Recently, my friend Kent sent me a piece of paper with the following note:
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" Cardio vs. Conditioning: There is a difference
"
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Update:
SOURCE FOUND!
I was sent a
tweet
by
@OGCarnivore
to tell me that he saw a post on
T-Nation
by
Chris Shugart.
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There was no author or claim to who wrote it and after searching on Google I wasn't able to find anything under the title. But it made me laugh pretty hard and I felt a need to share it with everyone.
The following is what's the difference between cardio and conditioning.
(Note: for all the runners out there, I'm still and always will be, envious of your ability to run 5k, 10k, or any other distances... you inspire me - but this was too funny not to post)
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Cardio vs Conditioning (author: Chris Shugart)
We could start here by listing all the studies about the drawbacks of long duration cardio and running. The we could list all the studies that show the benefits of shorter, high intensity conditioning sessions.
There would be lots of fancy acronyms and PubMed links. You’d feel smart reading it, but most likely you wouldn't apply any of it. Plus that would be boring. So let’s make the distinction between cardio and conditioning like this:
- Conditioning
prepares you for battle. Cardio
makes you really good at running slowly away.
- Conditioning
fires up the metabolism. Cardio
extinguishing it over time.
- Conditioning
makes a man look good naked. Cardio
makes a man look good in lavender skinny jeans and not much else.
- Conditioning
builds legs of steel. Cardio
builds legs of an underfed seabird.
- Conditioning
makes you lean and hard. Cardio
makes you small and soft.
- Conditioning
gives you an upper body made of stone. Cardio
gives you an upper body made of twigs and J-E-L-L-O!
- Conditioning
makes you better an any physical activity. Cardio
makes you good at cardio.
- Conditioning
is sex. Cardio
is cuddling and a chick-flick.
- Conditioning
is testosterone. Cardio
is cortisol and estrogen.
- Conditioning
is pecs. Cardio
is man-boobs.
- Conditioning
is Westside Barbell. Cardio
is Planet Fitness.
- Conditioning
relieves anxiety, boosts all-day energy and fires up brain function. Cardio
increases anxiety and cortisol. (Runners are only happy when they run. The rest of the time they’re miserable unless they are running or talking about running. True story)
- Conditioning
is fun. Cardio
is fun when it’s over.
- Conditioning
is for hunters. Cardio
is for Bambi’s mom.
- In short, conditioning
is for predators. Cardio
is for prey.
So now that you know the difference, which would you rather do?