Most folks do functional fitness workouts because they don’t like traditional cardio. After all, who enjoys hours on a treadmill or elliptical? In this article we are going to review some of the 3 best cardio exercises for functional fitness. As you’ll see, these aren’t just my opinion, these are based upon recent research, which we’ll talk about in depth. Keep reading for more.
Before we get too far into the article I want to talk a little bit about what cardio actually means. There is ample research indicating that a WOD or Metcon provides great cardiovascular endurance benefit. This is obvious to anyone that has done a WOD. Working at your max heart rate often leaves you plastered on the floor for minutes afterwards!
In this article we’re going to be covering some methods of focusing purely on your conditioning to improve your WOD performance and overall fitness. Most athletes drastically underestimate how important their aerobic capacity is for any functional exercises. I’ll give you a few examples to illustrate this point.
Aerobic Capacity for Body Builders and Strength
Even elite athletes that focus purely on strength and muscle mass, like power lifters, strongman, and bodybuilders need some cardio conditioning, as well as functional training exercises . This conditioning work is not designed to directly increase their ability to lift heavy objects. It’s designed to support higher volumes of weight lifting, and overall recovery. If you read my previous article, you know that lifting volume is the best predictor of muscle size and strength.
Your aerobic system is primarily responsible for fueling your cells, and it’s the most active during both exercise and everyday life. It provides nutrients and oxygen to your cells before, during, and after workouts, which is why this system has such a huge impact on your body’s ability to recover.
As you’ll see further on in this article, it’s critical that we choose the best cardio exercises for function fitness, so that we don’t hurt these athletes ability to produce strength, power, and build muscle mass. That is their primary job, so we must fit our cardio choices around it.
If you want an awesome functional bodybuilding program that works your condition just as hard as your muscles, then check this out.
Aerobic Capacity for Team Sport Athletes
For true functional fitness athletes, like team sport athletes (hockey, soccer, lacrosse, football, rugby), cardio is even more important. Not only does increased aerobic capacity help recover from their workout routine, it also helps them recover from the minor aches and strains of playing contact sports. Their everyday activities require physical contact so we need to take that into account.
Cardiovascular fitness is also one of their core functional movements, because their sport requires them to move their body around a field, with speed and power. They are also required to do this for 1-2 hours at a time, depending on the sport.
In this case, the research is fairly clear that sprint interval training is very beneficial. It helps reduce body fat, and increases the physical speed with which an athlete can run. Sprint training is also a perfect match for their everyday movement patterns, as that is what they do on the field. It also doesn’t interfere with muscle strength or muscle gains, which is always nice!
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Aerobic Capacity for Functional Fitness Athletes
These athletes are a bit of a hybrid between team sports athletes, and pure strength athletes. Even in the shortest WODs, the aerobic energy system provides the majority of energy for your muscles. Don’t believe me, check out this presentation about sprinters.
It highlights that even elite level 400m sprinters still receive 43% of their oxygen from their aerobic systems. There is no higher power output, that a human can sustain for 50 seconds than sprinting. The aerobic energy system is still giving about half the energy for this activity.
The 800m runners receive 66% of their energy from aerobic energy production, and anything longer than that is 80% or above. For CrossFit athletes and other functional fitness enthusiasts like Hyrox athletes, this means that you need a big engine to do well in your sport.
Some of you (looking at you bodybuilders) are probably muttering about killing your strength and muscle size by doing cardio. To that I would say you are right. You absolutely can kill your gains by doing cardio…..incorrectly. Luckily for you, I’m going to show you the 3 best cardio exercises for functional fitness, so that you can maintain, and even build more muscle and strength. Let’s dig into the research.
If you want an awesome muscular growth program, that hammers your conditioning, then this is for you.
Combining Lifting and Cardio Research
The technical term for combining cardio vascular training with weight training, is called concurrent training. Concurrent training has been a research topic that has received a lot of time and attention in recent years, because so many different types of athletes engage in this type of training.
Some research has shown that there can be an interference effect when you combine two different types of training, like cardio and strength training. This interference can limit your muscle growth, power production, and overall strength gains.
However, further research has elucidated the details of this interference, which allows us to avoid making these mistakes. Most athletes want to be both strong and in great cardiovascular shape. Take a look at this recent meta analysis.
