What is cardio? Learn about cardiovascular training here and achieve your fitness goals the right way.
In this article:
- What Is Cardio Training?
- How Is Strength Training Different from Cardio Training?
- Why Do Cardio Exercises?
- When Is the Best Time to Do Cardio Training?
- Who Can Do Cardio Training?
- Where to Do Cardio Exercises?
Everything You Need to Know About Cardiovascular Training
What Is Cardio Training?
Many gym-goers do cardiovascular exercises to improve both their overall health and physical appearance. But with so many good cardio workouts available, many people have a hard time building the correct specialized program. That’s why it’s imperative to know the depths of cardio and aerobics if you want to create a good fitness plan.
A cardiovascular exercise involves working out at a set level of intensity for a certain period of time with the purpose of developing aerobic and cardiovascular fitness. Contrary to popular belief, there are actually dozens of cardio exercises you can do apart from running, such as swimming, cycling, hiking, CrossFit, and circuit training.
How Is Strength Training Different from Cardio Training?
What is cardio exercise and how exactly is it different from strength training? The main problem with many gym-goers is they don’t know how to use resistance training for cardiovascular endurance.
Resistance training involves working your body against some type of force. It can be dumbbells, barbells, water pressure, or even your own body weight. Despite what most people say, resistance training can also be a cardio workout.
Going back, the main point of a cardio workout is to spike your heart rate up to a certain level and sustain it. Meanwhile, the goal of strength training is to increase strength by lifting heavy weights.
It’s very important to view resistance exercises as an entirely different branch of fitness from cardio and strength training. If you don’t, you’ll make the grave mistake of not including resistance exercises in your cardio program.
Create a cardio workout plan with high-rep resistance exercises, supersets, and little rests in between. If you do, you’ll end up with an excellent fat-burning, muscle-building program.
If done correctly, you can create a workout regimen that boosts both your strength and cardio at the same time. This type of program is what we call circuit training.
Tip: Your cardio heart rate should be around 55% to 85% of your maximum heart rate. Calculate your maximum heart rate to determine how intense your resistance training program should be for it to become a cardio workout.
Why Do Cardio Exercises?
What is cardio and why should you do it? Cardiovascular exercises play a major role in improving your physical health and athletic performance. Some benefits of doing aerobic workouts regularly include:
- Increased oxygen uptake
- Faster fat loss
- Lower risk of developing cardiovascular diseases
- Increased blood volume
- Increased blood flow to active muscles
When Is the Best Time to Do Cardio Training?
One common problem gym-goers have is deciding when to do their cardio routine. For example, there are people who wake up at 4 A.M. to do their morning run. While a fasted run is great for fat loss, it may also eat away your lean muscles. On the other hand, doing your cardio program immediately after a strength training program may also deplete muscle mass.
Objectively, there’s actually no best standard time to perform cardio. What you should do is consume enough nutrients in between your cardio and strength training workouts to stimulate fat loss without sacrificing lean muscle. Something like a banana, protein shake, or almond nuts will do the trick.
Who Can Do Cardio Training?
No matter what your fitness goal is, it’s very important to do some form of cardio workout. While strength training is great, it doesn’t increase your blood flow as much as cardio exercises do. Strength training alone is not enough to lower your risk of developing certain diseases. Also, cardio workouts burn much more fat than conventional strength training regimens do. That’s why you should incorporate some form of cardio exercise into your program.
Tip: The best cardio workout to do is an activity you enjoy doing. Most gym-goers who complain about cardio probably just chose the wrong cardiovascular workouts.
Where to Do Cardio Exercises?
What makes cardiovascular training so much fun is you have a variety of workouts to choose from. Plus, where you do your cardio entirely depends on what cardiovascular activities you want to do. That’s why it’s best to go with an activity you can easily fit into your schedule. For example, if you live in the suburbs with plenty of safe spaces to run in, you can consider jogging or cycling.
Check out our intense man-maker workout here at Evertrain:
So, what is cardio and who is it for? Cardio exercises are for anyone who wants to stimulate fat loss, achieve a leaner physique, improve blood circulation, or simply have a healthier body. No matter what your fitness goal is, the key is to combine good cardio exercises with other workout programs while eating properly. Just do the right exercises and consume the essential nutrients, and you’re bound to see the results you want in no time.
What are some of your favorite cardiorespiratory exercises? Share your best cardio exercises with us in the comments section below!
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