Consistent cardio after years of nonexistent or inconsistent cardio has made a huge difference in my ability to recover between sets, training sessions and work capacity.

This is probably the best explanation of cardio having direct carryover to strength progression that I’ve ever heard. Phenomenal, concise and easy to understand breakdown.

I hope you keep filming useful info like this during your walks, I really love the format

Stared adding 10 min walks post meal and one of those session is hit session

The most important muscle we have is our Hearts... so I agree we all need to do our cardio... i walk /run and swim for mine...

i believe this , when i run and lift i am at my strongest 💯

I used to play football and basketball. But i ran middle distance track year round. I was never tired in my team sports, I didn't slow down throughout the game. I'm not as fit now, and all other sports are way harder.

For diet i eat high fat instead of carbs, that gives anyone the ability to more efficiently burn body fat as well when youre on a deficit diet. Ive lost significant weihht doing this, keeping cardio load the exact same and power almost equal

I agree. In my training, only high volume training on cardio (training for marathon) affected my peak strength negatively. All my energy/time was used for running and there was nothing left for the gym/recovery.

Finally somebody said what I’ve been saying for years. The best athletes look the healthiest because their cardiovascular health is THE best.

Great Great article..its a out time a note worthy athlete spoke out on this.i heard the same stuff growing ie don't jog over a mile or else you will lose size and strenght remember linemen need those.i found out after going into military as we ran 4 miles a day etc..I actually gain a few pounds from the p.t. coupled with the good food..after military I started doing 5k runs and continued lifting ate good nutritious food etc years ago my my max BP was 440,475 squat dl 460..no joke..I still train and do cardio on air assault bike, staircases or elliptical and have maintained nearly same weigh 245-250 ..this guy is telling it straight

Some muscle fibers can actually completely switch, but most can't. Some switch between 1 and 2A, some 2A to 2X and some between all of them

The smartest WSM ever, This man has it down to the "T"

Lifting Heavy + Walking = Perfection. Don't know about benefits, etc but walking after lifting heavy is extremely relaxing and fun.

there is a guy at my gym who runs 10-15 miles fairly often. he is lean but also pretty muscular. he can just go and go and go on squats and deadlifts... anything really... rarely out of breath!

I have this entire neighborhood memorized now. I've watched all of these walk & talk lessons!

I’m glad you put out this video because I started to come to the same conclusion just recently. I’ve been doing sets of 10 on deadlift and it was like cardio. But within 3 weeks of deadlifts and doing actual cardio almost everyday (some long as 20 minutes and some harder and shorter) my 10 rep for dead’s has gone up 80lbs because I’m not out of breath dying after rep 5.

Do love me some cardio, lost almost 30 pounds this year, running consistant 6 minute miles, still have a deadlift over 400 and looking much better. Cardio treats the body well!

Remember, for natural athletes, being big and heavy and doing cardio, you can rapidly loose weight if the cardio is too intense. If the heart notice an unnatural high load that is persistent throughout the days (you doing daily running, long cycling, or any longer periods of cardiovascular exercise) It will command your brain to shed off weight very quickly to meet the demands and to protect your heart from stress. This does include skeletal muscle and fats, things the body holds in excess as weight. Cardiovascular exercise should be done in a low intensity manner with a moderate high pulse. Just like Mitchell here, you should be able to talk and breathe at the same time. Or it should be done in intervalls with lowered pulse and breathing rythm between sets. Your body is very simple here, it is always going to adapt to the highest stressing factor for protection of vital organs. If cardiovascular load is intense, example marathon runner, weight will be lost. Even if the stimulus for muscle growth is there, the heart is the bottleneck in this equation. Technically and theoretically, you could cycle between intense cardio and intense weight training. The increased blood flow from newly grown vessels and increased pumping capacity would in fact make you gain muscle at a faster rate due to shortened recovery, however, recovery such as cns fatigue is also a genetic trait. Very interesting however.

