Everyone knows that cardio is a good thing, for your heart, for losing fat and basically for your overall health. In this article I am going to cover all aspects of cardio and why you should do it. My goal is to give you a detailed overview about cardio and prepare you to take action on your fitness goals TODAY.
First off we have to find out what cardio is. Ok, cardio is biking, running, swimming and climbing, but what exactly is the definition of cardio. My definition of cardio is when you keep your heart rate at 60-80% of your maximum heart rate.
Before we move on I just want to make sure you know what I mean by the term "maximum heart rate". Your maximum Heart rate is, as you may have guessed, is the maximum amount of beats you heart can perform in a minute. By taking 120 - your age you will get a estimation of your maximum heart rate.
Maximum Heart Rate: 120 - Your age
Benefits Of Cardio
Before we dive in to more exiting information about cardio I just want to mention the benefits:
1. It improves your endurance - No way?! It is true, by doing cardio you will improve you endurance, so next time the cop is after you, you will be able to run away - maybe.
2. It makes it easier to lose fat - Cardio burns calories. Lets say you can only eat 2000kcal in order to lose fat, well if you do 50min cardio you can eat 2500kcal and still lose fat.
3. Improved heart health - Your heart is also a muscle which needs to be worked. By doing cardio you will have a stronger heart -> lower resting heart rate -> longer healthier life.
4. You will feel better - After you have done cardio you will feel much better. This is do to the endorphins which are released after physical activity. It is your body`s "happy drug" which you will become addicted to after a while. A good addiction I may add.
5. Quicker recovery - If you do cardio after your workout session you will reduce DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness). When you do cardio, oxygen rich blood will be pumped through your body and in to your muscles, resulting in faster rebuilding of your muscles.
Hope you became a little more motivated (and maybe exited), so you are ready to continue the reading of this article.
Choosing The Right Type Of Cardio For YOU
Next Subtopic up, is which cardio to choose. The short answer to that is; you just do what you find the most fun. The best cardio is the cardio you can perform without getting bored. You know you have found the right one when you can`t wait until the next session and you are all exited right before, lets say, swimming over to the shore with that little green house.
Many people forget that cardio isn`t a synonym for running. There are other forms of cardio. If you like playing football, play football. If you like tennis, play tennis. If you like swimming, swim(you get the point). Everything I just mentioned was great cardio. You just have to find the right one for YOU.
For me it is cycling. I love the speed downhill, hate the speed uphill and I love buying gear and that sort of stuff (I really am gear addicted). If I like a sport I just by all the necessary and unnecessary gear that you can possibly get.
For inspiration I have just listed 10 types of cardio:
- Dancing
- Swimming
- Running
- Biking
- Golf (if you walk fast)
- Climbing
- Karate
- Rowing
- Basketball
- Hokey
Good Cardio
Before you go ahead and find a type of cardio that suits you, I just want to mention a couple of things that do not count as cardio.
A popular statement you hear is: "My leg workout is cardio", and my reply to that is no, no, a leg workout is not the same as a cardio session. I have a logical answer to this, but before I tell you my explanation i just want you to recall the definition of cardio - "definition of cardio is when you keep your heart rate at 60-80% of your maximum heart rate."
It may feel like your heart is exploding while you are doing squats, but it is no cardio for that reason. Your heart rate isn`t kept at 60-80% over an extended period of time. So the conclusion is that weight workouts do not count as cardio.
What you could do is, do a hybrid workout where you do cardio during your rest periods. Here you have to watch out that you do not fatigue yourself.
Something that I also want to mention is HIIT, High Intensity Interval Training. Yes, HIIT is great but not the best as a supplementation for steady pace cardio. If you don't know, HIIT is when you run for a set time and rest for a set time, this you repeat for as many times as you want to.
Although HIIT is great for improving your VO2 max and sports performance (speed, acceleration etc.), it is not the best option for getting the benefits listed above. To read more about HIIT, just klick here.
