You know that person that hogs the treadmill for well over an hour, walking in slow-motion speed to which you wonder if the spider on the wall is actually walking faster?! Ya, definitely had this moment today and it was right at the end of my work day. Let's take a break here, a commercial break here, to remind everyone what it means to do cardio exercise.
[info commercial break start]
CARDIOVASCULAR EXERCISE:
A general term for any form of vigorous aerobic exercise, which pushes the heart rate to a near maximum.
The key word here being V-I-G-O-U-R-O-U-S,... vigorous. This means that unless you're something like 300kgs and huffing and puffing, walking is NOT cardio!!! The basic rule of thumb is if you're heart is pounding and you're sweating then you're doing cardio.
If you want to turn walking into cardio then by all means please do so but you're going to have to make some adaptions. Some suggestions would be strapping on some ankle weights and/or wrist weights, upping your speed and doing speed walking, or perhaps hitting the challenging terrain on the local mountain trails.
Walking is a great part of living a healthy lifestyle but it is not cardio.
[info commercial break over]
I didn't want to come off as rude or discouraging but I also didn't want this particular member to think she was doing her body some good by skipping out on real cardio and settling for walking, so I approached her. She was playing with her cellphone and walking on level 3. I should note here that my light jog on the same treadmill is at a level 7.5. Many of our mini Hulkies, age 15 and lower, jog at a level 6 so 3 is pretty low.
Just recently I've posted a HIIT treadmill program on our two treadmills, a simple 8 set routine for Hulkies to follow if they want a further challenge. For the most part, Hulkies who use the treadmills simply get on them and jog, focusing more so on the time than the effort they're putting forth. The HIIT program outline definitely helps them train outside of their comfort zone so I've been really pleased with many of our Hulkies testing it out. It's not easy, oh I know, but hey that's what makes it so great and that's exactly what brings changes and success with your training -- training outside of your comfort zone.
I tried to push tonight's late night walker out of her comfort zone by explaining to her the HIIT program. She was just so uninterested so I decided to let her simply do her time but not without insisting she up her effort. I pressed that level up button so many times and with every couple of times I pressed it she'd give a little squeal. "You can walk outside but you came here to train so train", I told her.
No sooner did I reach the juice bar but then I heard her pressing the level down button. "I can hear that -- don't press the button!!!" I yelled out. She thought I was joking but upon me returning to her side and upping the level again, she knew I wasn't. I'm not mean and I'm not cruel, but my job is to help people become healthier and stronger. And if pressing the button to make her actually do cardio makes me mean and cruel in her eyes, so be it, my job isn't to be people's friends. I am their coach and that's what I'm doing, coaching.
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