The Cardio That Actually Improves Your Life
You don't need to run a marathon. You need enough aerobic capacity to make hard things feel easy — here's the minimum effective dose.
Cardio is the most misunderstood tool in fitness. People either treat it as punishment for eating too much, or avoid it because it might hurt their lifts. Both are wrong.
Aerobic base first
Two to three sessions per week of 30–45 minutes at a conversational pace builds the engine everything else runs on. Zone 2 work improves your recovery between sets, your work capacity, and your long-term heart health more than any other single intervention.
Then add intensity
Once you have a base, one weekly session of harder intervals — 4 × 4 minutes near threshold, or 8 × 30 seconds hard — sharpens your VO₂ max. That's the ceiling on how hard you can go.
Practical setup
Walk uphill, cycle, row, swim, or jog. It matters less what you pick than that you pick something you'll actually do three times a week for the next year.