patronizing I apologize as that was not my intention)

-Anthony

Try turning…

“Lately, things in my environment have been a bit rocky for me, no need to get into details, but I can see myself, when things bounce back, getting more energy.”

into…

“My environment has been rocky lately. I choose to no longer be a product of my environment – it will be a product of me, of MY choices, and my courage. When I make this decision, things will “bounce back”, because I demanded they would, and didn’t wait for it to happen.”

=)

And yes, our ancestors did spend time moving rocks and trees. It’s what allowed them to discover food, find shelter, and make tools.

The walking, jogging for hours is most likely what we evolved to do. This is healthy – it has to be. OR, at least, it is most likely in our evolutionary repertoire. This is also called “cardio”. Most people, imo, quit before they should because, yes, it’s hard to jog and walk for hours at a time. Easier to denigrate it than to do it.

You say that it was too energy expensive to pursue game like the men in the video? Fat, my man. That is why we eat and burn fat. It’s energy intensive. One pound of it can take me 6 hours of walking / jogging, and that’s cheap.

Don’t confuse the walking / jogging routine with anaerobic threshold pace racing. THAT cannot be in our evolutionary repertoire, because at that pace, we are both not fast enough to catch our prey and too slow to outrun that which is trying to eat us. But, it’s a big step to conclude that time spent at this pace is actually “unhealthy”- no matter what one MRI cardiac study suggests. It’s an epidemiology study, right? That makes it meaningless.

Also, don’t fall for the fad Crossfit stuff on the other hand. Why on earth would our ancestors move like that? That is high risk injury movement. They most likely didn’t spend their time moving rocks and trees, right? They stepped over them – because they grew big brains and were smart.

Humans are good at adapting. We get big when we lift weights. We get faster when we run – either in sprints, at threshold pace or over distance. We also adapt to alcohol and heroin, nicotine, etc. Just because we can adapt to it doesn’t mean it’s healthy for us.

Thanks for the reply

simz