I hated cardio until someone taught me how to do it properly.
For many years, obsessed with burning as many calories as possible, I’d hit the treadmill or the rower with gusto, pounding away until I was a dripping mess in motion.
Heart pounding and back drenched seemed the only way to reverse the laziness of the rest of the day; Flagellation for failure to be fit.
Of course, that never lasted long. After a few weeks, your body gives up and finds a way to sabotage the sweat fest.
My latest coach advised me that the only way to keep it up was to keep it LISS: Low-Intensity Steady State.
It’s the opposite of HIIT.
It’s just walking. Sometimes on a steep gradient. Sometimes a shallow one.
Heart rate stays consistently low. You can still talk (or write).
There’s no rush. No fuss. No sprints.
You just put one foot in front of the other, moving one step at a time towards the goal. Focusing on each step and relaxed all the way.
Now that, I can do every day.