Most meatheads treat cardio like flossing...

...you know you should do it, you feel vaguely guilty when you don't; then once every 2.4 weeks you panic and jump on the treadmill for 17 minutes and pray to the CV Gods that it is good enough.

Just like flossing before your dental visit and then mumbling when the dentist asks you how often you floss.

Cool story Bro!

I've been guilty of this myself in the past too and pushing my own cardio training to another day ad nauseum.

However, I can tell you since I have made it a much higher priority over the past 10 years, I feel soooooo much better, my energy is higher and I recover quite well from lifting and random life events like this AM where I woke up, looked outside at the wind and decided it was time for a dawn patrol to kiteboard!

Time to send it!

The downside about cardio is that every Goo Roo out there has the "secret" proto to do from 2-3 hours of Zone 2 (don't do that) to bleeding from your eyeballZ via Tabatas to nowhere.

The issue is that most are just trying to sell you something in the process and they have not put in the hours of trial and error combined with actual research.

At the risk of pumping sunshine up my own a$$ I've done my time to get my PhD in Exercise Physiology, ran hundreds of metabolic cart tests in the lab and in the Extreme Human Performance Center (yes I have my own metabolic cart), been programming cardio for my 1-1 meathead clients for over a decade now.

It was almost 3 years ago now I first started testing something really simple.

Six minutes.

Three gears.

Two minutes each.

Done.

That was the total protocol in the end after many hours of trying everything under the sun.

And something wonderfully bizarre happened.

People actually did it once I released it into the wild about 2 years ago.

Wow -a cardio program that survived contact with an actual hooooman meathead busy schedule.

The 6-Minute Meathead Experiment

Since then, I've been collecting questions and feedback from ever more lifters all over the planet.

Can I do it before squats?

What about the rower vs. air bike?

How do I progress?

Should my heart rate be higher?

What if I miss a day?

Can I use it as a warm-up?

Apparently, when you give meatheads something simple, they immediately try to engineer it into a NASA launch sequence.

I say that with love because I am absolutely one of those people.

Thus I spent the last 18 months refining the original protocol, adding the details that matter, and ditching the crap that doesn't.

The result?

A fully updated 6-Minute Progressive Protocol.

And it's FREE to you as an insider here

​>> 6-Minute Progressive Protocol Here​

I packed in everything you need here and kept it short

• How to use the 3-gear system to get progressively harder work in just 6 minutes without an Excel spreadsheet or a degree in advanced mathematics.
• Why I generally favor the rower or air bike for lifters. Lower impact, easy resistance adjustments, and less eccentric muscle damage than running.
• The almost offensively boring progression rule that keeps you from turning every session into a VO₂max death match.
• When to do it around your lifting, including the one day I'd avoid putting a hard version before if you're an advanced meathead.
• How to use heart rate recovery to help track improvements instead of relying on how close you came to seeing the white buffalo.
• Three weekly scheduling options, plus a 7-Day Engine Starter Challenge for getting your arse moving.

Plus, you'll get the only TWO numbers I want you tracking.

That's it.

No color-coded dashboard requiring a second mortgage to maintain.

Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It

Grab the free PDF.

Pick your rower or air bike.

Follow the 3 gears for six minutes.

Start the 7-Day Challenge and see how it fits into your lifting.

If you're pressed for time, you can even integrate an appropriate version into your warm-up.

Just don't go blasting the hardest gear right before a heavy squat PR attempt and then send me an angry email when your legs feel like microwaved spaghetti.

​>> 6-Minute Progressive Protocol Here​

Easy to start.

Progressive by design.

Done before your coffee gets cold.

Much love, mitochondria, and violent consistency,

Dr. Mike

PS - Want to graduate from six-minute cardio rookie to a full-blown meathead with an aerobic engine that doesn't throw a check-engine light halfway through your training?

That's where my Flexible Meathead Cardio Level 1 course comes in.

I'll teach you how to build your aerobic metabolism, improve your VO₂max, and structure conditioning around your lifting so you can have more energy, recover better, and handle more training stress without sacrificing your hard-earned gainZ.

The free six-minute protocol gets you started.

Level 1 shows you how to build the whole darn engine.

Rock on! 🤘

________

Mike T Nelson CISSN, CSCS, MSME, PhD
Associate Professor, Carrick Institute
Owner, Extreme Human Performance, LLC
Editorial Board Member, STRONG Fitness Mag

Mike T Nelson is a PhD and not a physician or registered dietitian. The contents of this email should not be taken as medical advice. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any health problem - nor is it intended to replace the advice of a physician. Always consult your physician or qualified health professional on any matters regarding your health.

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