How Many Days Per Week Should You Do Cardio | Chin Ups vs Pull Ups

YouTube, what's going on? We are back with another walk and talk Q&A. Hope you're doing super well. Last walk and talk, thank you guys so much for the feedback on it, and I'm glad to hear hopefully, you know, you guys got some value from it, learned some things from it. That's what we're about here on the YouTube channel. So thank you for that. And reminder, I'm going to be doing some questions and answers right now in this video, but if you want your question answered, just Drop it below. So if you have a question for me you'd like for me to answer on the YouTube channel, I'll be answering it right here for you. And these are going to be exclusive to you guys because if you're watching on YouTube, I want to be able to help answer your question on YouTube. So let's dive into the first question without further ado. And so first question is going to be coming from Carly Hunt, and I'll put it right here. But Carly basically says, should you be splitting up your workouts Into like a leg day, an arm day, a back day, so on and so forth? Or should you be splitting up your workouts and doing more of like a full body workout? And it's a really good question. I actually did a video on this on my YouTube channel, but it was, it was kind of just covering full body workouts. And so in terms of full body workouts, if you want to be able to learn more about full body workouts, how they work, so on and so forth, you can feel free To check out that video. But to answer this question, it's going to be somewhat of a 2-part answer. And I think number one is the answer— you're going to want to be able to hit your muscle groups 2 times throughout the course of the week. That is usually what is going to be what is most optimal in order for building strength, building muscle, all of that good stuff. Now, how do you go about hitting your muscle groups 2 times a week. Well, when you talk about full body, if you're only working out 2 times a week, for example, yeah, you might do 2 full body sessions. In fact, if you were only doing strength training 2 times a week, I would recommend you doing 2 full body sessions. Now, I don't necessarily recommend you only working out 2 times a week, though. If that's all you can do, then that's all you can do. I just wouldn't, um, I wouldn't expect to see like massive changes in your physique. You'll see some changes, but just quite frankly, only strength training 2 times a week won't give you that much of a drastic change. Now, when it comes to, again, full body 2 times a week, cool. But let's say you're somebody who's working out 3 to 4 times a week. That's usually— in the 7 years that I've done fitness coaching, usually people end up somewhere in that 3 to 4 times per week range, because that's what's most optimal. And that's what's most also realistic for people to actually continue on, not just for a week or 2 or 3, but for a long period of time and be able to make and sustain progress. So let's say you're working out 3 times or 4 times a week. Would you do all 3 or 4 of those workouts in a full body fashion? No, I would not recommend you doing all 3 or 4 of those workouts in a full-body fashion? No, because at that point you're doing— you're hitting all of your muscle groups 3 to 4 times a week, which just for the majority of people and how we sleep and how we recover and our stress levels in life and so on and so forth, the majority of people, myself included, would have a very hard time recovering from 3 times a week or potentially 4 times a week full-body workouts. It's just a lot for your Actual physical, like, muscle system. There's a lot of— remember, when you work out, there's a lot of stress that gets placed on your body. So it's a lot for your body to recover from. It's also a lot for your central nervous system to recover from, which, remember, when we talk about seeing change in your physique, there's a 3-part cycle your body goes through. You put a stress on your body, which is the workouts. You recover from that stress. And then you adapt to that stress. If you don't get to the second part and do the second part, which is the recovery step, how do you expect to get to the third step, which is the adaptation step? Which, if you don't adapt, you're not changing. So then all you'd really end up doing is you would put the stress on your body, you would not recover, you would not adapt, you would put more stress, you would not recover, you would not adapt, and you would never see change. You would just be going on the hamster wheel. Essentially, and not seeing any progress. This is why a lot of people who, you know, for lack of better terms, a lot of people do these like, you know, full-body HIIT boot camp classes 3, 4, 5 times a week. And maybe initially you see some progress because, you know, you're a beginner and you're gonna see fucking progress no matter