The importance of cardiovascular work for strength

I know it's been discussed on the forum before, but I would like to bring it to the new people's attention. 

 

Recently I started including 1-2 mile runs in my training routine. I am now able to go through my workout with less energy loss between exercises (I feel much less tired by the end of my 1.5hr workout) and hence am able to output higher quality repetitions and therefore entice greater strength gains.

 

Hopefully most people are including some form of basic running in their programs. 

 

Further reading (recommended - scroll down to Coach Sommer's post): 

 

https://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/topic/5063-cardio/

 

 

That was 9 pages of further reading!

 

I have started doing jump rope training as a pre-GB warm up - just building up to the basic beginner's start point of 140 consecutive jumps over the next 2-3 weeks [buddy Lee's program] - as not doing any cardio is giving me a feeling of cloying up, also having a higher base level of fitness is a good thing. So I agree with your sentiments above ForzaCavaliere.

I went for a run yesterday. It was really hard and I gave up after half a mile. Running has always been really hard for me and it's not because I haven't tried. I even completed a couple of 5ks in the past but it takes several months to work up to that distance. I'm not sure why it's like that, I even have a build that looks like I could be a runner.

Agreed about the good crossover effects of light cardio! I had ignored cardio for a while, but started biking to and from work--about 3.25 miles each way. It's not a huge amount, but it gets my heart pumping pretty well twice a day for 15 minutes each. My progress on GB has improved as I do the biking more and more consistently. I've also started working in a 4 mile run once a week. I am thinking of working in a 5K distance 3 times a week for non-GB days.

 

Hansenator, might be that running isn't your thing--I know lots of people that just hate it for whatever reason. But also maybe you are starting at too fast a pace? For me, that's very easy to do. Runners have told me that their cue is to run at a pace where you can have a conversation. That doesn't work for me so I use my phone GPS and a heart rate monitor to give me feedback. That way I go slower than my body wants at the beginning so I can sustain for the whole distance/duration. Also, there is this for working up from low mileage to 5K: http://www.c25k.com/