Benefits Of Cardio: All You Need To Know
- josephplatt1979
- Apr 7, 2022
- 6 min read
Updated: Jun 16, 2022
WHAT IS CARDIO
Cardio is exercise that strains your body’s cardiovascular system, raising your heart rate and requiring your body to pump blood efficiently. Cardio exercise, which is sometimes referred to as aerobic exercise, is any rhythmic activity that raises your heart rate into your target heart rate zone. Benefits of Cardio can lead to improved overall health in the long term.
BENEFITS OF CARDIO
Nearly all fitness experts will say that a well-balanced and efficient workout routine should incorporate cardiovascular-focused sessions to burn additional calories and work the circulatory system. There are very few activities you can do for a short period of time that have all of the physical and mental health benefits that cardio exercise offers. Some of the benefits of cardio include:
Burns fat and calories which will make it easier to lose weight
Will improve sleep quality especially if the exercise is moderate to vigorous in intensity
Increases lung capacity and the amount of air your lungs can hold as you push your abilities to the limit.
Increases bone density when you do weight-bearing cardio exercises like hiking or climbing stairs
cardio promotes the body’s release of endorphins which will Improve your Mental Health combatant against mental health issues such as stress, anxiety, and depression.
Reduces risk of heart attack, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, and some forms of cancer. cardio can help you regulate your insulin levels and lower your blood sugar levels.
Sets a good example for those around you, encouraging them to exercise with you
Strengthens the heart so that it doesn't have to work as hard to pump blood
Helps Your Immune System get stronger so it can fight bacterial infections that can affect health by changing your antibodies and white blood cells.
TYPES OF CARDIO
You will need to find what cardio best suits you, what do you like doing and what can you stick to. Think about what fits your personality and what you'd feel comfortable fitting into your life. This is key because if you don't like the exercise, you're less likely to stick with it long-term. Types of cardio can be done indoor at home or a gym, or maybe you prefer the outdoors, some cardio examples include:
Running - one of the most popular forms of cardio exercises for weight loss and overall heart health. You may prefer to run in the park, on a road or even maybe on a treadmill at a gym. Running can be at a jogging pace or a fast pace.
Walking - an excellent type of cardio activity. But to see the benefits you need to walk at a pace and intensity that increases the demands on your heart, lungs, and muscles.
Swimming – involves using a number of muscles as well as raising your heart rate. It’s a great way to get a low-impact, complete body workout. You are working your upper body, core, and lower body
Skipping - Skipping rope helps to tone your calves, tighten your core, build stamina and improve heart health and your lung capacity.
HIIT - workouts generally combine short bursts of intense exercise with periods of rest or lower-intensity exercise. Can be done at a gym or at home, these workouts often mix aerobic and resistance training.
Cycling - a non-impact aerobic exercise that can improve the lungs, heart, skeleton, muscles, and the mind. Also give you an amazing leg workout—mostly the quads, hamstrings, and glutes.
You may want to go and get involved with your friends doing sports and use that time as doing your cardio. You may do sports such as basketball, Football, Soccer, Hockey, volleyball, boxing, tennis, squash, martial arts or any sport that raises your heart rate but you enjoy doing. There are many different sports you can practice to improve your cardio and be also good for your social side of life.
HOW LONG SHOULD CARDIO LAST
How long you spend on cardio depends on your fitness level and goals. For a general normal healthy baseline then around 20 minutes of cardio about 3 days a week should be enough to get the benefits of cardio . If you're out of shape, overweight, or have never tried cardiovascular exercise before, start out doing 10 minutes every other day and then slowly build up to consecutive days. The goal is just to increase your heart rate consistently and just increase the speed as you get more confident. If you choose to exercise for longer than that may be better for you based on what you're trying to achieve. It is good to push yourself to do more to make progress but listen to your body, and don't force yourself to work harder or longer then you're comfortable with.
MEASURE YOUR CARDIO HEALTH
You can measure your current cardio health by checking your resting heart rate (RHR). By taking weekly measurements of your heart rate, you can determine whether or not it is improving from the cardio you're doing. A lower RHR indicates good cardiovascular health and this range for an adult is 60–100 beats per minute. An athlete’s RHR might be closer to 40 beats per minute, signalling a strong heart and efficient blood flow.
To measure your resting heart rate, you can use a stopwatch or even a timer on your phone. Find your pulse.
With your index finger and middle finger find your pulse on your opposite hand, just beneath your thumb.
Count your heartbeat for 60 seconds. If you lose track or have trouble keeping track for that long, do it for 30 seconds and double the result.
You can buy smart watches that allow you to track your heart rate and take recordings of your heart rate results.
CARDIO INTENSITY
Your exercise intensity level depends on several factors which include your fitness level and goals. There are three different levels of intensity you can focus on during your workouts and they are
High-Intensity Cardio – This type of cardio exercise gets your heart rate up above 75% of your max heart rate for 10 minutes or more in duration. This is challenging and leaves you too breathless to talk much.
Moderate-Intensity Cardio – This intensity falls between 50% and 70% of your MHR. exercise includes things like a slow jog or a brisk walk. When doing moderate exercise, you should be breathing harder than if you were inactive.
Low-Intensity Cardio – Is a type of exercise to be below 50% of your MHR. This is a good level to work at during your warm-ups or when you're squeezing in other activities, like walking, throughout the day.
CARDIO FOR WEIGHT LOSS
If you burn more calories than what you take in then you lose weight and that could come from eating less, training more or a mixture of both. When losing weight, we must remember that one pound of fat is 3,500 calories so by losing 500 calories a day through dietary and exercise modifications, you can lose about a pound a week. Combine your cardio with a healthy diet and you can boost your weight loss more. You can do hours of cardio but if you don’t have good nutrition then you will be facing an uphill battle. All the cardio will be a waste as you can't out train a bad diet.
The benefits of cardio is going to be used as a tool along with nutrition to help create that deficit to help with weight loss. Your diet should consist of fruits, veggies, grains, low-fat dairy, lean proteins, and healthy oils while limiting added sugar, saturated fat, sodium, and alcohol.
CARDIO WHEN BUILDING MUSCLE
Many people think that doing cardio will stop them from building muscle and cardio will start burning muscle. This would only happen if you were Performing cardio too frequently, too intensely, or for too long.
Lifting heavy weights is an awesome way to strengthen and build your muscles, but it doesn’t do quite as much for your heart and lungs. You probably already know but when you lift heavy weights, it can take a lot out of you and it does elevate your heart rate. By not having a healthy heart or lungs when lifting weights can be very dangerous for you. It might be worth investing a little bit of cardio time to become an overall healthier and give you will feel the benefits going into your weight sessions.
Many people when they build muscle go on what’s known as a bulking cycle which has them eating a lot more calories than normal. regular cardio will enable you to eat more calories without gaining a lot of fat. Cardio exercise also increases blood flow, delivering more oxygen to your muscles and removing waste products, such as carbon dioxide and lactic acid.
BOTTOM LINE
Before starting any exercise program, you may want to talk to your doctor.
Make sure the exercise you pick is one you enjoy and is safe for you to do.
Listen to your body and how it feels, if it tells you that you are doing too much, then reduce the intensity or duration of your exercise sessions. You want to push your self but in a safe way and not in a way that will cause you damage.
Whatever you pick just remember to keep it simple and you will begin to see the benefits of cardio. We all have to start somewhere and in time you can build your body up to a level you are happy with. The more you practice and the more you enjoy it, the easier it gets.
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