The Beautiful Game

Played my first game of 5-a-side football (soccer) in more than 2.5yrs. Was a bit anxious, as although I've had the intention of upping my cardio game this year, I've only managed 5 walks the whole of January. But, got a few tackles in, got a handful of goals and assists, got kicked a few times, and fell on me arse more than once - it was great fun! And surprisingly, I was able to keep up with the work rate of a bunch of lads that I've 20+ yrs on.

Looking at the heart-rate chart for this football game and it's fairly similar to a weight training one - same saw-tooth of increases and decreases, but with the peaks having longer durations for football. I've mentioned before that I consider weight training to be HIIT training, and with that come the cardio benefits that translate to other start-stop sports like football - would likely suffer a lot more if trying to run any continuous distance.

So, I'm wondering where this leaves the brisk walks that have been the backbone of my fitness journey for the last 7yrs? I think they still have a big part to play, and even when down to once a week, they are likely having a good effect on retaining current cardio levels. I also view them as "active recovery" - nothing brings around a pair of legs stiff from squats like a brisk walk. And, the cathartic effect is probably their best feature. Just need to get back to a better level of consistently going for them, but good to know that weight training is still covering some cardio bases.