The Run Down on Cardio

One of the big questions that I am often asked by many clients is what type of cardio should they be including in their program. The answer to this is not that simple and will greatly depend on individual circumstances and goals that want to be achieved. So before we go any further it should be clear the recommendations that will be put forward are for healthy individuals, without known conditions such as heart diseases, which would alter the training type prescribed and need medical clearance.

For the most part people complete aerobic style training in the hope of burning extra calories and therefore lose weight; though with more and more emerging scientific literature on the topic it seems the logic may not be so simple; in fact the method of calories in versus calories out is being questioned as a dominant tool to use for weight loss.  It is not to say that cardio is at all bad and should be avoided; it can be included in your routine though needs adjustments to maximise your results.

When you complete the steady state style of training, for example a 30 minute jog, your body releases a hormone known as Cortisol. This particular hormone will fluctuate in levels throughout the day generally being higher first thing in the morning to wake you up and ideally lower at night to allow you to sleep. It causes your body to do a number of things, such as increase blood sugar levels and breakdown muscle tissue to name a few.  Now we need to remember how important our lean muscle mass is for any weight loss goal (increased muscle mass = increased metabolism and therefore burn more fats) and if we are losing this muscle mass what it means to our goals. So the question is now raised, how beneficial are our 30 minute jogs to lose weight?

We still want to complete cardio training, though it is not something you should do every day of the week, and if  completed properly you won’t want to either; a few times per week should be plenty. These sessions are generally recommended to go for no more than 20 minutes in duration due to the high intensity nature of them. It may seem very little in comparison to your usual routine though I guarantee if they are executed properly along with some tough resistance training throughout the week, they will be more than enough to help. We will talk more about the importance of resistance training in a future article and how vital it is to any program.

An example routine can be as simple as 10 x 100m sprints with a 60 second recovery period in between. This can be completed either on the treadmill or rower, or if you like even participating outside can be just as good. There are many different ways in which a program can be put together and our trainers can show you the variety on offer to trigger the results you are looking for.

I hope this has given you some insight into the effects of cardio training and triggered you to possibly rethink your own current training. If you have any more questions please do not hesitate to ask myself or our friendly team here at Health Mates.