what. But initially you'll see progress, and then like 2, 3, 4 months in, you're kind of like, okay, you know, progress is kind of plateaued. A year goes by and you're like, holy shit, I haven't seen any fucking progress. What's going on? This is why. So I would not recommend you doing 3 or 4 times a week full body workouts. No, the 2 main splits I would recommend to you are either going to be— the first one is 3 times a week. I'm trying to— I keep going up and down with the camera, I apologize. But the first is going to be 3 times a week is going to be lower body, upper body, full body. So let's say for example you're doing a Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and you're doing lower body Monday, upper body Tuesday, full body Friday. Just make sure you have a day of rest before and after the full body day. So this is where like you can kind of play around with what you need to do because schedule change and so on and so forth. Like lower body and upper body, you can do those back to back because they're 2 different muscle groups. But I wouldn't do like lower body, upper body, full body because you're hitting all of your muscle groups in the same days and, you know, 3 back to back days. That can not only lead to suboptimal recovery, which what we just talked about, if you don't recover, you're not going to see your body change. But then also on top of that, that can also lead to some injury because you're not fully recovering your muscles in between sessions. So just make sure you have a day of rest in between, a day of rest before and after full body. I also like starting that split with lower body. People ask me this sometimes. I like starting the split with lower body because lower body usually puts a greater stress and demand on your body and your central nervous system as well because you're lift— you're using bigger muscle groups, you're lifting heavier weights, so on and so forth. So I like doing lower body to start, and that'll be my 3 times a week. For the 4 times a week, I'd recommend just a simple lower, upper, lower, upper. I like having a day of rest in between because this is actually the split that I currently use. I'm doing a 4 times a week lower-upper, lower-upper split, and I like having a day of rest between lower-upper, rest, lower-upper. And I have 2 rest days in a row on the weekends. I like having this day of rest in between because if you're doing a 4-day-a-week lower-upper split correctly, after those first 2 days, you will have hit your entire body. You'll hit your full body in 2 days. You will be toast, my friend, if you do it correctly. So having that day of rest in between, I have found to be really helpful. It's not necessary, like I just said, because you're doing different muscle groups. You can do them on back-to-back days. But if it's possible and your schedule allows it, I would try to have that day of rest in between. So that's for the workout split. Hopefully that helps you. And that's literally, by the way, that's the same way I program workouts Inside of the clubhouse. And so in the clubhouse, we have 3 or 4 times a week options. That's exactly how I set it up. So I'm not like holding anything back from you. Whoa, sorry about that. I'm not holding anything back. So number 1. Now number 2 question comes from, I believe you pronounce it Natasha. I don't know if you actually say it like Natasha or Natasha. I'm not sure. But basically asking chin-up versus pull-up. And I'm not sure if you asked me which one was better or just the difference. Between them. So I'll kind of do both here. The difference between pull-up and chin-up: pull-up, your hands are facing away from you. So if, like, if I'm about to grip the bar, my hands are facing away. Chin-up, hands are usually either neutral or facing, um, facing you. Well, I'm trying to find out which one the camera— uh, your palm is facing you or it's neutral for a chin-up. Now, you know, what's— what are some more differences? Usually a pull-up with your palms facing away from you is going to work a little bit more of your lats to a degree and a little bit more of your upper back, whereas a chin-up is still going to work your lats. It's going to work a little bit more of your bicep as well, just because of the way your hands are set up. So That's the second thing. The third thing in terms of differences, um, a chin-up, you know, people ask me which one's better. I usually prefer doing chin-ups because most people, to be able to do a wide grip pull-up, you need a substantial amount of shoulder and thoracic spine mobility. Um, and, and kind of like, yeah, mobility/flexibility, like you need a lot of range of motion. And to be able to control that range of motion while you're pulling your body weight up. And so not to say it's inherently bad, but I usually prefer going with a chin-up in this situation because again, when you move your hands from out here