Terry told me he had a way of exercising which:
- was vigorous
- he could do anywhere – eg a hotel room
- took only 18 minutes a day.
I was immediately interested. I like to get my exercise in but my current regime meant spending 2-3 times a week at the gym plus tryingto make sure I got in a rapid walk for 30 minutes 3 times a week. That’s in addition to tennis about 3 times a week, which is an ‘extra’ as it’s not really cardio exercise.
Eighteen minutes a day sounded interesting. And you didn’t even have to leave the house!
The thing is, the idea that we need 30 minutes of cardio exercise three times a week to keep the heart healthy is an unproven theory. Someone proposed it years ago and we now just accept it – without proof.
Al’s Big Idea
Al Sears has a long time interest in exercise and anti-aging. He says firstly that repeating the same movements minute after minute – as in cardio – is completely unnatural. Running, rowing, swimming hard for 30 minutes would never happen in the wild.
Man is hunter or prey – short bursts of intense activity are more the norm. Even the ‘gatherers’ will be prey now and again – resulting in a quick sprint, rather than half an hour of consistent and moderate exercise.
Shrinking Heart (and Lungs)
Secondly, he says that the body accommodates to the consistent exercise and, far from strengthening the heart and lungs, it actually shrinks them.
He has experience of this when at college.
Evidence Mounts
In the gymnastics team, he had the best muscle strength of anyone on the team. He was asked to use programme to improve the strength of others on the team. As part of this he used the university facilities to measure lung function of the tream. Then he put them on a challenging cardio exercise course. Then he re-measured lung capacity.
To his shock – a few months of tough cardio had actually reduced their lung capacity.
What happens during cardio, he had discovered, is that the body responds to the – relatively – moderate demands of cardio by making the lung and heart muscles smaller and more compact. It can then handle cardio brilliantly. BUT the heart and lungs cannot handle a sudden demand for a burst of energy – such as in a sprint.
Thirty years later, Dr Sears has carried out many more studies which he says have confirmed the one idea: Cardio has been a complete red herring – a waste of time, a wrong path.
Stretch The Heart and Lungs For Best Effect
The better approach is to use interval training – short bursts of exercise which stretch the heart, lungs and whole body. This is the basis of Al Sears’ PACE method – Progressively Accelerating Cardiopulmonary Exertion (yes, a mouthful – let’s just call it PACE!)
He says that interval training – a high intensity low time workout – is the best exercise for the human body. This is what the PACE method gives you.
Weight Lifters Don’t Do Cardio
Another interesting piece of evidence is that it is, apparently, well known by weight lifters not to do cardio. That’s because cardio stops them getting more lean muscle.
(Can any big time weight lifters comment on this?)
I Am Doing It
Well, I will be taking on this method and will report more fully on it, and on how I get on. I’ll have to see if I can get to measure my lung capacity too, before I start.
Read more about it on Sears’ web site or get the book second hand: it’s called Rediscover Your Native Fitness-PACE by Al Sears. (Currently there is one copy at Amazon.com and one copy at Amazon.co.uk.)
I will report back.
Any comments on this approach anyone? I don’t think I am missing anything. Let me know your thoughts.
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