Concurrent Training Meta-Analysis: Best Cardio Exercises for Functional Fitness
If you’re a research nerd like me then you know that a meta analysis a summary of all relevant research on a given topic. This type of research review allows you to get a quick snapshot of what the scientific consensus is on a given topic. They’re a great resource.
This meta analysis entitled, “Compatibility of Concurrent Aerobic and Strength Training for Skeletal Muscle Size and Function: An Updated Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis,” was just completed a few months ago and has some great recommendations for athletes who need conditioning and functional strength. Here is an excerpt of their conclusions.
This updated meta-analysis shows that concurrent aerobic and strength training does not interfere with the development of maximal strength and muscle hypertrophy compared with strength training alone. This appears to be independent of the type of aerobic training (cycling vs. running), frequency of concurrent training (> 5 vs. < 5 weekly sessions), training status (untrained vs. active), and mean age (< 40 vs. > 40 years). However, the evidence of reduced development of explosive strength with concurrent training, particularly when aerobic and strength training are performed in the same session, suggests that practitioners who prioritize explosive strength may benefit from separating aerobic and strength training to achieve optimal adaptations.
Compatibility of Concurrent Aerobic and Strength Training for Skeletal Muscle Size and Function: An Updated Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
This is an excellent summary of the state of research on lifting and cardio. It’s clear that doing cardio and strength training doesn’t limit muscle mass, or strength, but does have some effect on explosive power production. They recommend separating cardio sessions from strength training to mitigate this interference effect.
While this study provides evidence that we can achieve both strength and conditioning gains, we need some more detail on which type of cardio is best for different groups of functional fitness athletes. What might be best for a Crossfitter, may not be best for a Rugby player, etc.
The 3 Best Cardio Exercises for Functional Fitness Athletes
Unless you’re a distance runner, I generally don’t recommend a lot of slow running for my functional fitness athletes. There are three distinct types of cardio exercise that I recommend for each group of functional fitness athlete. Here is a quick overview of the three different types, and who I think they’re best for.
The 3 Best Cardio Exercises for Functional Fitness By Athlete Type
- Team Sports Athletes: Sprinting, Sled Pushing or Pulling
- Bodybuilders: Sled Pushing or Pulling, Hill Sprinting
- Olympic Lifters/Power Lifters/ Strongman: Sled Pushing or Pulling
- CrossFit/Hyrox Athletes: Air Bike, Sled Pushing or Pulling
These bullet points are by no means exhaustive or exclusive. I put the best cardio exercises for functional fitness in priority order for each type of athlete. For example, I think sprint training is most useful for team sports athletes, and sled work to be a close second in priority.
For bodybuilders, strongmen, and other pure lifters, I think sled work is dramatically better than sprinting. These athletes do not require the ability to run fast for their sport, and sprinting is much harder to recover from than sled work. This makes it a less useful tool for them.
Functional Fitness athletes like Hyroxers, and Crossfitters benefit the most from air bike work, like the Rogue Echo Bike, Assault Bike, or other similar apparatuses (affiliate links). These provide a powerful full-body functional workout and help increase local muscular endurance, in specific muscle groups that are trained in these sports.
Let’s take a look at what the research has to say about these functional fitness training methods.
Sprinting and Sled Based Training for Cardio
For athletes that need to run fast, sprint training is a must. However, most athletes actually don’t need a very high top end speed, they need really powerful lower body leg muscles, that can accelerate them quickly over distances less than 50m. As you’ll see, sled training is a great exercise for just this purpose.
In this interesting research study entitled, “The Effects of Sprint vs. Resisted Sled-Based Training; an 8-Week in-Season Randomized Control Intervention in Elite Rugby League Players,” researchers compared a traditional short sprint training program with sled work. They found some startling conclusions which are highlighted below.
Sled Based Training: One of the best cardio exercises for functional fitness
The current study adds to the current literature in strength and conditioning by examining the efficacy of resisted sled-based training compared to traditional unresisted sprint training during an eight-week period of in-season training in elite rugby league players. The current investigation showed that whilst there were no differences between the two groups in terms of improvements in sprint performance, the resisted sled training group was associated with significant improvements in both agility and countermovement jump performance. These observations are of clear practical relevance to strength and conditioning coaches and practitioners. Agility and explosive power are known to be important to overall performance in elite rugby league. Therefore, findings from the current investigation suggest that resisted sled training may represent a more effective method of sprint training prescription to be implemented by strength and conditioning coaches in elite rugby league.