Also, if you are a bit overweight or not inform you should not go straight to doing HIIT. This will only get you injured and you definitely do not want that. Or in reality I don't know what you do, or do not want.
When To Do Cardio
Before you go ahead and find a type of cardio that suits you, I just want to mention a couple of things that do not count as cardio.
A popular statement you hear is: "My leg workout is cardio", and my reply to that is no, no, a leg workout is not the same as a cardio session. I have a logical answer to this, but before I tell you my explanation i just want you to recall the definition of cardio - "definition of cardio is when you keep your heart rate at 60-80% of your maximum heart rate."
It may feel like your heart is exploding while you are doing squats, but it is no cardio for that reason. Your heart rate isn`t kept at 60-80% over an extended period of time. So the conclusion is that weight workouts do not count as cardio.
What you could do is, do a hybrid workout where you do cardio during your rest periods. Here you have to watch out that you do not fatigue yourself.
Something that I also want to mention is HIIT, High Intensity Interval Training. Yes, HIIT is great but not the best as a supplementation for steady pace cardio. If you don't know, HIIT is when you run for a set time and rest for a set time, this you repeat for as many times as you want to.
Although HIIT is great for improving your VO2 max and sports performance (speed, acceleration etc.), it is not the best option for getting the benefits listed above. To read more about HIIT, just klick here.
Also, if you are a bit overweight or not inform you should not go straight to doing HIIT. This will only get you injured and you definitely do not want that. Or in reality I don't know what you do, or do not want.
When To Do Cardio
Now that you have thought about which cardio type suits you, lets talk about when you should do it. To your surprise I also have a short answer to that one which is; do it when you are most likely to do it. It is better to do cardio at the "wrong time" than not doing it at all. Many get all confused about when to do it, because of all the different information that is out there. You hear; the optimal time to do cardio is before breakfast, the best time to do cardio is after your workout, the best time is to do it before workout etc.
Lets talk about the different options you got.
Before Breakfast
You hear than one a lot. You will hear that it is the optimal time to do your cardio because you haven't eaten anything so most of the consumed energy will be taken from your fat instead of the food. I think it is good point and you also feel a lot better during the whole day. I think that is the main reason why you should choose to do it in the morning.
Before Weight Workout
This is also a popular one. Many Personal trainer will also tell you to walk on the treadmill for hours before starting your weight session. It can be great if you do light cardio for maximum 10 minutes, but when you go for longer than that and maybe include HIIT you will be exauseted before you have ven touched the weights. In my opinion cardio isn`t the best warm up option either, I would stick to a light warm up set and stretching.
After Weight Workout
I think this option is better than the pre workout one. By doing your cardio after your weight workout, you will get your oxygen rich blood pumped all round your body which will boost your recover time. I also think it is great after a leg workout as a cool down. A great way do get cardio after your weight workout (and before) is by walking or biking to your local gym. This way you don`t have to walk on that sweaty treadmill for 30minutes.
Cardio Separate From Weight Workout
By doing your weight workout and cardio workout separately you will be fully recovered before you perform either of them. You wont be exhausted from the cardio when weight training, and you wont feel energy depleted while doing your cardio. This I think, is one of the best alternatives
As you may have noticed there are benefits and draw backs to all of them. So it is really up to you to find out what works best for you and what you think is the best time all things considered.
Intensity
Now, lets talk about which intensity is the right one. Although there is no right and definite answer that is valid for everyone. It all depends on your goals and which benefits you want to get from cardio. Do you want to improve your endurance or do you want to burn fat? - Lets look at the different intensity levels and what each will accomplish.
50-60% of your maximum heart rate: This is a good pace for warming up or just maintaining your current fitness level. You won`t burn so much fat and you are not going to improve your endurance.
60-70% of your maximum heart rate: This stage is ideal for fat burn. Here you are tapping in to your fat reserves.
70-80% of your maximum heart rate: This is for those of you who want to improve your endurance.
80-90% of your maximum heart rate: This stage is or those of you, for whom 70-80% is not enough. This is for the hard core ones.