Distance swimmer turned distance runner that now lifts. I use the same techniques to control my heart rate lifting that I do during marathons/ marathon training runs. Heart rate getting too high too fast affects you run/swim and set. I feel that Cardio teaches you to be more in tune with your body and how it handles itself in exhaustion situations.

I found this out when I was about 20 years old. I got paralyzed and became a C5 quadriplegic at 16 the first 4 years I focused only on strength. At around twenty I significantly increased my cardio and it was as if the blood flow and oxygen literally made me stronger in my pure power lifts as well. It's obviously different for me seeing as i'm pretty much all shoulders even most of my arms are paralyzed so I don't have as many muscle groups to hit but cardio is important for everyone.

I had a feeling you won WSM because your cardio was better trained than the typical strongman.

I like to do some steady state cardio immediately after weight training. I'm not a big lifter by any means - but on days where I do zero cardio after a weight session, I have more DOMS and more general fatigue over the rest of the day, and in many cases I feel less "energized" the next day for my workout. However, by jumping on a bike, treadmill, taking a moderate row or a medium pace on a stair climber right after weight training - I feel more energized. I experience fewer DOMS and the next day, I feel ready to go. I've read in passing in a few articles - and heard in Pavel Tsatsouline's teachings - that you should never simply stop after weight training. Obviously, Pavel is speaking of kettlebells - but weights are weights. I took this to heart (no pun intended) and started jumping right onto something that allowed me to not go from strenuous to nothing in the blink of an eye - but keep the heart rate up at a moderate level and then taper down to finish my workouts. Since doing that, I feel much better before, during and after each session.

Great video my friend. I will say that I am no where near your level, but as a former All American college football player and multiple hall of famer I know a thing or two about fitness and athleticism. I've also been a personal trainer for 20 years and power lifter. I am now 49yrs old, but at my mid to late 30's I was on average 10% body fat at 210lbs. I would cycle on my bike about 100 miles per week, played basketball 2 days a week, racquetball 4-5 days per week, lifted weights 5-6 days per week plus 3 hours a week of steady state cardio. (when your job is in a gym you have more time to exercise). With all of that cardio I still had a raw bench max of 435lbs, deadlift of 600lbs, squat I never maxed but could rep 500lbs for sets of 10 and several other heavy lifts. What I found then is that the more cardiovascular endurance I had, the stronger I was able to get. I train my clients today in the same manner. Heavy weights combined with HIIT 2-3 days per week and they add in another 2-3 days per week of Steady State cardio. Love watching your videos my friend. Seeing a strongman with knowledge is awesome. FYI, several years ago when Brian Shaw wasn't doing well at worlds I messaged him to start adding in more HIIT into his training haha..I didn't hear back from him lol....He is still one of my favorites of all time! Good luck bro!

Brian shaw used to be the most educated and well calculated strong man, add that with his gift of genetics, we got the GOAT that he became. Mitchell Hooper is like the Hybrid 2.0 or 3.0 version.

Fuck. After watching coach greg preach about cardio so much and seeing this video, I am officially starting consistent cardio. Enough is enough

I agree bro. I agree that conditioning is important. I like to train battle ropes and sled drags for conditioning.

lol the editing is fantastic on this video

Olympic weightlifter chiming in. Doing more intense cardio has definitely helped with training. I can handle more volume and rest periods are shorter, thus allowing for quicker sessions. Everyone should do cardio no matter what physical sport they partake in. Makes you a better athlete and keeps your general health better as well

That is the most informative and best info I have heard in a long time. I have added 80 pounds to my squat in 10 months by running a couple of times a week. I should have been running for the last 20 years.

I strength train but I started as an avid road cyclist/runner. Focusing more on strength these days but get 3 good rides in a week, 10-20 miles each. This was really insightful. Cycling also just makes me feel good. Sometimes on days off of my lifting program I just feel sluggish and bloated; cycling really helps

Yes more work capacity leads to more opportunities to recruit more muscle fibers which we all know can test absolute strength. I like to mix in conditioning throughout my week, as well as I go for a walk after every meal, I like to go jogging at least once a week, and, if I can, definitely go sprinting

I think people misnome it a little. Doing *too much* cardio will impede your strength, but doing a moderate amount will help it. I swam 2x a week and powerlifted 4x a week during college and I was able to add 60 pounds to all three of my lifts in a little over 3 months, which set me up for my first 225 bench.

