How YOUR Cardio making you Fatter
What pieces of equipment is often always being used in a gym facility no matter the time of day or crowd in the gym?
Those treadmills, ellipticals, recumbent bikes, spinning bikes, stair master, arc trainer, cross trainer…etc
Some people waste so much of their time on these that gyms puts time limits on them in order to have people try something else in the gym. I have seen and heard that some people spend 2 hours on these things….WHAT! (oh and they were not marathoner or training for a distance race).
Back on pointe …
An overwhelming majority of exercisers and non exercisers have a goal of going to the gym to lose weight I know this because it’s still one of the most common new year resolutions. Now, for anyone who is just starting the whole exercise thing almost any routine will produce some results. Why? because you are doing a lot more activity than you normally have. Once the first plateau hits…frustration, boredom and quitting attitudes often follow.
Even the seasoned exercisers tend to stick to what they “know” or told was best, and to what they are good at(often hitting plateaus in progress and don’t change routines). Some really try to do new things, but may not know how to interpret the information they read in magazines, or on websites.
What is Cardio?
The Ability to efficiently allow blood flow (full of Oxygen) to the muscles you need to perform an activity.
Your body creates new and more efficient capillary pathways to the muscles for removal de-oxygenated blood and oxygenated blood resupply. Which is one reason why over time the same activity will become easier.
Can Be accomplished in many ways of training/exercise.
Kinds of Cardio
Aerobic- With Oxygen
Does not have to be done in the gym or even an exercise state of mind
The intensity of your exercise is low enough for your body to resupply the muscles working with oxygenated blood without having to stop doing what you are doing to recover and continue working. (the pace you would have to have to jog or walk 23.3 miles without stopping and not be exhausted at the end of the distance, walking, house work, mowing the lawn, gardening.)
Cardio fitness is different from Aerobic fitness
Anaerobic- Without Oxygen
Intensity high enough that you lose your breath/have muscle fatigue before you want to stop doing that specific activity.
Can be accomplished by running type activities and resistance training as well.
WHAT INTENSITYS ARE THERE
When I think of cardiovascular training I usually classify it into 3 different categories regardless of the activity performed. (for easily relatable examples I will use running in all my examples).
Your resistance training should not be programmed solely according to cardiovascular benefits, but take into consideration Speed, power, Strength first.
When I say rest I mean no activity performed
3 Kinds of Cardio
High Intensity: short (time)duration or distance with maximal or just under sub-maximal effort. Fatigue is reached quickly. A longer rest is needed to recover to 100% whether it is directly after the work set or after a cycle of work sets.
— EX. Sprint at 100% for 10–15 seconds and rest 30/60 seconds.
++100 Meters world record is in under 10 seconds
++ 40 Yard Dash for NFL athletes is from 4 seconds-6 seconds
Moderate Intensity: Moderate duration/distance and moderate recovery times. Sometimes using combinations of high and low intensity but never coming to a point of 100% recovery. Fatigue can be reached quickly or prolonged depending on amount of rest allowed and amount of time under maximal effort.
— EX. Continuous paced .25 mile-5K run(~3miles) using a slower pace or briefly resting periodically.
Low Intensity: Longer duration AEROBIC type jog/walk . A rest Shorter or moderate rest is needed in order to perform the activity again. Can also be done for short duration as well. Often used as a recovery after high/moderate intensity work. Rarely ever coming to a point of fatigue.
— EX. continuous Jog/Walk at a talking/conversation pace
THE GOOD & THE BAD
The biggest cardio problem out there is those people stuck in the moderate intensity cardio(MI) often called steady state cardio. It is hard to understand because using moderate intensity is hard do not get me wrong, you sweat a lot and your breath is gone and your muscles are tired…but you are usually stuck in a do more and rest less mind-set that really hurts your results.
It is the most common type of cardio because it is easy to get in the “MI zone”. All you have to do is put the pace of your work just barely above a comfortable threshold and then keep it around that pace for a longer period of time 20–45min+. It is easy to progress too…just try and do that same pace for longer time. Some people think they are not doing MI work and they are doing High Intensity stuff, when they are really just doing a little higher intensity MI work. An example would be starting your MI pace and including a short duration pace increase and incline then dropping both back to your MI pace. While it maybe hard to do, you are still doing MI cardio work.
Using running as my example…When was the last time you sprinted? Not just increased your pace a little bit, but all out sprinted like you were being chased by a murderer? Try it…you will need to rest fairly quick, and a lot longer than normal.
LIMIT YOUR MODERATE INTENSE CARDIO FOR BETTER RESULTS
Its time-consuming. Your on there from 20 minutes- 1+ hours. Your time is VALUABLE we do not get more of it. Try and rationalize doing a 2 lb bicep curl at a moderate pace for 30 minutes…sounds kind of dumb right.
It is a continued stress. This type of work can produce Oxidative and Adrenal stress which has been shown to increase aging and fatigue which means all your work output outside of the gym will soon suffer also.
Cortisol is not your friend. It has been labeled as the stress hormone and shown to decrease ones ability to lose body fat. So, since this type of work increases Cortisol levels the more stress (emotional/Physical) without rest periods will result less results for those looking to lose body fat and build a lean body.
Decreases Muscle Building Potential. You want that “toned” or jacked look right? When your cortisol levels raise it will decrease the testosterone/cortisol ratio making it harder to pack on that lean mass as stated above.
Decrease Lean Muscle Mass.Well, naturally when your body has used all of its stored glycogen (energy source), Your body does not want to work extra hard to get the energy it needs. Your body goes to the next easiest/ quickest to place to get energy …YOUR muscles/proteins. Protein is harder to get energy from because the process to break them down is longer. Eventually, your body will take very little energy from your fat stores but it is hard to and takes too much energy to convert it to an available source. (hence the reason you rarely ever see an extremely muscular or defined marathoner)
EPOC/G-Flux/Afterburn is quite low. This is the body’s ability to burn more calories after your workout is over. With MI cardio your body returns back to a normal state quickly(not burning a lot of calories after). Proper training with this EPOC in mind has shown to have elevated calorie burning for 24+ hours. So would you rather burn 350 kcal in 40 minutes on the treadmill and then only 50 kcal extra after your workout or 350 kcal training proper for fat loss and burn an additional 350 kcal over the next day from your workout.
So, unless you are incredibly JACKED underneath the fat you want to lose and do not mind losing a little bit of muscle size, power, speed and strength…stay away from the constant stress cardio.
There is a place for all these types of cardio in a program. There just has to be a balance. Some people may not like to hear it but resting is not going to hurt you. Unless you are training for a marathon I would try to avoid some of that moderate Intense stuff and use the time you have wisely for the best results.
Originally published at fitletes.com
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