to closer in, or again facing you, you're automatically— what you're doing is you're closing your shoulder joint. And so if you're closing your shoulder joint, Sorry, I was going to walk over there, but a car was going to hit me, so I didn't go. You're closing your shoulder joint, which is usually going to lead to a little bit less stress on your shoulder joint and better for your shoulder health. And typically for people who are trying to work towards getting their first chin-up or pull-up, it's usually a little bit easier because you can recruit a little bit more of your bicep in the movement. I'm personally a little bit of a bigger fan of chin-ups. I also just think like being able to overload eventually. So even when you do get to a point where, you know, you're doing multiple chin-ups in a row, 10 chin-ups in a row— that's the gym I work out at— um, you're doing 10 chin-ups in a row and you want to like, you know, add weight, for example. And you will get there one day, I promise, if you're not there already. Um, again, with the shoulder health thing that we were talking about. If you want to start adding load and adding weight to your chin-ups, I just like the idea of doing it with a variation that's usually going to be a little bit safer for your shoulder joints. So that's why I usually prefer chin-ups over pull-ups. I'm trying to think of a time when I would do pull-ups. Usually never, to be honest with you. If I'm going to do a pull-up, I'm usually doing like some sort of lat pulldown variation instead. Just a lot safer on the shoulder joint. Um, you You can get set up a lot easier. Doesn't require you to have like a ton of overhead flexibility, mobility. You don't need as much thoracic mobility. So I'm a big fan of chin-ups for that reason. And, um, yeah, maybe I can do a video on the best exercises to get your first chin-up. So if you want me to do that, let me know below in the comment section. We actually have a, um, a lot of people have done this program too. We have a program inside of the clubhouse. That kind of helps you get your first chin-up. And so if you want me to do a video on best exercises to get your first chin-up, let me know below. And the last question actually comes from a lot of people, and so I won't just pick one, but essentially asking me how to mix cardio and weightlifting. And so we have to kind of talk about what is the goal? Why are you mixing cardio and weightlifting? What is the goal of you mixing cardio and weightlifting? And The 2 main goals would be, number one, for like a fat loss perspective. And so if we're talking about like, you know, do I recommend doing cardio and how do I recommend incorporating cardio from a fat loss perspective? This is where we have to remember the sole purpose of cardio from a fat loss perspective is going to be for just the extra energy expenditure. That's really it. Because You have to create a calorie deficit. You heard that word, that phrase before? Um, you have to create a calorie deficit. So the extra cardio just helps you fuel a little bit of an extra energy expenditure, which will help you get into your calorie deficit. Now, as you probably heard me talk about plenty of times before, I don't usually recommend people basing and kind of like formulating their calorie deficit off of like doing a shit ton of cardio because I just don't think that's an optimal way. I don't think it's a sustainable way. I don't think it's a very fun way, to be honest with you. So I don't want you to think like, oh, I have to do X amount of cardio in order to burn body fat. You are going to burn body fat primarily via your nutrition and primarily because No matter how much cardio you do, you just don't burn that many calories doing extra cardio. And you definitely don't burn that many extra calories to the point where you can just not give a fuck about your nutrition. So I would say in a situation like this, you know, how much cardio should you do? Number one, doing what I'm doing right now, this is considered cardio for me, and I'm not like actively I'm not trying to lose body fat right now, although maybe in the next week or so I might because I might be going on a— not might, I am going on a vacation. So maybe the next week or so, but this is my cardio, getting steps. And people always ask me this too. Oh, well, is it getting steps at a certain pace or is it getting steps dedicated? Or what if I'm just a busy mom and I walk? Cool, that's fine. Steps are steps. They all fucking count. So So no, it doesn't matter how fast or slow you're going. If you're getting steps per day, getting 5,000 to 10,000 steps per day for your cardio, getting close to, as close to 10,000 as you can. I know some people, you know, you're working at a desk, you're doing this, that, and the other. I get it. It can be tough. But trying to get as close to 10,000 steps per day on average, and I say that on average part