Best way to get in cardiovascular shape.

[scootermaster]

So, I'm in pretty good "shape". I look decent with my shirt off, lift weights three days a week and stay active. But I've still got, like, no wind. I'll play volleyball for three hours on the beach and I can tell there are times when my form goes to shit because I'm just tired. Now, obviously that's natural, but still, this happens too frequently for my own good.

Soooo, the question is: how do I fix that? I guess it's not too complicated a question, and shouldn't have too complicated an answer, I just want to know if it matters if I go ride the elliptical, and make sure my heart rate reaches X, or if I need to go jogging or what. Obviously, the answer is "do cardio", but I'm just wondering if there's a certain type I should be doing.

(But yeah, doing blocking drills in the sand is hard.)

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Push yourself while doing some form of cardio. HIIT would probably benefit you best since it would be the most similar to volleyball. It would also be the one to increase your cardiovascular capacity the quickest. It will ALSO be the one that hurts the most.

 

[JaYp146]

Running will help increase your cardio endurance. Make sure you're stretching properly and thoroughly enough.

 

[StageLeft]

You need to run.

 

[InflatableBuddha]

Originally posted by: SociallyChallenged
Push yourself while doing some form of cardio. HIIT would probably benefit you best since it would be the most similar to volleyball. It would also be the one to increase your cardiovascular capacity the quickest. It will ALSO be the one that hurts the most.

:thumbsup: 2 HIIT sessions per week plus a couple of steady runs (don't need to be very long; 30-40 min should do).

You can do the steady runs on the same day as you weight lift, but make sure the HIIT sessions are on separate days.

 

[scootermaster]

I tried doing HIIT once, it was pretty brutal. But one thing that got me, is, like, the timing. Do I need to spend some time with Garage Band and a mic and edit some songs with "RUN FAST!....Okay, now stop....RUN FAST AGAIN!" voiceovers? Like, I want to push myself, but after your third or fourth interval it's kinda hard to keep track of how many seconds you've been sprinting and it's hard not to cheat, etc. Someone needs to edit some common dance/rap/whatever tunes with beeps or something so people know when to start/stop their intervals. I guess I could do that and share...but does anyone know what I'm even talking about? I tried using the clock on my armband player, but that didn't work so well.

Also, my earbuds fall out. Anyone know of any good cheap/decent headphones that'll stay connected to my head whilst sprinting?

 

[brikis98]

There are many methods that can help increase your endurance and stamina and usually using a variety of them will produce the best results. Just remember to start easy and then gradually ramp up the difficulty. If you start too fast, you'll probably burn out and won't see great results. If you don't increase the difficulty, your body will adapt to the exact exercise and no further. Here are some approaches to consider:

* Standard HIIT: mix intervals of high intensity with intervals of low intensity. For example, 30 seconds of running at 10mph, followed by 1 minute of jogging at 6mph, repeated for some number of rounds. BTW, it doesn't have to be running: you could do swimming, biking, elliptical, rowing, etc. Each workout, increase the "high" speed or the number of rounds.

* Tabata Intervals: a specific form of HIIT known for producing awesome gains in both aerobic and anaerobic endurance. You do 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest for 8 rounds. During the "work" periods you do as many "reps" of a given exercise as you can (e.g. push-ups, squats, etc) or run/bike/swim/etc as far as you can. Each workout, try to get more reps each round than before.

* Standard cardio: go running/biking/swimming/rowing/whatever, but each time, try to set a new PR either for distance or time. For example, if you ran 1 mile last time, try for 1.25 next time. Or, if it took you 8 minutes to run that 1 mile, try to run it in 7:45 next time.

* Crossfit style metabolic conditioning ("metcon") workouts: Crossfit utilizes a whole range of different methods that are very effective at boosting not only endurance & stamina but also strength, power, speed, etc. These workouts will include power lifts, olympic lifts, bodyweight exercises, running, rowing, climbing, jumping etc. They are often done "for time", which means you are blasting through the workout as fast as you possibly can. Check out the Crossfit mainpage for more info.

 

[PricklyPete]

Originally posted by: scootermaster


Also, my earbuds fall out. Anyone know of any good cheap/decent headphones that'll stay connected to my head whilst sprinting?

I have some $10 sony's that go over the ear and you can pick up at Best Buy. They work fine for running even if the audio quality is pretty poor if you are used to better headphones otherwise (I regularly use Shure headphones).

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally posted by: scootermaster
I tried doing HIIT once, it was pretty brutal. But one thing that got me, is, like, the timing. Do I need to spend some time with Garage Band and a mic and edit some songs with "RUN FAST!....Okay, now stop....RUN FAST AGAIN!" voiceovers? Like, I want to push myself, but after your third or fourth interval it's kinda hard to keep track of how many seconds you've been sprinting and it's hard not to cheat, etc. Someone needs to edit some common dance/rap/whatever tunes with beeps or something so people know when to start/stop their intervals. I guess I could do that and share...but does anyone know what I'm even talking about? I tried using the clock on my armband player, but that didn't work so well.

Also, my earbuds fall out. Anyone know of any good cheap/decent headphones that'll stay connected to my head whilst sprinting?

