The Poliquin Principles
Charles Poliquin
Charles is one of the most accomplished strength coaches in the world. He has designed workouts for Olympic medalists, world-record holders and pro athletes.
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Is cardio overrated?
QUESTION: I’ve heard that you believe aerobic training is overrated for most athletes. Is that true, and if so, why?
ANSWER: That’s correct. For example, the average VO2 max in the NBA is about 47, compared to about 42 for the average couch potato and about 80 for a world-class rower. If you look at the research, studies show that the higher your aerobic power, the lower your vertical jump. To make a basketball player – or, for that matter, any athlete who needs speed and power – performing a lot of aerobic work would be counterproductive.
Now, a small amount of aerobic training can be used as a warm-up, but the best warm-up is the weight-training exercises in your program. Do about two sets of five, using increasingly heavy weight. If your first exercise is the deadlift and you expect to use 150 for your primary training weight, you could start with 95x5, followed by 135x5.
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