Arrivederci gang, wanted to chat a little bit today about energy systems (conditioning). A lot of times “cardio” can get confused as just doing slow, steady state stuff for 20-30 mins and even longer. In reality, “cardio” is really energy systems training, or tapping into/training the numerous mechanisms the body has to produce energy for work.
To keep it simple, there are 3 different tiers of energy systems broken down below - Tier 1 is highest intensity, tier 2 medium and tier 3 lowest intensity.
Tier 1 is our highest intensity energy system, bouts will last from 0-15 seconds and this has the highest work-rest ratio
Tier 1:
Tier 2 is anywhere from moderate to pretty high intensity, ranging from 15s - 3 min of work, this is a lower work-rest ratio than tier 1
Tier 2:
Tier 3 is anywhere from ~3 minutes - forever, this is aerobic (zone 2) cardio and has the lowest work:rest ratio of all 3
Tier 3:
As you can see, lots of options and variety when it comes to training energy systems. I’m a big fan of variety in movement with energy systems, so if biking or rowing has you bored, try some higher intensity work with slams, jumps etc!
If you’re just starting out, begin with some Tier 3 work (can even be 15 minutes of steady state) and progress from there. Important to build the gas tank first before moving onto the higher intensity items.
If you have trouble writing protocols or doing effective energy systems work, check out the caption below or shoot me a message!
