Warrior Cardio by Martin Rooney

I was doing some perusing at the world's oldest, and my favorite place to purchase books, Moravian Bookstore in Bethlehem and came across the book Warrior Cardio. It was written by Martin Rooney who is an internationally recognized expert in fitness and martial arts and the book provides great detail on what every fitness program should include. Below are a few points that I found interesting

Rooney speaks of one of the biggest problems with today's fitness population. "People and trainers prescribe exercises according to what I call the Illogical Four: Novelty, Coolness, Ability to Produce Soreness, and Ability to Produce Fatigue". If you base your exercise selection on any of the aforementioned "Illogical Four" you are missing the point. Train and choose your exercises to improve performance in all aspects of your life, not on any of the "Illogical Four". Remember, just because something is hard or gets you sore doesn't mean it is an effective approach to optimal training results.

There is a good, and somewhat basic, discussion of the three energy systems that the body uses during exercise. To put it in simplest terms, there is an energy system for quick, explosive moves (think 100 meter sprint); an energy system for events that last up to 2 minutes (think 400-800 meter run); and an energy system for events that last longer than 2 minutes (think long, slow distance running). Rooney is an advocate for training the first two energy systems and the best way to do that is with sprint interval training. He cites a study that states that sprint interval training "produces as good aerobic training effects as traditional long-distance running, if not better, but with a fraction of the time commitment". So basically it offers a little more bang for your buck. If sprint work is not in your current training plan, you're missing out on a tremendous way to tax your body and maximize your time!

This is something that a large number of women have a hard time understanding when it comes to weight training. Rooney is not the first, or last, to touch on the benefits of heavy resistance training. Lets say Women A presses a 10 pound kettlebell for 15-20 reps and wants to get "tone". Women B decides to press a 25 pound kettlebell for 6 reps. Her entire body is using all her resources to press that weight overhead. Because of this, Women B elicits a greater energy expenditure than Women A which means the more energy is needed to recovery. So Women B will be continuing to burn more calories post-workout because she physically taxes her body more than Women A.

Thoughts on recovery: "Your workouts can be perfect, but if you don't give your body enough raw materials to rebuild and adapt through proper nutrition and allow it the chance to go through sleep cycles, you won't make the best gains possible". The adaptations occur as you recover. Give your body, and mind, time to recover from each and every workout. You are not being tough by going through or around pain. You are being dumb.

The final piece of the book that struck a cord with me dealt with consistency. "Consistency is the best-kept secret behind why some people succeed and others fail. When you're consistent over time, small gains will eventually equal large ones". A little bit on top of a little bit eventually becomes a lot over time. Make an effort to get better at one thing every time you train!

I would recommend this book to anyone looking to gain insight on how the body works and he offers a full workout and diet plan in the book. Just don't be that person who skips to the workouts and diet and doesn't put in the time to read about the "why" behind it all!


Chris Fluck