They're all great, my friend. They're all excellent "cardio" - the RIGHT kind (if you do 'em right). 

And I wasn't going to write about this, of course, but I saw a piece from a guy I ...well, I wont mention him, he's alright really overall, but he's been going on and on as of late about how "step ups are so much better than squats for him" and so forth, and morphing that into "they are sometimes an overall better exercise" - something which I take exception with, except I'm not reverse trolling him or anything, I'm simply going to put out my view on it as I have so many times in the past. 

Ain't I an ass for having an opinion on damn near everything and expressing it (and others learning from it on it, like this dude. Hehe). 

Well, as they say, opinions are like assholes - we all have 'em. 

Doesn't mean right or wrong, good or bad, they're just ... well, opinions, but FACTS? 

You can't debate those. 

And this guy writing the pieces he is is just plain ole sloppy and FAT with a massive gut hanging over his pants, and it shows in his reps. 

He claims to have done 500 or even 1000 Hindu squats all at once "without a break" - then "it got too boring". 

I call baloney on that - it can never get "boring or tediious" if you focus right and have the gumption to keep at it those 15 minutes (really, if you cannot focus your mind for fifteen minutes on something, you will never accomplish nothing of note). 

He claims "who the hell came up with the number 500 as a gold standard for fitness". 

Next he'll probably ask why pushups are the big dog of fitness - and why squats are the big Daddy of fitness. Hehe. 

Look, dude, clearly you've never done 500 or anything - it shows physically - if you had, you wouldn't be making these statements or asking. 

Agreed, you dont have to do 500 all the time or daily, but there is a reason certain numbers have been passed down over the ages by greats as "the gold standard", or some sort of a standard. 

Perhaps this comment stood out the most - 

but I don't need some standard to tell me how fit I 'am.

Ahem. 

OK ... 

The very fact he's saying this blares out "latent insecurity" like a loudspeaker (because he can't DO the thing, so he's claiming that golden standards aren't standards, or important ones at any rate). 

Not to mention his writing - all of it -sreams out "I need validation or else I'll wail". And that neediness likely turns off most serious readers/buyers as well. Some free advice for him if he's reading, although he likely wont take it. I can see the smoke fillied riposte "coming out of his ears" hehe.

Now, he makes some other somewhat good points, maybe he's just not getting his point across right, with the whininess overwhelming the other "good things" (sort of) he's saying. 

He keeps saying squats feel boring. 

Dude, because you aint doing 'em right. 

True, you dont do the same workout everyday. 

But that dont mean squats should feel boring, or are boring. They're something you should do daily without fail - EVERY great fitness writer, or anyone that has done the thing - yours truly - Brooks Kubik - Matt Furey - and anyone that has done the thing - has said it. 

Not this tripe about "Unless you're a fan of the exercise or want to stay in relative condition for daily life or in sports, it isn't that magnificent of an exercise. It has it's perks and I'll do reps from time to time but after doing 500 so many times, it became boring and it didn't have that spark of excitement to do that many anymore. "

Really, these statements sound STUPID. And clearly he's never DONE 500 at a go, which is fine, but to diss it without doing it, well ... 

(not to mention relative condition - or conditionING - which dude clearly has no idea about? Dude that should be "awesome conditioning" if you're talking any sort of serious squats. 

And he wouldn't know a magnificent exercise or anything if it hit him square on his phat noggin, hehe. Really, to make these sort of statements just shows...) 

All I've seen from him are brief 2 minute training videos where he trains one exercise for a bit, another for a bit, then some Tik Tok stuff, and he's done, which is GREAT - dont get me wrong, if thats what he WANTS, but it doesnt change standards or lack thereof one bit. 

Clearly conditioning wise the dude himself has no standards. 

Again, thats perfectly well and good, but that don't mean the standards don't count, or aren't there for a damn good reason. 

Sad part, so many of these so called fitness gurus or writers or promoters talk this nonsense, because the average person reading and buying from them is LAZY - period. 

