Every weekend over the next few months, I am going to be examining each of the New Rules of Lifting from Lou Schuler and Alwyn Cosgrove’s new book. This is rule #17.
Aerobic fitness is not a matter of life and death.
The authors want to paint a distinct line between “exercise training” and “endurance training”; they do not believe that aerobic exercise is necessary to be healthy. They are right about it not being necessary, but I do not like their take on the matter.
Whether aerobic and endurance exercise is necessary depends upon your goals. Obviously, since I am a marathoner, I am not going to do very well in my races if I do not go out and run hundreds of miles. If I was just starting to work out for the first time and my only goals were to lose weight or make myself healthier then I would not worry as much about it. As is, my goal is to work my weight lifting around my running schedule rather than the other way around.
I have to agree that I am not a big fan of this “Cardio isn’t necessary” idea. As you get older, cardio conditioning does things like help you lower your cholesterol, etc.
My general observation is that most of these books are oriented toward people in their 20’s and 30’s.