90-100% of your maximum effort: This is HIIT level. This is effort you cant keep up for long and during the time you can, it will not be pleasant. When you are going for this effort I would strongly recommend at least one rest day between those HIIT training sessions.
For optimal progress I would suggest a heart rate monitor. This way you will be able to track your progress and see at which stage you are. You will obtain your desired results faster and it will make your cardio sessions a little bit more fun. It really is a great motivation to be able to track progress.
How Long Should You Do Cardio
Now you know what type of cardio to do and when to do it, we got to find out how long you should do it. We got cardio sessions lasting from 4min up to tens of hours, but those are the extremes. You wont go out Monday morning and run a Marathon, that is just too much.
For me, the ideal cardio duration is 20-120min. I would recommend you do at least 20min of cardio every day, to get all the benefits of cardio as well as maintaining your condition. If you on the other hand are trying to lose fat, I would say 30-40min would be great. Of course no one will stop you from doing more.
For those of you whose goal is to burn fat, lets see how much you burn during a cardio session. Of course how many calories you burn vary from person to person depending on how much you weigh and how old you are, I will take me as an example.
Cardio Duration (running) vs Calories Burned
20min - 190 calories
40min - 400 calories
60min - 550 calories
The Afterburner Effect
For some of you that may not look like a lot of burned calories, but for you i got a nice surprise. There is something called the afterburner effect, which I have described on this blog before, that burns fat while you are at rest. Let me explain, when you do cardio you set your metabolism i overdrive. Imagine a car, that isn`t driving, it is just running ready to perform when you push the speed pedal. Just like the car your body burns calories (petrol) although it is at rest so it is ready to perform at any moment. So if we add the afterburner effect to those numbers above, it will look something like this;
20min - 190 calories + 50 calories = 240 calories
40min - 400 calories + 350 calories = 750 calories
60min - 550 calories + 550 calories = 1100 calories
As you see, this is something else. If you do cardio each day, that means 7 days a week, you will activate your afterburner and burn the additional calories as you see above. I call this a bargain. Burn 550 calories and get extra 550.
To read my post about the afterburner effect, just klick here.
How Often Should You Do Cardio
On this topic everybody has different opinions. You have those who say one time a week, 3 times a week and every day.
What people don't realize is that it all depends on your goals. Is your goal to lose fat, improve your endurance or improve your overall health? Lets look at some of your options;
No Cardio
Doing no cardio is no good (Catchy). If you have a job where you are sitting still or you don't move your body during the day, you are doing the exact opposite of what a human is designed to do - move. You have to move your body to at least maintain your overall health and cardio is the way to go.
3 Times A Week
This is a popular option for those of you who want to lose fat.
I think 3 times a week is a good way to prepare your body for a more active lifestyle. If you have been sedentary all your life and decide to improve your health/lifestyle 3 times a week is a good way to get your body ready. Starting of to quickly could in my opinion lead to injury and overtraining. Oh and by the way, well done for making that change!
7 Times A Week
This is the optimal choice. Here you get the most of your afterburner in addition to maintaining and improving your overall health rapidly. Although 7 times a week may look like much cardio, it really is`t. Remember walking and cycling counts too. By taking your bike instead of your car to work 5 days a week, you already got 5 days down!
And on saturday and sunday you only take 20min of your time to go out for a run. 20 minuets are only 1/3 of a Walking dead Episode, you can find 20min.
No Time For Cardio
You often hear the excuse; I don't have to do cardio. This one is so popular because it retionalizes why you dont have to do cardio and therefore make you feel better. As good as the excuse may sound the truth is that you do have time and is therefor not valid. Everyone has time to do cardio, it is just about prioritization.
Everyone has the same 24 hours and what counts is how you spend those hours. You do not have time to do everything but you have time to do your most important activities. I don't know what your most important activities are but don't use the excuse I do not have time. Next time you catch yourself saying that, correct yourself and say: "I have chosen not to".
Maybe you chose to watch TV instead - you did have time and you chose to spend it on TV instead of cardio.
