Rest for heart?

**Quija** · Posted On: 9/09/2008 6:56pm

Howdy, I know you should rest most muscle groups 2-3 days per week when weight training via alternating days but I was wondering if any of you knew anything about resting for cardio? When I was running I'd get in 2-3 days a week break from it but what if I were to alternate running with heavy-bag work for cardio and then say rowing or something? Could I then do hardcore aerobic training every day or does the heart need a break?

Bleh thats kind of complicated..so to sum it up..

If one uses different muscle groups to achieve it, is it ok to do 1-2 hours of hardcore sweat pooling on the floor cardio per day?

My concern being your heart and lungs never get a break.

**Teh El Macho** · Posted On: 9/09/2008 9:58pm

Originally Posted by Quija

If one uses different muscle groups to achieve it, is it ok to do 1-2 hours of hardcore sweat pooling on the floor cardio per day?

For what purpose? What are your specific training goals?

Hard, prolonged sessions of "Cardio" (or any form of exercise for that matter) can have a negative effect on your recovery if you are using muscles that are already taxed. For example, squatting one day and immediately on the day after, not just jogging, but doing sprints or very long running sessions. Doing this once in a while is not that bad. Doing it all the time, that could screw you.

Again, it all depends of what you are training for, as well as other factors such as your diet, your gender, age, body composition and amount of sleep you get.

Also, even if you were using different muscle groups, you only have one body with limited energy reserves and only one central nervous system (CNS). If you don't fry your muscles, you certainly can fry your CNS, or become highly catabolic. No matter what you train for, that's bad **** to do to yourself.

As for the heart and lungs, don't worry about them (unless you suffer from a medical condition). They can take quite a wallop. You will fry your CNS and/or fry/injure your muscles and/or ligaments before doing any harm to your heart and lungs.

**Teh El Macho** · Posted On: 9/09/2008 10:06pm

Please remember to describe your training goals.

**TheRuss** · Posted On: 9/09/2008 11:02pm

Although cardiac muscle isn't skeletal muscle, it is striated, and in terms of energy systems, it closely resembles slow-twitch fibers.

Cardiac muscle depends heavily on aerobic metabolism and therefore contains many mitochondria and much myoglobin. The myoglobin gives the heart its characteristic red color. As noted previously, aerobic metabolism is more efficient in producing ATP than glycolysis.

-Cardiac Muscle Physiology, Energetics

Further, The Almighty Wikipedia indicates that most of the heart's energy supply (when at rest) is from fatty acids in the blood.

---

There are a few reasons for the emphasis on rest when performing resistance training. Some of the major ones are:
-restoring glycogen levels in muscle and liver cells
-repairing exercise-induced microtearing and other tissue damage
-central and peripheral nervous system recovery
-mental/emotional recuperation

At bare minimum, the first is also a concern for someone doing endurance/conditioning training, probably even moreso than for someone doing resistance training (the other two may also apply). Depleting your glycogen without allowing it to fully recover is often called "overreaching", and can be a useful training technique when carefully controlled. However, if done repeatedly, it becomes overtraining, which probably runs counter to your goals.

**Quija** · Posted On: 9/10/2008 9:22am

Sorry I did not specify my goal.

The goal is to be able to fight longer and harder without being out of breath. I do cardio every day for this purpose, but only really push it every 3 days or so. Plus I kind of have to exercise alot because I eat too much and I'm fat enough as it is :p I am really considering pushing it up a few notches and only resting on weekends. I have many means of getting my heart rate up. I can run, do heavy bag work, jump-rope, I even have a dance dance revolution game(it tracks calories burned, last night I burned 800)

I like having endurance.
If I'm not the best stylistically then I want to be able to run, swim, play, and fight longer than anyone I know. At 350 pounds its tough but I accomplish it. I have a resting heart rate of 50, perfect blood pressure, and good blood work(I donate blood and plasma and they tell me its amazing for my size)

I have won against guys 10 times better than me because when they got tired of hitting me I was still there. So endurance is kinda my thing :)

**meataxe** · Posted On: 9/10/2008 3:27pm

As a former cyclist, I can give you how we would train for endurance...

Assuming you race or equivalent on every Sunday (strength / anaerobic / anaerobic threshold).

Monday, do a long easy recovery ride 2-3 hours. This elevates the heart rate (approx 65% of max) and helps the muscles recover.

Tuesday, sprints/intervals. 1-2 hours

Wednesday, long endurance ride 2-3 hours.

Thursday, sprints/intervals or club races / time trial.

Friday, short ride if I there is time.

Saturday, moderate pace 1-2 hours.

Sometimes I would work one of swimming, running or weights into this, maybe twice a week.

On a bike, endurance work can actually help your muscles recover from strength workouts. You are not bearing full bodyweight like running. Pro cyclists would typically work out 2 to 3 times this amount.

I wouldn't recommend this for boxing, but if you try something more extreme endurance like this, do it for 2 months (it should take about that long). After that, cycle back into your normal workouts. I don't think you could train like an endurance athlete and still keep up the regular boxing workout.

Endurance used to be my thing... I have never been very powerful, but in particularly grueling races, I could generally hold on longer than the faster guys.