too, Because remember, you can look at things from like a weekly average as opposed to just like a day by day. So if you know Monday, Wednesday, Friday, you're in the office and you might only get 5,000 steps, cool. Make it up on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday to where maybe your weekly average is 8,000, for example. So keep that in mind for the steps. But that would be my first form of cardio. Beyond that, from a fat loss perspective, I would just say— If you want to, I would potentially look at adding in 1 to 2, maybe 3 times per week of 15 to 30 minutes of low-intensity steady-state cardio. So like literally what I'm doing right now is considered low-intensity steady-state cardio because I'm able to have a conversation. This is the biggest thing. You want to be able to maintain a normal conversation Like I'm doing right now. So whether it's walking outside, whether it's only on the trip— uh, trip— trip mill— treadmill— whether it's on the treadmill, on the elliptical, on the bike, on the stair stepper, on the rower, whatever it is, if you want to add in 1 to 3 times per week of 15 to 30 minutes of low-intensity steady-state cardio, do it. Like, if you like— you want to knock your socks off, man, go for it. Um, I probably Not probably. I wouldn't recommend doing a shit ton more than that, especially if you're in a fat loss phase because your calories are already going to be low. And if you start doing more than that on top of already getting, you know, roughly 10,000 steps per day, that's going to be a case where it's going to be really hard to continuously recover from how much activity you are doing. And that, you know, if you're not recovering, we already talked about the Negative side effects of not recovering. So like I said, roughly 10,000 steps per day, uh, 1 to 3 times a week of some low-intensity steady-state cardio with whatever machine or just walking outside or whatever the case may be. So that will be from a fat loss perspective because again, your nutrition is the main driver of fat loss. When it comes to like if your goal is to get better at conditioning or it's get better At cardio, you may look at adding in some extra cardio beyond that. Though again, I will say, if you're already doing 1 to 3 times a week of 15 to 30 minutes of low-intensity steady-state cardio, that is going to be a lot, and you will be improving your cardiovascular health from that already, on top of already getting 10,000 steps. The only real change I would make if you are somebody who wants to get better at conditioning and cardio would be maybe adding in 1 to maybe 2 times a week max of, um, like high-intensity cardio at like 10 to 15, maybe 20 minutes max. Because again, if— and I would only really recommend this if you are like, uh, at the very least in a calorie maintenance, if not in a calorie surplus, because because you want to be able to have the nutrients via your food to go around to support recovery. Because at this point, if you're doing 10,000 steps, lifting 4 times a week, doing extra low-intensity cardio, and then doing HIIT cardio, that's a lot. That is a lot for your body to recover from. So at the very least, I would, I would hope for you to be in maintenance, if not potentially a calorie surplus, so you can be able to recover. From all of this. But that would be the only real change I would make if you're somebody who's looking for like better conditioning, because you're going to improve your heart health just from getting steps per day. You're going to improve your heart health from lifting weights. You're going to improve your heart health from doing the extra 1 to 3 times per week of low-intensity steady state. So that's really it. And I think somebody had asked me as well, one last point here, does it matter if you do it on your workout days, non-workout days? Doesn't matter again because you should be getting steps per day regardless, and so that part really doesn't matter. If you are going to do it the same day, I would just probably encourage you to do it after your weight training session. I would not do it before your weight training session. I would do it after your weight training session. And so guys, that is the three Q&A for today. So I hope you enjoyed it. You know if you did again, please feel free to let me know below. And I will, uh, you know, just thank you for that. And then again, if you want your question answered, just drop it below, man. I would be more than happy to help answer your question. And, you know, just want to say thank you for watching the channel. I appreciate you. And, uh, other than that, if you're interested in joining the clubhouse or coaching, I can drop all of the stuff here below in the description of this video. Or if you just want to look at some more free shit, there's more free shit in the description of this video. So thank you guys. And, uh, we'll chat soon. Right.