Other Excuses
There are a whole lot of excuses that are very popular so I wont be able to cover all of them, but my message is the same for all of the. Excuses like; "I am too tired to do cardio" or "I have to study" are two of many popular ones.
Here it is all about your goals and prioritization (same as "No time for cardio"). The reason behind most of the excuses is a lack of motivation. Deep down everyone wants to be healthy and in good shape but not everyone has the motivation and self-dicipline to make those desires come true.
To help your motivation, write down your fitness goals, one by one and take action on them.
Although before you do that, promise yourself that you are going to take action on your goals no matter what.
Excuses are only there to make you feel better when you skip cardio and exercise in general.
Studies also show that you are 4 times more likely to accomlish your goals when they are written down. So write them down now and take action on them NOW - develop a sense of urgency.
"Successful people do what they have to do whether they feel like it or not"
Cardio Equipment
If you live somewhere like me, where there is snow and cold or you just prefer to do your cardio at home, a great investment would be a cardio equipment like a treadmill, spinning bike or just a simple jumping rope.
The real challenge comes when you have to find one, but don't panic, I am here to help (like an action movie).
When I bought my spinning bike there were a couple of things I looked for. It should be heavy so it did not bounce back and forth on the floor second it should be manufactured by a respectable brand and third you should be able to adjust the resistance.
If I were you, I would also stick to the classical cardio machines like rowing and spinning machines as well as treadmills.
I would also spend at least 300$ on a new cardio mashie, but of course the best and cheapest option would be to buy a used one. Here you just have to check if it is still working as it should.
As you may have noticed there are benefits and draw backs to all of them. So it is really up to you to find out what works best for you and what you think is the best time all things considered.
Intensity
Now, lets talk about which intensity is the right one. Although there is no right and definite answer that is valid for everyone. It all depends on your goals and which benefits you want to get from cardio. Do you want to improve your endurance or do you want to burn fat? - Lets look at the different intensity levels and what each will accomplish.
50-60% of your maximum heart rate: This is a good pace for warming up or just maintaining your current fitness level. You won`t burn so much fat and you are not going to improve your endurance.
60-70% of your maximum heart rate: This stage is ideal for fat burn. Here you are tapping in to your fat reserves.
70-80% of your maximum heart rate: This is for those of you who want to improve your endurance.
80-90% of your maximum heart rate: This stage is or those of you, for whom 70-80% is not enough. This is for the hard core ones.
90-100% of your maximum effort: This is HIIT level. This is effort you cant keep up for long and during the time you can, it will not be pleasant. When you are going for this effort I would strongly recommend at least one rest day between those HIIT training sessions.
For optimal progress I would suggest a heart rate monitor. This way you will be able to track your progress and see at which stage you are. You will obtain your desired results faster and it will make your cardio sessions a little bit more fun. It really is a great motivation to be able to track progress.
How Long Should You Do Cardio
Now you know what type of cardio to do and when to do it, we got to find out how long you should do it. We got cardio sessions lasting from 4min up to tens of hours, but those are the extremes. You wont go out Monday morning and run a Marathon, that is just too much.
For me, the ideal cardio duration is 20-120min. I would recommend you do at least 20min of cardio every day, to get all the benefits of cardio as well as maintaining your condition. If you on the other hand are trying to lose fat, I would say 30-40min would be great. Of course no one will stop you from doing more.
For those of you whose goal is to burn fat, lets see how much you burn during a cardio session. Of course how many calories you burn vary from person to person depending on how much you weigh and how old you are, I will take me as an example.