Truly sir, this was brilliant. Thank for this explanation. My favorite way to get cardio is Hiking the mountains of Colorado! But on a daily a HIIT class or the stepper are my favorite

Dude I could listen to you talk about this kinda stuff for eons

My favorite form of cardio is weighted vest walking with a 55 lb vest. Whether I am cutting or bulking, I aim for 15,000 to 20,000 steps per day.

Really really love these they go to the bottom of the rabit hole. That Tabata routine sounds absolutely nuts though, even 1 round of true max out sprint is hard af and doing this for a primarily strenght based sport seems so counterintuitive to me

I ride my bike to the gym and I find it serves as a good warmup as well as cardio

As a runner myself I have always thought that aerobic fitness is severely underrated in the strength, and especially the strongman world. It is so extremely obvious how my body handles high intensity stuff so much better when I have a solid aerobic base. I guess there is a bit of an optimization problem though to fit in enough aerobic work to make a difference while still being able to do enough your strength stuff. I think most would have to take a step down in performance to begin with, but get that back with interest once they start to develop the aerobic system.

Dude is amazing at everything. Including teaching.

Paging Greg Doucette, we have a video for you. This is the best video summarizing the importance of cardio for lifters. Get a review on it. Awesome stuff.

Great video I appreciate the knowledge dump your giving here.

I am so happy i found out about you. Much respect.

12000 to 15000 steps every day. On my feet for my job and walking after meals.

My cardio is pretty much just getting my steps in every day, but I've been considering adding some running into my week. This video pretty much seals the deal for me.

You are such a positive representative of strength sports. Your intelligence brands you and helps many sir.

Sounds like "aerobic base" still conveys more information than it immediately appears.

I love these bite sized fitness science lectures based on pure practicality

That's an impressive explanation !

Thanks for this awesome content Mitch, very good info! I used to run both track and cross country in school (so I ran basically everything from 100m sprints to 5k's and half marathons, but I mainly ran 400m during track season). It's been over a decade since I competed in a track meet and I've gone through phases of MMA training, running a mile or 5k charity race every now and then, and lifting weights, but nothing consistent. Since Jan 2024 though I've consistently been exercising. My current routine is 3 days in the gym lifting weights (1 day push, 1 day pull, 1 day legs). I jog 1-3 miles about every week or sometimes I do 100m repeats or hop on the exercise bike instead of the longer distance runs. Cardio has always helped me with recovery, especially in between sets with a short 20-30 second rest. I will be adding in 1 day of sprint training (with a USATF track club and coach at a D1 track) on top of the 3 days in the weight room soon then once my body adapts to that I'll add a 2nd day so I'll be up to 3 days hitting the weights and 2 days hitting the track. I'm 33 right now and my goal is to compete in Master's Track and Field meets when I'm eligible at 35. I've also been really skinny my whole life (basically a fat burning machine lol) so my gym routine right now is focused on hypertrophy and I'm tracking all my calories and macros etc. to ensure I'm eating enough to recover and grow. I've gained about 15lbs (~7kg) so far this year. I supplement with creatine monohydrate and whey protein isolate. Depending on how my training progresses I might eventually switch to doing more specific strength training and maybe try to compete at the 80kg or 90kg strongman weight divisions one day (perhaps in addition to being a Master's track athlete).

Man I love your videos! Thanks for the information 👍🏼

Very very interesting to listen to such a detailed breakdown!👍

This video was just Quality! Thank you

You gained my respect for the breakdown

As a physical therapist student, I really enjoyed this!

