Cardio Training
You probably hear the word cardio being said a lot at the local gym you workout at. You might hear some people say "Cardio is the best exercise for fat loss." or "I'm going to do cardio after my set, want to come along?". If you don't know what cardio means, it means for your heart. Cardio training involves your heart and your lungs. When you see people running on the treadmill or riding stationary bikes at the gym; they're doing cardio training. If you see people jogging outside, that's cardio.
You should incorporate some sort of cardio exercise in your workout schedule. Some benefits of cardio training include:
* Improved sleep
* Lower blood pressure
* Improved overall endurance
* Lower body fat
* Improve endurance for the specific activity (if you jog, you'll have better cardio for jogging; if you bike, you'll have better cardio for biking)
It's best to have a strength or bodybuilding program that has cardio training somewhere in it. If you want to be healthy and fit, you should balance on what types of exercises you should do.
Two Important Things to do When Training Cardio
The most important thing to do with every exercise is to warm up. Warming up prevents any unnecessary injuries, gets the blood going through your body, increases your heart rate at a slow and safe pace, and so forth.
In cardio training, a typical warm up should last anywhere between 5 to 20 minutes at a easy pace. If your planning on jogging, start off with a power walk or a slow paced run. If your going on a bike ride, start off slow. Another thing to do after warming up is to stretch. This further prevents any unnecessary injuries from happening.
The second most important thing to do when it comes to cardio training is to cool down. During the cool down of your cardio training session, you should do the same thing you did as your warm up, however at a even slower pace. Typical cool downs last anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes. However, if you find that during your cool down your heart beat lowers, that's a good indication that your cooled down.
The purpose of a cool down is to calm and relax the body after a exercise session. If you all of a sudden stop working out; you can suddenly faint, get a headache, get dizzy or feel nauseous. To get safe and beneficial results from cardio training, or any training at all to that matter, you should proper warm up and cool down.
How Difficult Should my Cardio Training be?
The difficulty and the pace of your cardio workouts are very important. You won't get as much results from walking on a treadmill vs running on one. However, if you do a all out sprint on a treadmill with no breaks, you risk over training, leading to the increased possibility of injuries and chance of becoming sick. These are some ways you can test how difficult or how high of pace your exercise should be.
Have a Talk
One of the simplest ways to see how difficult your cardio training should be is by talking while doing it. For example, if you find it difficult or that your out of breath when you are jogging on the treadmill at level 6, you know that level 6 is too high and you should move down to a slower pace. However if you find it easy to talk to someone at the same time training, you should increase the pace.
How it Feels
Another simple way of seeing how difficult your cardio training is by figuring out how it feels on your body. Do you find that your muscles are cramping or that they're fine? Do you find that you are breathing heavier or that your breathing patterns haven't changed? You should rate how you feel on a scale of 1-10 with 1 being that you aren't working very hard and 10 being that you are really working hard.
Types of Cardio Exercises
The great thing with Cardio training is that you can take any exercise and turn it into a cardio workout. If you are a boxer or a mixed martial artist, you can practice your punches, kicks or takedowns by performing repeated reps over and over again. If you are a basketball player, shooting hoops and moving from one point to the next can be considered a cardio workout.
Common cardio exercises include:
* Jogging
* Cycling
* Swimming
* Skipping
* Circuit training
* Beep Testing
So why Should I Include Cardio Training in my Workouts?
It's best to have a balanced body type than a non balanced one. You can be big and strong, however your conditioning (cardio) can be horrible and you find that you get out of breath quicker. At the same time, you can be skinny and run for hours and hours, however if your muscles aren't strong, that can be a problem for you if the time comes when you have to lift something. Not only that, but if your muscles aren't strong, you might get injured more often.
So it's best to have balance when it comes to fitness. Cardio training is one of those things that people probably dislike the most, however it is one of the things where once you have it, you feel great.
You should incorporate some sort of cardio exercise in your workout schedule. Some benefits of cardio training include:
* Improved sleep
* Lower blood pressure
* Improved overall endurance
* Lower body fat
* Improve endurance for the specific activity (if you jog, you'll have better cardio for jogging; if you bike, you'll have better cardio for biking)
It's best to have a strength or bodybuilding program that has cardio training somewhere in it. If you want to be healthy and fit, you should balance on what types of exercises you should do.
Two Important Things to do When Training Cardio
The most important thing to do with every exercise is to warm up. Warming up prevents any unnecessary injuries, gets the blood going through your body, increases your heart rate at a slow and safe pace, and so forth.
In cardio training, a typical warm up should last anywhere between 5 to 20 minutes at a easy pace. If your planning on jogging, start off with a power walk or a slow paced run. If your going on a bike ride, start off slow. Another thing to do after warming up is to stretch. This further prevents any unnecessary injuries from happening.
The second most important thing to do when it comes to cardio training is to cool down. During the cool down of your cardio training session, you should do the same thing you did as your warm up, however at a even slower pace. Typical cool downs last anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes. However, if you find that during your cool down your heart beat lowers, that's a good indication that your cooled down.
The purpose of a cool down is to calm and relax the body after a exercise session. If you all of a sudden stop working out; you can suddenly faint, get a headache, get dizzy or feel nauseous. To get safe and beneficial results from cardio training, or any training at all to that matter, you should proper warm up and cool down.
How Difficult Should my Cardio Training be?
The difficulty and the pace of your cardio workouts are very important. You won't get as much results from walking on a treadmill vs running on one. However, if you do a all out sprint on a treadmill with no breaks, you risk over training, leading to the increased possibility of injuries and chance of becoming sick. These are some ways you can test how difficult or how high of pace your exercise should be.
Have a Talk
One of the simplest ways to see how difficult your cardio training should be is by talking while doing it. For example, if you find it difficult or that your out of breath when you are jogging on the treadmill at level 6, you know that level 6 is too high and you should move down to a slower pace. However if you find it easy to talk to someone at the same time training, you should increase the pace.
How it Feels
Another simple way of seeing how difficult your cardio training is by figuring out how it feels on your body. Do you find that your muscles are cramping or that they're fine? Do you find that you are breathing heavier or that your breathing patterns haven't changed? You should rate how you feel on a scale of 1-10 with 1 being that you aren't working very hard and 10 being that you are really working hard.
Types of Cardio Exercises
The great thing with Cardio training is that you can take any exercise and turn it into a cardio workout. If you are a boxer or a mixed martial artist, you can practice your punches, kicks or takedowns by performing repeated reps over and over again. If you are a basketball player, shooting hoops and moving from one point to the next can be considered a cardio workout.
Common cardio exercises include:
* Jogging
* Cycling
* Swimming
* Skipping
* Circuit training
* Beep Testing
So why Should I Include Cardio Training in my Workouts?
It's best to have a balanced body type than a non balanced one. You can be big and strong, however your conditioning (cardio) can be horrible and you find that you get out of breath quicker. At the same time, you can be skinny and run for hours and hours, however if your muscles aren't strong, that can be a problem for you if the time comes when you have to lift something. Not only that, but if your muscles aren't strong, you might get injured more often.
So it's best to have balance when it comes to fitness. Cardio training is one of those things that people probably dislike the most, however it is one of the things where once you have it, you feel great.
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