The easiest thing for me is to go out to a track and do it. Depending on your shape, you can sprint 50m and walk/jog 50m or sprint 50m and walk/jog 100m or sprint 100m and walk/jog 100m. Sprinting 100s and walking 100s was always brutal for me but threw my cardio through the roof.

 

[scootermaster]

Originally posted by: SociallyChallenged

Originally posted by: scootermaster
I tried doing HIIT once, it was pretty brutal. But one thing that got me, is, like, the timing. Do I need to spend some time with Garage Band and a mic and edit some songs with "RUN FAST!....Okay, now stop....RUN FAST AGAIN!" voiceovers? Like, I want to push myself, but after your third or fourth interval it's kinda hard to keep track of how many seconds you've been sprinting and it's hard not to cheat, etc. Someone needs to edit some common dance/rap/whatever tunes with beeps or something so people know when to start/stop their intervals. I guess I could do that and share...but does anyone know what I'm even talking about? I tried using the clock on my armband player, but that didn't work so well.

Also, my earbuds fall out. Anyone know of any good cheap/decent headphones that'll stay connected to my head whilst sprinting?

The easiest thing for me is to go out to a track and do it. Depending on your shape, you can sprint 50m and walk/jog 50m or sprint 50m and walk/jog 100m or sprint 100m and walk/jog 100m. Sprinting 100s and walking 100s was always brutal for me but threw my cardio through the roof.

But that's not for time, I guess. And I'd prefer to do this either on the strand or on the beach itself. Hmmmm. I guess I'll have to figure this one out...but I can't imagine I'm the only person who's ran into this problem.

So what's a good starting point for number of intervals? 6? 8? Seventy-three?

 

[brikis98]

Google "interval training mp3's", "Tabata mp3's", "workout mp3's" or similar. There are TONS of results that are free for download. Also, as SC pointed out, you could do interval training for distance as well as for time. As for the number of intervals, it kind of depends on exactly what you're doing. If you do something like alternate sprinting for 30 second with jogging for 60 seconds, 4-6 intervals would probably be a good first workout.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally posted by: scootermaster

Originally posted by: SociallyChallenged

Originally posted by: scootermaster
I tried doing HIIT once, it was pretty brutal. But one thing that got me, is, like, the timing. Do I need to spend some time with Garage Band and a mic and edit some songs with "RUN FAST!....Okay, now stop....RUN FAST AGAIN!" voiceovers? Like, I want to push myself, but after your third or fourth interval it's kinda hard to keep track of how many seconds you've been sprinting and it's hard not to cheat, etc. Someone needs to edit some common dance/rap/whatever tunes with beeps or something so people know when to start/stop their intervals. I guess I could do that and share...but does anyone know what I'm even talking about? I tried using the clock on my armband player, but that didn't work so well.

Also, my earbuds fall out. Anyone know of any good cheap/decent headphones that'll stay connected to my head whilst sprinting?

The easiest thing for me is to go out to a track and do it. Depending on your shape, you can sprint 50m and walk/jog 50m or sprint 50m and walk/jog 100m or sprint 100m and walk/jog 100m. Sprinting 100s and walking 100s was always brutal for me but threw my cardio through the roof.

But that's not for time, I guess. And I'd prefer to do this either on the strand or on the beach itself. Hmmmm. I guess I'll have to figure this one out...but I can't imagine I'm the only person who's ran into this problem.

So what's a good starting point for number of intervals? 6? 8? Seventy-three?

I've been doing intervals for distance on a soccer field lately. I consistently increase the distance I have to run. I jog all 4 sides, then sprint 1 side, jog 3 sides, sprint 2 sides, jog 2 sides, all the way till I run the whole way around. I would start with one of those and replace the jogs with walks. I did two laps today and walked the normal jog parts because it was kickin' my butt.

 

[coreyb]

Like everyone is saying, intervals,HIIT,etc. Now you just have to pick up a timer that helps you with that. I have one that attaches to my shorts and beeps and vibrates on whatever intervals I want. Might want to look into that.

 

[coreyb]

To get really good cardio you have to push yourself like crazy. It's the only type of training I find that really pushes you mentally, you feel like your gonna puke, pass out, but you have to keep pushing through it. I've found muay thai to push me to new limits and my cardio is amazing for it.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: PricklyPete

Originally posted by: scootermaster


Also, my earbuds fall out. Anyone know of any good cheap/decent headphones that'll stay connected to my head whilst sprinting?

I have some $10 sony's that go over the ear and you can pick up at Best Buy. They work fine for running even if the audio quality is pretty poor if you are used to better headphones otherwise (I regularly use Shure headphones).

Seconded. I go through a pair of these every several months, as I am very hard on my earphones, but they WILL stay in the ear and are the best earphones for physical activity, bar none--any of these ones that wrap around the ear are perfect.

 

[zebano]

Originally posted by: coreyb
Like everyone is saying, intervals,HIIT,etc. Now you just have to pick up a timer that helps you with that. I have one that attaches to my shorts and beeps and vibrates on whatever intervals I want. Might want to look into that.

Cool, where did you get that? I've been looking for watches with that feature to no avail.