Another point is that it's incredibly good for you and additive to strength training for heart health based on a recent study. So both strength training and cardiovascular training are good for your heart health and after a certain point cardio or strength training provides no extra benefit to longevity but as it's additive you can do both and get a double whammy of goodness.

I lift for 2 hours before kickboxing class. The class is 30 min of cardio/core before working on technique/combos/or anything else (not a kickboxing for fitness class). I noticed a huge increase in work capacity as well as ability to recover a lot faster. Strength gains came a lot quicker than they use to as well. Went from 365-455 squat in 2-ish months.

Cool information, thanks!

Thanks for this video! I started using programs by Brian Alsruhe which have very little rest time, high intensity, and utilize Giant Sets for almost everything. Maybe not the best for pure 1RM strength but it did get me down from Hypertension Stage 2 to 120/80 blood pressure. Now, I was also doing a 4k run twice a week and cleaned up my eating but I'm convinced that the combining of strength and aerobic work did a lot. Since then, I suffered a concussion and lost both my exercise tolerance and self-control on food. I gained 15 lbs in 3 months and went back to feeling like crap. I've recently cautiously tried to get back to cardio/lifting and hopefully will do ok.

excellent vid and explanation! thanks!

Excellent explanation. Thanks💪🇵🇹

Walking outside and getting some sun and vitamin D will make you feel more energized during your workout too.

150 mins of moderate intensity cardio a week. Usually 30 mins in the morning, followed by lifting in the afternoon.

Great info, Mitch.

Great information like always this why I have to watch it everyday

for aerobic fitness I like runs (jogs really) and tabata jump rope/agility ladder drills + some sort of martial arts training I class as just general activity. and weather-permitting, I love a good hike to really hammer it home when I've been slacking or when I just crave the landscapes or experiences

For me it's mountain biking, I love going on long rides and climbing hills and descending fast

Great content Mitchell!

I love incline walking on the treadmill, worked my way up to doing a maxed out 15 percent grade at 3.6mph for an hour. And no, I don't hang on to the machine like most people do🤣🤣

Exactly what I needed to hear today as I prepare to up my cardio once again ahah

Brilliant. I hope you go on to get your PhD Mitchell because with your combination of sports achievement, communication ability and scientific knowledge I think you can help many people improve their health.

So after training with terrible habits since I was 13 years old (12 years ago), 2 years ago I started running for the first time. Today I am by far the fittest I've ever been as I'm training for a half marathon in 1 month (Toronto waterfront marathon). For reference I'm currently running roughly 30 miles per week, with most of my runs at a 10:30 pace. So not very fast, still not objectively very fit, but much much more than I was before. Interestingly, I haven't really noticed much difference at all in terms of my work capacity in the gym. I always train almost exclusively for strength with minimum reps, and long rests. I have found very little improvement to my ability to rest for less time, (except for in my calves which now require virtually no rest periods and have seemingly infinite work capacity, and my calves are the only muscle I do pause reps on, so no bouncing at all). The only difference I've noticed is that I'm now very comfortable working out on an empty stomach most of the time. That used to seem impossible for me, but now I don't even feel hampered. Once I start working out I don't even feel hungry until after I'm finished.

a bigger fan each day of this guy

I've always intuitively known that a certain amount of cardio helps with my strength. It's noticible to me whenever I take more than a couple of days off from the gym. It's not that I've lost strength after a few days, I can still pick up the same weight for the same number of reps, but I'm more out of breath and unable to keep my normal pace. It just feels more difficult and I have to take longer rest periods between sets.

My goal for my strength is to pull a van but I’m a way out from it yet, this year I’ve gone from 38% body fat to 24% which is a huge achievement and has been my most consistent year of weight and cardio training. I do 20 minutes of hiit and then weights for around an hour 5 times a week and have started skateboarding once a week for some added cardio and social activity. It’s feels incredible and now at the end of the year I’m thinking about how I can shift my training towards lowering my body fat percentage further and adding muscle mass. Not at the same time I’ll probably lose weight first and then gain muscle after! Your videos have been so helpful in motivating me to stay on track for my goals so big thanks man for inspiring people all over the world 👊

Great lesson.

