Exploring Intensity

Mark, your trusty lab rat correspondent, visited the Lown Cardiovascular Group to do a VO2 Max test using something called the Bruce Protocol. VO2 Max is the rate of oxygen consumption based on the difficulty of exercise. The formula to calculate it measures oxygen consumption rate factoring in body mass.

If you accidentally ask an aging athlete, “How are you feeling?” – you are likely to get a 10-minute monologue on the deterioration and pain of various body parts.

Bill Gifford, the author of Spring Chicken: Stay Young Forever (or Die Trying), will speak about the myths and truths of aging at Cardio High on October 15 at 7pm. The event is FREE, but you must e-mail [email protected] to reserve a spot. Space is limited.

The title may seem like we’re promoting our own company, as if we have a secret, but we’re actually talking about an actual cardio high, as in that sense of elation you feel after you get your heart rate up and your mood follows. Despite everyone seeming to have an answer for what happens to our bodies and brains after a good bout of exercise, it has actually remained much of a mystery… until possibly now.

Much of our summer beach reading included fitness books. And we started off with No Sweat – How the Simple Science of Motivation Can Bring You a Lifetime of Fitness by Michelle Segar.

Runners know. You need a little L.S.D. in the mix if you’re going to improve your fitness or lower a run time.

We felt it was time that everyone got a sense of what happens during a Cardio High workout. This video shows a portion of our dynamic warm-up, a few of our exercise intervals and the cardio gear. It’s tough to capture the fun, atmosphere and intensity in a video, but we hope you get a little sample of what we do.

Know what you consume.

Mike Gilmore is an outstanding trainer at Fitness Together in Newtonville, MA. During the past few years, we’ve visited with numerous trainers and asked each one to raise our heart rate without injuring us. Most raised our heart rate a little or gave us exercises that made us walk like a duck the next day. The DNA of most trainers is to help people gain strength through a methodical weight lifting and stretching program. Mike was the first trainer we met who said, “I can do it. I can raise your heart rate, and you won’t be too sore for sports the next day. Lets do Tabatas.”

This article is about everything we could hope for. Not only does it espouse the benefits of High-Intensity Interval Training, which we frequently plug, but it also says listening to your favorite music can help you hit higher levels of intensity during interval training.

Cardio High formed a small team to run up all 61 flights of the John Hancock Tower in Boston for the Climb to the Top benefit for the National MS Society. The Climb was well organized with teams hitting the stairs in waves every five minutes. Team Cardio High warmed up for our 10:25am race by doing some of our favorite dynamic warm-up moves like speed skaters, butt kicks and slow motion high knees. None of us had ever run up more than a few flights of stairs, so we were unsure what to expect.

We admit that it is almost impossible to really determine the most insane diet that has ever existed, as there have been times where tapeworms and heavy smoking were prescribed as weight loss wonders. But the Werewolf Diet is up there when it comes to getting so many disciplines of science so insanely wrong.

This look back on 2014 in fitness by the NY Times announces what should already be loud and clear

Everybody assumes we feel great after exercise because of our endorphins, the naturally occurring opiates in the body. But it turns out we feel good due to our endocannabinoids (our body’s own naturally occurring marijuana) which kick in after we ramp up the heart rate.

At Cardio High we like to focus on exercising for brief moments at a high intensity level. We measure the intensity using heart rate monitors. It turns out that short bursts of intense exercise increase lifespan.

How do I get off the couch just to do it? To just move, even if it’s not vigorous?

Dr. S begins to answer the questions about motivation and changing behavior.

Once I found that Cardio High worked for me, I needed to find some guinea pigs to see if other people found value in this new low impact form of HIIT.

I was the first Cardio High client. I figured the Cardio High program needed to work for me before I introduced it to others.

Some industrious people are rigging gear together to do workouts in their homes, and we thought perhaps bringing some of the sounds of Cardio High into those homes would help boost the mood and help a workout.