Cardio Duration (running) vs Calories Burned
20min - 190 calories
40min - 400 calories
60min - 550 calories
The Afterburner Effect
For some of you that may not look like a lot of burned calories, but for you i got a nice surprise. There is something called the afterburner effect, which I have described on this blog before, that burns fat while you are at rest. Let me explain, when you do cardio you set your metabolism i overdrive. Imagine a car, that isn`t driving, it is just running ready to perform when you push the speed pedal. Just like the car your body burns calories (petrol) although it is at rest so it is ready to perform at any moment. So if we add the afterburner effect to those numbers above, it will look something like this;
20min - 190 calories + 50 calories = 240 calories
40min - 400 calories + 350 calories = 750 calories
60min - 550 calories + 550 calories = 1100 calories
As you see, this is something else. If you do cardio each day, that means 7 days a week, you will activate your afterburner and burn the additional calories as you see above. I call this a bargain. Burn 550 calories and get extra 550.
To read my post about the afterburner effect, just klick here.
How Often Should You Do Cardio
On this topic everybody has different opinions. You have those who say one time a week, 3 times a week and every day.
What people don't realize is that it all depends on your goals. Is your goal to lose fat, improve your endurance or improve your overall health? Lets look at some of your options;
No Cardio
Doing no cardio is no good (Catchy). If you have a job where you are sitting still or you don't move your body during the day, you are doing the exact opposite of what a human is designed to do - move. You have to move your body to at least maintain your overall health and cardio is the way to go.
3 Times A Week
This is a popular option for those of you who want to lose fat.
I think 3 times a week is a good way to prepare your body for a more active lifestyle. If you have been sedentary all your life and decide to improve your health/lifestyle 3 times a week is a good way to get your body ready. Starting of to quickly could in my opinion lead to injury and overtraining. Oh and by the way, well done for making that change!
7 Times A Week
This is the optimal choice. Here you get the most of your afterburner in addition to maintaining and improving your overall health rapidly. Although 7 times a week may look like much cardio, it really is`t. Remember walking and cycling counts too. By taking your bike instead of your car to work 5 days a week, you already got 5 days down!
And on saturday and sunday you only take 20min of your time to go out for a run. 20 minuets are only 1/3 of a Walking dead Episode, you can find 20min.
No Time For Cardio
You often hear the excuse; I don't have to do cardio. This one is so popular because it retionalizes why you dont have to do cardio and therefore make you feel better. As good as the excuse may sound the truth is that you do have time and is therefor not valid. Everyone has time to do cardio, it is just about prioritization.
Everyone has the same 24 hours and what counts is how you spend those hours. You do not have time to do everything but you have time to do your most important activities. I don't know what your most important activities are but don't use the excuse I do not have time. Next time you catch yourself saying that, correct yourself and say: "I have chosen not to".
Maybe you chose to watch TV instead - you did have time and you chose to spend it on TV instead of cardio.
Other Excuses
There are a whole lot of excuses that are very popular so I wont be able to cover all of them, but my message is the same for all of the. Excuses like; "I am too tired to do cardio" or "I have to study" are two of many popular ones.
Here it is all about your goals and prioritization (same as "No time for cardio"). The reason behind most of the excuses is a lack of motivation. Deep down everyone wants to be healthy and in good shape but not everyone has the motivation and self-dicipline to make those desires come true.
To help your motivation, write down your fitness goals, one by one and take action on them.
Although before you do that, promise yourself that you are going to take action on your goals no matter what.
Excuses are only there to make you feel better when you skip cardio and exercise in general.
Studies also show that you are 4 times more likely to accomlish your goals when they are written down. So write them down now and take action on them NOW - develop a sense of urgency.
"Successful people do what they have to do whether they feel like it or not"
Cardio Equipment
If you live somewhere like me, where there is snow and cold or you just prefer to do your cardio at home, a great investment would be a cardio equipment like a treadmill, spinning bike or just a simple jumping rope.
The real challenge comes when you have to find one, but don't panic, I am here to help (like an action movie).
When I bought my spinning bike there were a couple of things I looked for. It should be heavy so it did not bounce back and forth on the floor second it should be manufactured by a respectable brand and third you should be able to adjust the resistance.
If I were you, I would also stick to the classical cardio machines like rowing and spinning machines as well as treadmills.
I would also spend at least 300$ on a new cardio mashie, but of course the best and cheapest option would be to buy a used one. Here you just have to check if it is still working as it should.
