CARDIO

Fitness guru ALEXA TOWERSEY shares some all-important tips on the cardio you should be doing...

I don't know about you but I hate cardio, at least in the more traditional sense. However, just because you hate something doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. And if you value other qualities like general health and wellbeing, achieving and maintaining a specific body composition or just having the ability to effectively escape in the event of a zombie apocalypse, you should know that you will need to do some sort of conditioning. The good news is that there is another way to do energy systems work that doesn't involve planting your ass on a stationary bike or plodding along on a treadmill for hours. All you need to do is pick-up something heavy and carry it around. No tricks, no trends, no machines with televisions attached. This is the cardio for "Real Men and women".

THE BENEFITS

Loaded carries have made their way from strongman circles into mainstream globo gyms, and for good reason. They make the body work in a way that no other exercise does, combining trunk stability, dynamic movement and isometric tension in key muscles. Being able to do heavy carries with good form can decrease shoulder and back pain, improve posture and grip, increase your work capacity, bulletproof your core and make your big lifts even bigger. Muscle gain? Check. Strength gain? Check. Fat loss? Check. You're welcome.

HOW TO CARRY YOUR WEIGHT

These loaded carries can be performed by nearly every level of athlete, overall time under tension being determined by YOUR objective.