Why 'easier' Cardio Isn't 'better' Cardio

My dad always told me that it was more effecient - and easier - to work smart instead of working hard. To do this, you want to always find the most effective way of doing something.

In most areas of life, I'd say that the lesson of working smart instead of hard is one of the most valuable lessons you can learn. However, such isn't necessarily the case when it comes to your cardio workouts.

There are some areas of the fitness industry in which working smart vs. working hard has become quite a topic of discussion. Most of the time, this has been because somebody is backing or promoting something that supposedly lets you do more work. And if you're doing more work, you're getting more benefit, right?

Not necessarily.

I'll come back to cardio workouts in a minute, but let's look at strength training for a second. I can take virtually anybody that's not a trained powerlifter and increase their bench press by as much as 20-30 lbs. in under 20 minutes.

A buddy of mine is a local strength coach and owns his own sports performance gym. He routinely take his athletes (usually high school kids) and adds a couple inches to their vertical jump in literally their first workout.

How are such gains possible? Is it because we're amazing coaches?

No - it's because we've taken trainees, and helped them use better technique. And with better technique, the trainee was able to lift more and jump higher. Are they really any stronger or more explosive? Not really - now they're just a little better at expressing the strength and power they already have.

So, how does this apply to your cardio workouts?

Your body is an amazing machine, but there are things that even it can't do. For example, when you're strength training, your body has no idea what kind of weight it's lifting - only that it's working. Your body doesn't know if it's lifting a barbell, a dumbbell, or a sandbag. It only knows how hard it has to work.

Same goes for your cardio workouts.

It doesn't matter if you're running, jumping rope, or using a rowing machine. The impact and such on your body is one thing, but as far as improving your cardio goes, all your body knows is that it has to work hard.

How many times have you heard somebody say they like running on a treadmill because it's "easier" than running on a track or through their neighborhood?

If it makes it "easier", given the above, then doesn't that sort of defeat the purpose?

Just because you've got something (usually a machine) that makes your cardio "easy" or allows you to supposedly go further or do "more" in the same amount of time doesn't mean you're necessarily improving your cardio.

A simple rule of thumb - if you don't feel like you worked hard enough, then you probably didn't.

Train Hard, Rest Hard, Play Hard.