The Effects of Sprint vs. Resisted Sled-Based Training; an 8-Week in-Season Randomized Control Intervention in Elite Rugby League Players
If you dig into the study, you’ll find that the sled based group showed just as much improvement as the group that only did sprints. Normally the group that exclusively practices the same thing they’re tested on shows the most improvement. This highlights how useful resisted sled sprinting is for team sports athletes.
Moreover, using a sled is much less impactful on your joints, and muscle tissues. Because there is no eccentric contraction under load (think lowering a bench press) there is little to no soreness, or muscle damage.
This means it is much easier to recover from. It also means that sled work alone isn’t likely to build a lot of muscle. That’s what all those compound exercises like deadlifts, bench presses, and overhead press are for!
I truly believe that sled pushing or pulling is one of the best cardio exercises for functional fitness. It’s easier to recover from, helps with body composition, and can even be used to train small muscles that affect things like your grip strength. In fact, if you load it heavily enough, it can help with building strength, and core stability.
Pure Sprint Training for Cardio Conditioning
For some athletes the best cardio exercises for functional fitness require top end speed. Being able to accelerate over short distances is good, but they need to run fast. This type of training is what olympic sprinters undertake, and it’s the best way to build impressive speed.
The biggest difference between sprinting for short distance, and long distance is the amount of quality reps at high speed the athlete performs. If you’re looking for good acceleration, and maybe some extra fat loss with your conditioning, then short rests work well. You can get away with 50m at 90% every 2 minutes. This won’t work for top end speed demons.
They also spend a lot of time working on developing good form for sprinting. Just like with other functional moves, sprinting has its own technique. It’s always a good idea to work on this if you truly want to excel.
I recommend checking out this research summary that covers the best practices for sprint training. It gives sample workouts, rest times, and covers how to structure a sprint program. It’s an interesting read.
Air Bike, Assault Bike, Echo Bike Cardio Conditioning
These bikes allow you to utilize your upper body and lower body for a very powerful conditioning effect. I think these are best for pure functional fitness athletes as they allow you to work very very hard, with minimal recovery after each session.
Recovery is a bigger priority for functional fitness athletes, especially elite athletes. If you read my article about top level CrossFit athletes you’ll remember that they spend about 15 hours in the gym each week working on everything from WODs, to functional strength, and whole body gymnastics moves. This incurs a big recovery cost.
Fan bikes allow you to work very hard using your entire body. Not only are you using your legs to push the pedals, but you’re using your upper body to push, and pull the handles. No other piece of cardio machinery requires this much muscle mass. Consequently, it allows you generate almost the same amount of power as all out sprinting does, without the high impact. Now, let’s review some key points.
Conclussions
Athletes that need the ability to sprint over short distances should focus their time and energy on sled pushing or pulling at higher velocities. This isn’t the time to load up the Torque Tank (Amazon Affiliate Link) to the max and plod along slowly. Keep the pace high and keep the rest intervals in the 1-3 minute range.
Shorter rest intervals will yield a better overall conditioning effect, and longer intervals will yield high per effort power output and speed. You should do both types of intervals, but bias your style towards your specific needs.
Don’t be afraid to tow a sled backwards either. It can provide a lot of stimulus to your posterior chain. Similarly, you can use ropes and other attachments to row the sled, really targeting your upper back and arm muscles. It also looks way cooler on social media than biceps curls!
Pure sprint work is very taxing and isn’t needed for bodybuilders, and pure strength athletes. Stick with heavier sled work, and shorter distances. Feel free to experiment with lighter and longer intervals, but don’t specialize with them.
Lastly, functional fitness athletes need to be able to do a bit of everything. They should focus on fan bike intervals primarily, and sled work secondarily. These are these easiest to recover from. Don’t be afraid to work on some sprints, as long as you account for the extra recovery time needed.
If you have any questions or comments about the 3 best cardio exercises for functional fitness, put them below, and I’ll get you an answer. Now get out there and get training!
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