Do you think for a second that Bond, Bourne, or any real-life spy is going to spend hours on the treadmill working on cardio? No way.

A man of action doesn’t waste time on treadmills, elliptical machines, or stationary bikes in the pursuit of burning calories or other such nonsense.

“Cardio” is an overused term in the fitness industry.

Millions of people every year start going to the gym and doing nothing but hitting the treadmills, elliptical machines, or stationary bikes in order to lose weight or get in shape. They put in mile after mile, doing long sessions running in place to burn calories. Going nowhere; not seeing new scenery outside, not learning productive skills, and not building the bodies they want.

It’s time to put to death the notion of "cardio" and "burning calories" once and for all.

Forging a physique built for performance isn’t done running or spinning in place in the gym, but out in the real world, doing workouts that produce real results.

The bodyweight or weightlifting workouts you’ll be doing three times per week should form the bulk of your physical training. These will do more to reshape your body than any amount of running or swimming. But you need to be prepared for whatever the world may throw at you, so don’t neglect the running, swimming, and any other skill work necessary.

You will do two cardio/skill workouts per week on the days off from weightlifting – one day dedicated to speed or sprint work, and one dedicated to endurance work.

The recommendation is weight training on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, with speed work on Tuesday and endurance work on Thursday. This leaves your weekends free to engage in other activities, but you can adjust this as desired to fit your schedule or programming needs (the most common modification would be to add in a longer ruck or endurance workout on the weekend).

Since the jogging boom of the 1970′s, countless folks have put in dozens of miles each week in pursuit of better health, with many failing miserably. Add to this the problem that most people run wrong — taking long strides with their heel striking the ground first wearing cushioned shoes — and you have a recipe for disaster: chronic overuse injuries and poor physique. It’s time to change the paradigm.

Look at the physique of a marathon runner. Now look at the physique of a sprinter. Which one do you want to look like? Which one do you think is better prepared for anything the world can throw at them? The results should be readily obvious: the sprinter looks better, is more powerful, and more capable all around.

For the running portion of this program, you will correct the way you run, and develop your speed.

As mentioned before, most people run wrong. As children, you instinctively knew how to run: barefoot on the balls of your feet. Over the years, you slowed down and developed bad form.

To change this, you need to do a few things.

First, ditch the cushioned running shoes you have (if you have them) and buy something more minimalist. You could go barefoot of course, or wear something like Vibram FiveFingers, but there’s no need to go that extreme. Merrell, New Balance, and others make excellent models to choose from.

Now it’s time to get outside and relearn to run.

The Pose method of running is what you’ll need to focus on learning. This is running on the balls of your feet, rather than letting your heel strike first.

• Land on your forefeet or mid-feet (balls of your feet) instead of your heels. Too much on your forefeet can make your calves sore. If you feel yourself landing on your heels, shorten your stride.
• Strides should be short — don’t extend your legs as far as you do with shoes. It should feel almost like you’re running in place.
• Keep upright and balanced. Keep your feet under your hips and shoulders.
• Stay light. You should feel like you’re light on your feet, not pounding at all. Barefoot runners tend to be a little springier in their step.
• Run quietly. If you are making a lot of noise with your steps (as shoe-wearing runners do), you’re pounding too hard. Try to run softly, quietly, like an animal.
• Yes, it may hurt your calves at first, but it's much better in the long run.

If you’re already a runner, make the transition to minimalist footwear and the POSE method slowly. Many runners have traded their cushioned footwear for minimalist shoes and headed right out for their weekly 10-miler, only to come back injured and not be able to run for weeks or months. Don’t be that guy. Start off easy — go outside and spend just a few minutes running lightly, then call it a day. As you progress and get used to the new method of running, you’ll be able to add time and mileage.

• Start your workout with some type of general warmup. Light jogging, dynamic stretching, mobility work, or light calisthenics, are all fine.
• Spend 5–15 minutes on POSE method drills and skills.
• Run a few 100m sprints, increasing intensity each round (50%, 65%, 80%), until you reach a ~95% effort (hard, but doable).
• WORKOUT (pick from a sprint or endurance workout from below)
• Cool down. Light jog for a minute or two, stretch if you feel like it, and/or use a foam roller to work out problems.

If you already have a solid running program you're working on, then feel free to continue that if you choose. However, it is strongly recommended that if you're not already doing the short- and long-interval workouts below, you should put those in your rotation. Especially for the endurance athlete running 50 miles per week, you will be well served by dropping your overall mileage and incorporating the interval and tempo runs into your program.

Fewer miles. Less time.
More speed. More results.

If you are just getting started with a workout program, the recommendation would be to run 2–3 days per week. Do one short interval workout and one long interval workout per week. If you want to add another day or more mileage, make that a tempo, time trial, or endurance run. Unless you're training for a specific endurance event, your primary focus should be the short and long interval workouts, not the long, easy runs that you may be used to.

• Shuttle runs (10, 25, 50, or 100-meter back and forth sprints)
• Tabata sprints: sprint 20 seconds, rest 10 seconds. Repeat 8 times.
• Sprint 100 meters, walk back to start. Repeat 10 times. Recover :30s between efforts
• Sprint 200 meters, walk back to start. Repeat 5-10 times. Recover 1:00 between efforts
• Sprint 400 meters, walk back to start (or rest). Repeat 4-8 times. Recover 2:00 between efforts
• Run 400 meters, recover 2:00, repeat 4 times. Then sprint 100 meters, recover 1:00, repeat 4 times.

Use these workouts as a template. Adjust as you see fit.

• Run 800 meters. Repeat 4 times. Recover 3:00 between efforts
• Run 1600 meters, rest 3:00, run 1200 meters, rest 2:00, run 800 meters, rest 1:00, run 400 meters.
• Run 1 mile, rest 5:00; repeat 2-5 times.

Use these workouts as a template. Adjust as you see fit.

(~85% of goal pace = Tempo; all-out effort = Time Trial)

• Run 1 mile
• Run 2 miles
• Run 5k
• Run 5 miles
• Run 10k

Use these workouts as a template. Adjust as you see fit.

• A heart rate monitor is your friend. A good baseline is to stay near (but not above) your maximum aerobic heart rate. While not perfect, a good ballpark is to take 180 minus your age. If you’re 25, your aerobic heart rate is 155 bpm, and if you’re 45, your heart rate should be around 135 bpm.
• Start by running 15 minutes at your max aerobic heart rate, then add five minutes per week until you’re running 60 minutes.
• After you can run 60 minutes at a good aerobic heart rate, you can start mixing it up with runs from 15 to 60 minutes.
• Add occasional longer runs if you are training for a specific event like a marathon, but these longer runs should be infrequent and are not generally necessary.

For more information on the POSE Method, first check out this YouTube playlist. If you want more, buy the book, take the online courses (marathon or speed training), or find a technique specialist or live course near you. Start with the free stuff and go from there.