LITTLE ROCK — Here’s a fancy term for you: cardiovascular supplementation.
It refers to a variation of an exercise strategy that has been around for decades - circuit training. It’s a way of using what would otherwise be considered “strength” exercises for a cardiovascular benefit.
This week, I’ll discuss this technique and present a new exercise that typifies cardiovascular supplementation.
Circuit training, as you probably know, has you do short intervals of cardiovascular exercise in between bouts of strength training. This technique was developed as a means of keeping the heart rate high while performing weight training activities.
The inherent advantage of this type of training is that you kill two birds with one stone. You’re able to improve cardiovascular endurance while improving muscle strength. Before circuit training became popular, these activities had been kept largely separate.
As is the case with any variation of fitness programming, there are drawbacks to circuit training. When you’re forced to perform cardiovascular exercise during what would otherwise be a break period between sets of strength training, little recovery occurs. Exercisers can’t perform at top capacity during the strength training movements. Essentially, they become too tired to recruit the maximum number of muscle fibers.
As a result, those who train using circuits only often experience smaller gains in cardiovascular endurance and strength improvement, although there is certainly a positive effect on each.
Think of it like your workday. If you spent all eight hours of your day selling widgets, you would probably become an amazing widget salesman eventually. If you spent half of your workday selling widgets and half of your workday making widgets, you’d probably be average at both tasks.
That’s sort of what happens with people who exclusively engage in circuit training with no variation. It’s a much better idea to use circuit training as a supplement to your regular training regimen.
Also, changing up your circuit training exercises and intervals helps a great deal. The specific activity I refer to as“cardiovascular supplementation” is something I developed because my clients were not adhering to the cardiovascular prescriptions I’d asked them to complete on their own. Out of necessity, I wove in short intervals of cardiovascular exercise they could do without setting foot on a treadmill, bike or elliptical machine.
Cardiovascular supplementation is basically done by modifying a strength or plyometric exercise to make it more cardiovascular in nature. For example, a traditional lunge can be modified into a repetitive jumping lunge and - voila! Doing this long enough will get the heart rate up and enhance the cardiovascular benefit of the workout.
While it may not be as beneficial as spending 15 minutes on the elliptical machine, it’s exactly as the name suggests - a supplement to a strength move.
This week’s exercise is an outstanding cardiovascular supplement that can be helpful to those without access to a single piece of workout equipment. The Alternating Frog Squat makes a great addition to any fitness routine, particularly where the goal is to increase the cardiovascular “qualities” during the session.
1.
Stand with your feet well beyond shoulder-width apart. Three to four feet apart would be a good goal here. Place your hands on your hips.
2.
Squat down by pressing your hips back until you feel the hips and hamstrings tighten.
3.
Forcefully extend the legs and jump just high enough to bring your feet back to just inside shoulder-width apart.
4.
Perform another squat and jump again, returning your legs to the wide position.
5.
Continue alternating this wide and narrow stance as you do jump squats.
6.
Complete two sets of 12 to 15 jumps each.
As always, you’ll want to match your fitness level to the intensity of this movement. For those of you with less experience, try squatting down only a few inches.
If you’ve been working out for many years at a high level, try jumping as high as you can with each repetition.
Matt Parrott has a doctorate in education (sport studies), a master’s in kinesiology and is certified by the American College of Sports Medicine.
ActiveStyle, Pages 30 on 11/22/2010