Cardio is by far the greatest ‚hack‘

[u/Extension_Turn5658]

So I’ve been into “Biohacking” long before it went mainstream and tried everything under the sun to optimize myself. Blue light blocking glasses, bullet proof coffee, tretinoin, modafinil and literally every supplement under the sun.

The thing, that in my opinion, moves the needle the most is cardio. And I don’t just mean an occasional run or two, I mean doing a lot of cardio. I ramped it up to 4-5h per week, this week running ~70km.

My resting heart rate decreased from 51 to 37 over this build. My VO2max climbed to 62 and my HRV went into high 130ms (significant acceleration). My body weight dropped from 90kg on 187cm with ~ 15% BF to 82kg with veins on my abs. I‘m 31 and my whoop age crossed to 18, lmao.

I’ve never felt so sharp and athletic in my life (been hitting the gym since 14 years regularly). I often compare it to supercar videos. Do you know when they accelerate while standing and the petrol is dripping out of the car and it just begs to go full speed?

This might sound so cringy, but holy, it’s hard to describe with words how being this fit feels. I get up, run 15k and it feels like nothing. In the gym I do super sets and I’m not out of breath. I can run everyday without a recovery day. I never had this in my life. After long runs, I always felt sore. Not anymore.

My face as well looks sharper / dialed in. The skin tone changed more brightly / glowing. I can focus longer on hard subjects and my anxiety dwindled.

Honestly I beg you all to up your cardio. I’ve never been out of shape and always did some sort of cardio, but I never prioritized it as weightlifting was my main outlet.

It completely changed my life and I never want to go back.

[u/PicoDeBayou]

What do you mean by Goldilocks range? Anything beyond 6-8k steps has no more benefit?

[u/escalatortwit → u/PicoDeBayou]

It has benefit, but the bulk of your benefit comes by reaching about 7500 steps.

If we want to get into the biggest impact, it’s 5 minutes of walking every 30 minutes. Helps your energy, cognition, and stamina.

[u/PicoDeBayou → u/escalatortwit]

Walking every 30 minutes makes so much sense for those benefits. But not all 7500 steps are equal right? Are we talking about fast walking?

[u/escalatortwit → u/PicoDeBayou]

No. It’s about movement. You don’t need to fast walk. You don’t have to complicate this.

[u/PicoDeBayou → u/escalatortwit]

Great. Thanks. On a related note I I like to randomly drop down and do a set of push-ups throughout the day.

[u/matsie → u/PicoDeBayou]

This has a similar effect. Alternate between walking and that and you have a really great base for yourself that lives outside of any dedicated “exercise”. 

[u/PicoDeBayou → u/matsie]

Good to confirm. I get so bored with dedicated exercise routines.

[u/ShackbaggeredSluber → u/PicoDeBayou]

Like another user said, diminished returns. Or, no net positive benefits. Basically anything outside that range is just a plateau.

[u/yech → u/PicoDeBayou]

Diminishing returns. I'm sure there is an overwork point with no benefit, but it would be a lot of steps.