Yes there is. Probably not a dose that’s easy to achieve naturally.
As ”too much” cardio can be quite stressful for you too.
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Good points, completely agree
God forbid you do both…
Doing both seems like a reasonable and logical viewpoint…and I do by the way…I probably do more “cardio” than our resident cardio “expert” ( because before I was a “lifter” of any approximation, I was a runner, and that never left me). However there are those on here, and elsewhere who simply detest cardio when it is framed as such. So if the same, similar or reasonable benefits could be obtained by incidental movements done throughout the day, movement that is disguised in a manner of doing something, or going somewhere, rather than “exercise” that you have to get changed for and warm up prior to, then more people might be inclined to do it.
After all the best “exercise” is the one that you will do, regardless of how “perfect” other options may be.
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As long as I’m having coffee….I’ll mention flexibility. Because many HIT guys like to dismiss it just like the cardio “Trust me bro, all you need are me and my machines, stretching is for dummies”.
Youtube sometimes recommends obscure HIT guys to me (among more popular fitness stuff), and one recently popped up that has about 4 viewers. No shade, hope he does well and succeeds with his channel, but it is as dry as toast, and is a copy and paste of every HIT bromide we’ve all heard 1000 times. I know I’m a little jaded, and it’s new to someone, but my god, some of these guys need a little personality and originality.
Anyway he recently posted a video explaining how stretching is a waste of time and someone in the comments questioned him (not me), and he got defensive - “Studies show!, prove it!, I train people!”
The stance in HIT seems to be that if you lift through a full range of motion you have taken care of your flexibility, and anything else is well - dumb.
To me, being able to move your limbs through a full range of motion is a demonstration of the bare minimum mobility an otherwise healthy person should have. As opposed to training flexibility. Kind of like curling soup cans. I mean, great, I guess, but is it strength training? That’s just my opinion, and I can already hear someone arguing like Jordan Peterson about it. “What do you mean by exercise? Define it for me”.
I’m not gonna do all that, all I know is I like being flexible. I enjoy flexibility training. It FEELS good. I can wake up in the morning and put my palms flat on the floor with straight knees. I’m on Social Security, and I’m this close to front splits. The splits seem to be in a holding pattern, and I keep meaning to focus on getting that last inch of depth and squared up. Maybe I will and maybe I won’t but I enjoy the process. I have no delusions that it necessarily prevents or heals injuries. But I do know that if I don’t do very specific calf stretching every single day, my plantar fasciitis rears it head. No study or authority will convince me otherwise.
In the name of fairness I’ll go ahead and post to a (non-HIT) site that contradicts absolutely everything I just typed. I love this guy’s stuff in general, and even though this article tells me I am 100% wrong, it is still food for thought.
[Guy tells me I am wrong here]
(Quite a Stretch: Stretching Hype Debunked)
OK, this will be my last coffee post for a while. 
I’ve been getting up extra early to watch the French Open and the computer is right here so…..I’m talking to myself I guess.
Even the illustrious T-Nation has an article up on my kind of stretching. I got a lot of ideas from him lol.
Here is an opinion from Dr.Ken Leistner who is all about HIT. I think it’s from hardgainer. He is answering a question.
His replay is about half way through the question. Years later he suggested to me brisk walking 2-3 times a week for about 40 -60 minuets. Probably close to zone 2 before it was called zone 2
Sorry it’s a copy and paste
I am a 43 year old powerlifter competing in my 18th year of competition. I stand 5’8” and weigh 187 lbs. For about ten years
now I have known my cholesterol level ranges between 230-240. This is far from ideal, and with increasing age the body fat tends to
creep up on you, so I decided to get serious about an aerobic program.
I have been walking a little but mostly riding my Schwinn Air-Dyne* in the basement. I have tried riding after my powerlifting
workouts, and on my off days. I know about target heart rates and finding my maximum hear rate (220 minus my age) and the riding
at 70-80% of it.
I work out two days a week (Monday and Thursday, for about an hour each time) and ride the bike on Tuesday, Friday, and
Saturday for about 20 minutes (not counting warming up and cooling down). During the last six months (since riding three days a
week), my squat just does not come back up like it used to. I do not seem to have any leg strength. I think my squat is getting killed
bye the bike riding. Should I ride on workout days or on the off days? I hear about interval training but do not know how it should be
incorporated with my power training. When I try to do intervals on the bike I warm up and then ride hard for 30 seconds, the ride very
easily for one minute, and then go back to the hard pedaling, etc. I keep this up for about 15-20 minutes, then cool down.
When I had my last cholesterol test I was taking [a brand name] desiccated liver. They assured me on the phone that the liver
had no cholesterol in it. Well, my cholesterol went up to an all time high level of 250.
You’re not going to like my reply to your letter, but you have to take another perspective. No one in our age group dies
because their squat isn’t heavy enough. Death usually comes due to cardiac dysfunction and degeneration and/or cancer. You have no
business putting your powerlifting performance before you health. Start from that point, and then ask your questions.
Simply put, your bike riding is not “killing” your squat, and even if it was, so what? You did not make it clear, but you should
be squatting once per week. If you can’t recover from that and three days of bike riding (and that should be brought up to 40 minutes
as soon as possible, not 20!), then squat and deadlift the same day and do it only once per week. If you can’t recover from that, your
conditioning is not very good and that should become your primary focus until your overall level of “fitness” improves. Interval
training is not what you need. You need to follow long established guidelines for cardiovascular health that dictate training a minimum
of 20 minutes within the target hear range 3-5 days per week, and of course, follow a prudent, low fat diet.
Liver is the body’s storage area for cholesterol, so of course, ingesting liver will affect your counts. I think all of us know what
we obviously should no eat, but if you’re not sure about diet, check with a registered dietician in you area. Don’t be offended by the
tone or content of this letter. You have to put your health first, and lifting success, after that, especially if you have any of the
“markers,” or predictors for cardiovascular dysfunction (high cholesterol being on of them). I hope this is helpful.
In all reverence to the good doctor, I’m not sure that in reality he practiced what he was preaching here.
When push came to shove it appeared as though Dr Leistner certainly prioritised his weight training above his cardio throughout his life. Examples being his force feeding in his earlier years, in order to put on muscular weight. This would have set him up for potential cardiovascular issues further down the road. Also I’m still not convinced that his particular “style” of training didn’t have some detrimental effects on his heart over the years. Excessive intensity / stress can be as negative on the body as excessive volume. I’m still unsure as to whether this drive for intensity may have ultimately been a contributory factor in his untimely death. It has been noted that excessive, prolonged intense exercise can lead to heart complications in older athletes, so why not strength trainees also? A recent, lengthy and in depth study ( Marc 2)on heart health and older trainees recommends that intense exercise should only be the tip of the iceberg for older trainees, and that the majority should remain under 9 METS, which isn’t even decent slow running speed for most.
Even Dr Ken’s cardio recommendations weren’t sustainable for most people. It’s almost like his ideas on various things were an “extension” of the image he had painted for himself via strength training…”extreme”.
If memory serves me correctly I’m sure that in one episode of “The Steel Tip” he gave a cardio recommendation of two sets of 10,000 (TEN THOUSAND) metres on the Concept 2 rower. Even for a decent rower, that would have been between 30 and 40 minutes per set.
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I am a big fan of brisk walking myself.
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