CARDIO ISN’T “PROGRESS”

WEEK OF 12/30/24

 

…And being out of shape doesn’t mean you “fell behind.”

This is the time of year when many of us are steeling our minds for the challenge of getting back into the groove of things.

A big part of that is anticipating some difficulty in “knocking off the rust” and also feeling some discouragement at the loss of cardio and conditioning gains.

Here’s the thing, though: cardio and timing are the first things to go, and the first things to come back.  They are important performance-related attributes, but they are not to be confused with skill.

Ultimately, long term skill development is the only thing that matters.  That’s what we’re here to do, right?  Get better at the art.  Being able to keep a faster pace than one of our training partners on any one day doesn’t really mean anything in the long term.

It’s frustrating and challenging to make it back on the mats after a layoff, but you’ll get your “sea legs” back in about 1-2 weeks and the rest is business as usual.  Trust me.  I’ve been here dozens of times.

Don’t mourn the loss of your conditioning, and don’t feel like you’ve taken a step back.  You haven’t.  It’s not really possible to take a step back — what you’ve learned, you’ve earned.  So get back on the mats and polish it back into form!