I’ve been reading the Purposeful Primitive, a newly released book by Marty Gallagher.
Now before I go on, this book isn’t for everyone. Mainly it’s for power lifters and those people who want to follow a power lifting template to get strong and in shape.
That being said, there is much of interest to someone like me who hasn’t benched pressed in years. From the mini-biographies of some very strong men to the articles on mind power there is lots of gems in this 400+ page tome.
One thing I found very interesting was in the section on cardio exercise.
Of course I do anything but your conventional cardio. I haven’t stepped on a treadmill in even more years than since the last bench press.
But this confirmed a bit of my experience. In essence, anything that involves the use of four limbs rather than just two is going to make your heart work all the faster.
This is common sense if you think about it, but you know that common sense ain’t always so common.
Not that it just makes the heart work faster, but it’s easier to raise your heart rate higher. It feels like less of an effort overall to attain the same rate with two limbs as opposed to four.
If you take something like running, it takes a lot of work to jack the heart rate through the roof. Like sprinting all out for a distance or running up a hill.
Just a normal jog or run, if you are in good shape, isn’t enough to really test your heart.
But take something like a burpee. Something that uses the whole body. Even if you go at a relatively slow pace, you’re going to get out of breath faster.
Simply because your heart needs to pump oxygenated blood to all the limbs rather than just two (for the most part).
And if you add in a bigger muscular component you’re going to be even more out of breath.
Just something to think about. And if you want some more check out the Purposeful Primitive.
In strength,
Logan Christophe