You can also do all out intervals on a recumbent bike
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Max-OT Cardio – An Introduction
December 12th, 2008
By Paul Delia
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Articles
A few years ago I started experimenting with a new cardio training approach I now call Max-OT Cardio. It’s new. It’s innovative. It’s brutal. And it’s incredibly effective. In fact, it’s dramatically effective at burning body fat without any negative impact on building muscle.
Max-OT Cardio is incredibly effective at burning body fat, but unlike “normal” cardio, it may actually induce an anabolic effect on muscle tissue. Cardio that not only burns fat, it builds muscle. Imagine cardio that actually causes muscle to grow!
Throughout the years, I have always prided myself in thinking beyond the norm. I always ask “why” and in doing so have found that there are very few answers to that question with “conventional” training methods. In thinking beyond the norm, I’ve been able to help thousands and thousands of athletes approach building muscle in a completely different way and with staggering results. Over the past year, rethinking cardio has allowed me to redefine cardiovascular training for maximum fat burning effects without the typical catabolic effects on muscle tissue. And let me tell you, the results are incredible.
Both Skip La Cour and Jeff Willet used Max-OT Cardio with astounding resuts. Take a look at the condition Skip achieved on the way to winning the 2002 Team Universe Championship.
So from right now forward I want you to let go of your conventional cardio training knowledge. Forget what you have been previously taught about cardio training. Get ready for a cardio experience that will not only dramatically boost your metabolism, but will keep your metabolic rate elevated longer for a sustained fat burning effect.
What is Max-OT Cardio?
Max-OT Cardio can be described as ultra-high intensity cardio performed in 16-minute sessions and performed progressively from session to session. What this means, and it’s very important, is that each proceeding cardio session should be more intense than the one before. In other words, you should expend more energy (burn more calories) during every new 16-minute Max-OT Cardio session.
Getting Started
Remember, no more old fashion cardio. You are stepping up. You are entering an advanced cardio training dimension. A dimension few athletes are familiar with. After a few weeks of Max-OT Cardio, your view cardio training will never be the same. All your previous cardiovascular training will seem like a walk in the park and a waste of time. You will then realize how inefficient and ineffective “conventional cardio” is. More importantly, you’ll be establishing a metabolism akin to a Colorado wildfire.
Max-OT Cardio is the ultimate in intensity. Because of this ultra-high intensity, the choice of exercises is limited. One primary exercise that’s perfectly suited for Max-OT Cardio is the Recumbent Bike. Here’s why; a Recumbent Bike requires no skill. It is safe and as intensity increases, safety and stability remains the same. Basically, you can go all out on a Recumbent Bike and not have to worry about balance, a misstep, or falling off. This is very important. A Recumbent Bike brings no compromise on your ability to generate maximum intensity. Just about all other cardio exercises require a compromise between balance, skill, and intensity. Max-OT Cardio involves no compromise.
Recumbent Bikes have several settings that are important to understand. Setting up the Recumbent Bike correctly will allow for a smooth transition into Max-OT Cardio.
Time setting: This is easy. Set it to 16 minutes.
Program setting: Most all Recumbent Bikes come with numerous program settings that provide varying resistance levels throughout the timed cardio session. The one you need to choose is called “Interval.” This is a setting programmed for progressively increasing resistance levels with each one followed by an equal length lower resistance level throughout the duration of the cardio session.
I have found this interval setting to be important for overall intensity output. In other words, you can generate greater intensity and achieve a higher overall energy expenditure output on the “interval” setting than on a steady resistance setting. There are mental implications as well. This will be covered in future articles on Max-OT Cardio.
Level or Resistance setting: This setting increases or decreases the resistance on the pedals. The higher the level setting, the greater the pedal resistance. The greater the pedal resistance, the greater distance traveled per revolution and the greater the intensity at equal revolutions per minute (RPM).
First Things First
First things first, you need to establish an initial intensity baseline. This is simple. You simply perform a 16-minute cardio session at a little bit higher than your normal cardio intensity level. After you do this, you need to record some statistics. All Recumbent Bikes display exercise performance. They will typically show calories burned and distance traveled. This is another reason they are well suited for Max-OT Cardio.
You need to understand that these are just estimates, but that doesn’t matter. They are used for references to guide you to “always increasing intensity levels.” Remember, each cardio session should be higher in intensity than the one before. In other words, you should travel further distances and record higher calorie readouts with each new Max-OT Cardio workout on the Recumbent Bike.
Once you have performed your initial Max-OT Cardio workout, you will have established a “goal” – a distance to beat on your next Max-OT Cardio session. This is an important element in Max-OT Cardio. As with Max-OT weight training, the result of always striving for more is that it forces your body to adapt. With Max-OT Cardio, you are literally forcing your metabolism higher with each session.
Beating your previous distance is a must. I want to emphasize this. The fact that you are constantly increasing your intensity levels each cardio session continuously drives your metabolism higher. It also sets a site for you for every Max-OT Cardio workout. You will no longer just be “putting in time” during cardio. You will stoking your metabolism higher and higher with each Max-OT Cardio session.
Why 16 minutes?
There are several reasons for the 16-minute Max-OT Cardio duration. All of which lead to greater cardio intensity and greater increases in metabolic rate.
16 minutes is an optimal time span that will allow you to put forth maximum intensity without pacing yourself. It’s important that you do not pace yourself during Max-OT Cardio. Pacing acts to preserve energy instead of expending maximum energy. Durations longer than 16 minutes tend to encourage pacing one’s cardio effort.
Mentally, 16 minutes of cardio is far more conducive to putting forth maximum intensity than cardio of longer duration. The “mental” side of Max-OT Cardio, and all training for that matter, is an area of great importance yet rarely explained. Ultra-high mental focus is essential for maximum intensity efforts.
Finally, 16-minutes of maximum intensity cardio will maximize your metabolic rate without tapping into lean muscle tissue for energy. The idea is to burn fat – not muscle. This what Max-OT Cardio does.
Putting Max-OT Cardio to Work For You
Now it’s time to rev up your metabolism and spend less time doing it. Less time plus more effort will equal greater results. Greater results in less time – as Ted Nugent would say, “Ya gotta like that!” Below is an outline of Max-OT Cardio high points.
Max-OT Cardio is performed for 16 minutes.
Max-OT Cardio is performed on a Recumbent Bike, Stair Climber, or any device that will allow for maximum intensity to be exerted safely and without the need for excessive balance or skill. If you can’t perform your cardio with maximum intensity without the possibility of falling off, tripping, etc. then it’s the wrong type of exercise for Max-OT Cardio.
Max-OT Cardio is performed with an “Interval” setting. This allows for intermittent resistance levels during the 16-minute sessions resulting in greater overall energy output.
Each Max-OT Cardio workout is more intense than the one before. Two ways to increase the intensity on a Recumbent Bike are to increase the resistance and/or increase the pedal RPM. Technically this is measured in wattage output. Intesity is measured by distance traveled and calories burned.
Intensity! Max-OT Cardio is always performed using maximum intensity and effort.
