Mixing it Up: Fuel Your Cardio with Talk Instead of Music
Filed Under (Fitness) by admin on 20-11-2009
AUDIO and CARDIO
Audio and Cardio typically go hand in hand. Whether we are pushing ourselves to the limit or just trying to pass the time on the treadmill without getting bored to death, it is rare to see someone not making use of their own selections via an iPod or, at the very least, conversing with their workout buddy on the adjacent treadmill or exercise bike.
MATCHING YOUR SOUNDS TO YOUR PURPOSE
Some people are extremely surgical when it comes to selecting their playlists for their cardio sessions. They know the number of beats per minute to various songs and match it up with how often they want to take strides at various points in their pacing. Others are happy just as long as the music isn’t Kevin Federline.
In my case, if I am looking for music to really push me, I’ll select songs based more on their ability to inspire adrenaline or imagery, as opposed to getting overly scientific about it. If I accidentally notice that the pacing of a certain song seems to work well at driving my legs at a healthy rate, I’ll make a note and keep that song around, even if it wouldn’t have popped into my head as a good choice without that fortuitous coincidence.
TALK INSTEAD OF MUSIC?
Yet another approach that I have been using lately is to throw some talk radio podcasts onto my iPod and use them to keep me interested / distracted during cardio sessions.
Whether this is an approach you want to use may depend largely on the nature of your session. I personally like to use this approach if I am undertaking a run or a ride that is of long duration and relatively low intensity. In my case, that means anything lasting more than half an hour with a heart rate under 140 or so. That might be, say, a 10K run at 7.0 mph on the treadmill.
For some people that would be a personal best, while others would snicker at me and say that is slow enough to not even qualify as moderate intensity. It doesn’t really matter, because what is critical is how extreme the session and the experience are to you.
MOTIVATION OR DISTRACTION?
People also tend to vary in terms of how they view the purpose of their iPods and associated audio content. For some, the music or words are a driving force, fueling them and intensifying their focus. For others, the sounds are a means of distracting themselves from either boredom or pain (or both).
In my training, I have used the iPod for both purposes, and the primary distinction has been the intensity and length of the session. I find that an intellectually engaging podcast serves as a good distractor and boredom cure, while a balls-to-the-wall playlist will let me take a stab at personal bests in terms of speed and pacing.
MENTAL TRAINING AS MUCH AS PHYSICAL
Cardio sessions, for me in particular, are often an exercise in training the mind as much as the body. They build the ability to focus, to tolerate boredom, to tolerate pain, to persevere when you want to quit. As much as the muscles often need their exercises changed to avoid plateaus, mixing up the methods you use to mentally endure can also work to your benefit.
Mental tricks and getting creative with your workouts, even down to the nature of your iPod playlist, can be a way of adding mental variety to your gym experience.
PICK A TOPIC YOU LIKE!
This should go without saying, but for heaven’s sake, pick a topic you like if you are going to use a podcast to get through your cardio! Some of my worst experiences in the gym have been when I have stepped onto a treadmill or sat down at a stationary bike (in front of a gym TV) and five minutes in (when I’m too committed to change equipment) the TV starts playing The View or The Hills or perpetual CNN reruns of the Balloon Boy footage.
Hey, maybe you like The View. Maybe you like The Hills. To each his or her own, but if you strap yourself into the cardio equipment and begin inundating yourself with content you can’t stand…well, then you’re a glutton for punishment and you’re not too far from running with a crown of thorns and a hair shirt (which, by the way, I would still prefer to watching The Hills).
A FEW EXAMPLES
In my case, I find a few topics pertinent to my interests to be well-suited for lengthy cardio sessions. They engage the mind enough to keep my interest but don’t demand so much attention that I trip over my own feet — I’m a guy, I can’t walk and think too hard at the same time.
Former Mr. Olympia competitor Bob Cicherillo hosts a weekly podcast called Pro Bodybuilding Weekly that goes into the current events in major competitions and also discusses some of the practical mechanics of the sport and training. Bob’s one of those guys with freakish biceps but also a fairly freakish brain and he keeps it interesting.
Poker is another topic I’m happy to hear analyzed while I’m wearing my legs out. Everyone and his dog has a poker podcast these days. I find Rounders: The Poker Show to be one of the better ones, and really haven’t had the time to sample a whole lot of what’s out there. In my case, the more they go into strategy and situational discussions, the more likely I am to keep listening. The more it is about celebrities in poker or discussion about poker sites, the less likely I am to give another episode a chance.
And of course there is mixed martial arts which, like poker, is beginning to have no shortage of online material. If you wanted to fill all 24 hours of your day with MMA based solely on fresh content from the internet, you probably could. Again, I don’t have the time to listen to everything that’s out there, and I’m a pretty fast reader so I prefer to follow sports via articles over video or audio files, but there are some decent online radio shows out there like MMAScrapsRadio where the parties involved are passionate and knowledgeable about the sport and the site hasn’t gotten big enough for the integrity of its content to be compromised…
So there’s a few options to get you started. Maybe you hate poker, fighting and muscleheads and you’re looking for an awesome knitting or rhythmic gymnastics podcast. Rest assured, chances are if there is another topic that interests you, somebody is already out there podcasting it competently.
If it gets you into the gym, I don’t care what you listen to! Happy and healthy training.