And so they count on making more sales "in the short term" from these guys, and never think about long term, either for themselves or their customers (or lack thereof, in this dude's case). 

Which again is fine, to each his own. 

But with this constant rambling about how step ups are superior to squats? 

They're not, my friend. 

They're somewhat - not a lot, but somewhat - easier for phat phools to do. 

Phool? 

Thats flower in Hindi, I can see these flowers wilting as I type. Hehe. 

Nothing compares to, or replaces, or is an adequate substitute for (unless you've GENUINELY got injuries in that regard) the "legs bending up and down" motion you have in squats, either bodyweight, or HIndus, both ass to grass as it were. 

NOTHING. period. Add in the breathing, and oh my - the benefits are out of the world. 

Step ups are a sorry alternative, at least if you do them like most do, with barely any elevation. 

I just did 50 on each leg in the bathroom (this particular bathroom has a very small ledge seperating the shower area from the rest of the space) while waiting for a bucket to fill. Hehe. I barely felt it - squats? I'd have felt it for sure.

But anyway - drooping wallflowers and lily livered poltroons aside - they're certainly not "better overall" than squats. 

They're a good workout, dont get me wrong. 

But NOTHING beats the squat - period. 

Ask anyone with any brains, anyone thats written any bestsellnig book on fitness, they'll tell you the same thing - in fact, it will be there in their books (Combat Conditioning, 0 Excuses Fitness, Dinosaur Bodyweight Training etc etc) and so forth. 

Now, step ups and stair climbing? 

Y'all know I'm a huge proponet of stair climbing - outdoors. 

And rock climbing too... 

Yet, rock climbing NEVER replaces pull-ups. 

And stair climbing doesnt replace squats either - with the very noteable exception of HILL training - not just sprints, but HIKING those suckers in various ways over and over again. 

Sprints are great, yes, but the "leg work" has to be there too. Along with the roadwork! 

Let me tell you nothing works the core and LEGS better than squats, or climbing hills (either on slopes, or with stairs hewn in) . 

The stair climbing machine in the gym doesnt even come close. 

There is a reason Brooks Kubik asked me if I was in the military all those years ago when I sent him that famous (by now) "Rahuls hill walking workout from China" ... 

It all comes full circle now. 

Step ups at the end of the day are easier than squats - Hindus or bodyweight. Simple fact my friend. 

True, you can claim otherwise, but claiming the sun rises in the West doesnt make it true.. 

And if I really had to choose between stair climbing and squats? In a pinch I'd choose SQUATS. 

In fact, I did squats even back in the day when all else I did was hill climbing. 

Moral of the story - dont take the easy way out, my friend. 

Rocky IV tells you there ain't no easy way out - and as the man himself seems to wanting "more rights" to the Rocky series from what I can glean from the news - this seems to be as good a time to tell you as any, that I've been saying for YEARS now - the world really WANTS back to the good ole days when men were men, women were women, hard work was hard work, excuses were excuses, not mainstream whiny garbage of "what works for me" and so forth ... 

Ok, enough of this. 

But you get the point! 

Best

Rahul Mookerjee

PS - Get your hands on the best, most old school training program right HERE. 

PS #2 - 

 Training is meant to be an adventure, not a chore or something that will make you feel bored.

 If you don't feel a spark or excitement when you exercise, you're just going through the motions and it becomes typical and tedious.

Um, no sir... 

sometimes, those boring, tedious HARD yards - often times, in fact are what give you LASTING long term results like nothing else would. 

Persistence when the entire world seems against you. 

you wouldt know much about that though, which is fine. Hehe. (referring to dude here). 

Whoever gave him the idea that "it has feel like something new each time" was an idiot (though he probably thought of it himself). 

It's DOING the thing daily that gets results, friend, simple FACT... 

Anyway - those of you that love reading my words "even if you're not into fitness" - Gumption Galore! and Zero to Hero! are two great books. 

So is the Fitness Central series ... and the Fitness Pioneer series...  

More coming soon!