Cardio for Thought! LOL. Totally kidding.
Most people, including myself do cardio to lose weight or lean out. But there is so much more to CARDIOVASCULAR FITNESS.
Cardio helps improve the hearts ability to pump oxygenated blood to our muscles.
AND.. There are so many different forms of cardio that you can do!
You can use any of the cardio machines at the gym. If you don't like being in the gym.. Then you can do some great outdoor activities. Swimming, running, hiking, cycling, and more.
Why is cardio so important?
Obviously, it helps keep your heart healthy. And if you have a healthy heart, then you are more likely to have a healthy body.
Here are some other reasons why cardio is important:
1. Increased cardio output (the amount of blood pumped by the heart per minute)
2. Increased oxygen uptake (oxygen consumption per kg of body weight)
3. Increased blood flow to active muscles
4. Lower rate of cardiovascular disease
5. Lower rate of osteoporosis
..and there are many more..
How do you know how much cardio to do? How many days? What kind?
Just like weight/strength training, you want to properly progress with your cardio. So if you currently do ZERO cardio.. You don't want to start with an hour 5 days a week.
1. You will probably get very overwhelmed with that.
2. You won't have much room to progress once you and your body adapts to that amount.
You want to start off slow. Shoot for maybe 2 days a week of 20ish minutes. And if you do 3 days, it's a BONUS!!! Then you have plenty of room to grow with your cardio routine.
And I mentioned a few kinds of cardio above. The best kind of cardio for you.. Is the kind you will do. So probably the kind you like. For instance, I really like the spin bike. So I do the spin bike the majority of the time (Tony and I actually bought our own! SO EXCITED!).
But, doing the same form of cardio can get very old and boring. SO MIX IT UP! Try out the treadmill on an incline. Or do intervals on the elliptical.
NOW LET'S DISCUSS INTENSITY & HEART RATE.
Your heart rate is how you will be able to measure your intensity.
To calculate your max heart rate you will do 220-your age=MAX HR
Then you will multiply your max hr by what ever percentage you are aiming for to find out where your heart rate should be. For instance, I am 25. So 220-25=195. 195x0.65=126.75.
So I will want my heart rate to be around 126-127 for me to be in the "fat burning" zone.
Keep in mind that high levels of cardio can cause protein loss from muscles. Which can effect your strength.
Make sure you are training according to your goals. :)