Why I Avoid Moderate Workouts Like the Plague
I don’t use weights, but I have a barbell strategy for fitness.
“Train soft. Train hard. Just don’t die in the middle.”
As you may already know, I don’t go to a gym or train with weights — I even gave away the last kettlebell when I moved — but I follow a barbell approach to exercise. What does that mean?
I train very lightly with activities like slow jogging, cycling, or swimming. But I also train super hard: so intensely that my muscles have to borrow oxygen from the rest of my tissues. However, these hard efforts only last seconds.
I stay away from the middle part of the “barbell”, because it’s a killing zone: long, drawn-out endurance runs, bastardized 40-minute "Tabatas," CrossFit. I no longer listen to fitness villains who encourage you to "push yourself" towards an early grave.
Maybe you can get away with it for a while if you are young and training for the Olympics. But eventually it will come back to bite you in the ass. “Early death” is a catch-all term for not just the death itself, but for all the heart damage and lower quality of life that comes with it. Don’t buy into the romantic “born to run” visions or superfit dreams and rest assured that maximum performance does not mean maximium longevity.
But the short bursts of effort, like isometrics and sprints? They signal to your muscles, lungs, and cells that your body needs to upgrade its hardware. This means building more muscle and providing more energy in the future by producing more mitochondria. Sounds hard to believe? Maybe. On one hand, there is science and what the cardiologists say. On the other, there are those addicted to a runner’s high or gym profits repeating the "push yourself" mantra. I know whom I believe and what my personal experience taught me.
What about you?