This video really resonates with me, and personally there's another way it helps too, in that adding good cardio gives me a whole new range of exercises/challenges to PB in. Naturally I can't hit PBs in strength week in, week out, but missing a log PR attempt feels a lot better when I can go and shave two seconds off my 1km rower time, or watch my heart rate recovery improving significantly over a few workouts. The impact this has had on my morale, and therefore my motivation to be in the gym, has definitely had a knock on effect to the consistency of my strength training and consequently my results overall.

Ive noticed this myself, I wanted to downsize I used to compete too, I had a 600lb deadlift at the start I took a 8 month break just doing arobic and pylometric style workouts I ran for a total of 3 hours a week. I came back to heavy training and I had a 540lb deadlift. I was suprised considering I didnt TOUCH a weight for 8 months it was all bodyweight training.

10 mins cross trainer before I start on weights and at some point I will normally do 30 secs on 30 secs off on the ski erg for 10 rounds, which I feel really helps me with the recovery between sets when lifting

That’s very helpful the 20, 10 8 rounds because I hate training cardio but I need to improve it.

i had no idea this guy was gonna sound like the surfer character in a 90s high school movie

Mitch do you feel like adding some HIIT at the end of each workout day suffices? Things like kettlebell complexes or fast sled work or things like that? Swings?

I really love cardio, I'm into running far and lifting heavy! Would love one of your LHBK t-shirts or vests, any chance of finding a UK supplier at some point? :)

Thanks sir

Any idea how should we implement the sprint in training ? Like before or after training ect … Thanks for the video lots of insights 🤲🏾

I average about 9k steps a day, but I try to implement some cardio after weight training. Usually cycling or walking with an incline for 20-30 minutes. Definitely makes me feel more energized throughout the rest of the day when I implement cardio in my gymsessions

You are absolutely right 😊 science indeed tells you that

Random fact for the algorithm: Piano strings have between 75 and 100kg of tension, which means that a single string has more tension than a whole guitar. This is why a large cast iron frame is needed, and why pianos have to be heavy.

ngl i’m taking exercise physiology rn in college and this actually helped me understand and visualize it to a different degree

I thought there was a heart beat sound effect but I was just Mitch walking.

These videos are awesome

generally i go for a 45minute-1hr walk each day after breakfast, it helps with inflammation, as for additional cardio obviously i don't bother with cardio if i'm training legs but otherwise i'll hit the stairmaster or go for a light jog for about 15-20 minutes at the gym as well (i guess thats roughly 7 hr's of cardio besides whatever day-to-day things come about)

Every person should do cardio, simple as that. Walking is great but for many people it's probably too low heartrate. Especially on flat terrain. Prolonged periods in zone 2 is probably where most of the good stuff happens. Add to that some high intensity intervals and you're good.

Hooper (aka Cooper) had a really good base with running. Eddie Hall had a really good face with swimming. It’s imperative that in the core training areas that there is substantial cardio fitness.

I swim 20 laps once per week and do bike and backward walking on the stepper and treadmill. This doesn't seem to interfere with my weight training and makes me more flexible, stable and fitter.

I went from powerlifting to running after having two shoulder surgeries to stay active. Was never a runner _(terrible cardio)_ but approached it with the same mindset, up to 1/2 marathon per day. Started lifting again and gained strength extremely quickly - much, _much_ faster than typical _’muscle memory’_ from any time prior. Obviously a high level of physical fitness helps, but this was very noticeable.

I do deadlifs with 30 seconds rest once every two month for a phase on 3 weeks

If you can work longer and harder and recover better with improving cardiovascular fitness, then surely there’s some strength gains carryovers to also be had ! 💪👍🇨🇦😬

Where tf did this dude come from. Everytime i see one of these videos. I learn something new and very interesting just the other day i completely fixed my vikingpress after watching one of his videos. Thank you your turning into a real gem of the strongman world

LHBK!