Over the past couple of months we have focused on getting our nutrition on point and even looked at some supplements that could benefit us in achieving our goals, but now that we have all of that in order--what’s next? What are we supposed to do when we get to the gym or when we start our training program? Over the next few weeks we will dive deep into the exercise side of things but it’s best to start with the basics, CARDIO! Cardio is one of the most dreaded and confused words in all of fitness. Many of us think that just going on a walk or hopping on a treadmill aimlessly will take us to our fitness goals, then after six months nothing has changed, we wonder why or just give up. Sure, it’s fun to bounce around effortlessly on the elliptical for an hour and call it a workout, but what have you actually accomplished?
When we think of cardio it needs to be more than just a time or distance. We need to be thinking in terms of what goal we are trying to accomplish. For the purpose of simplifying we can break cardio up into 3 sub-categories: LOW intensity, HIGH intensity/endurance, and high intensity interval training. Low intensity would be classified as walking, a slow bike ride, or any activity that your heart rate doesn’t elevate very high or you don’t feel is too difficult to maintain for an hour. Usually you can carry on a conversation during this type of training. Calories burned will be at a minimum but the calories you do burn in your lower heart rate zones will be mostly from fat. (We will go into greater depth in next week’s blog about heart rate zone training and what you burn in each zone, just use this week’s info as general guide lines to get started.) With high intensity cardio you should be pushing yourself a lot harder whether it be running for long distances, swimming, or a group fitness class. It should be a pace that is difficult to maintain for over 30 minutes and you should not be able to carry on a conversation. When your body hits this heart rate zone you will be burning predominantly sugars/carbs. Even though the calories burned are not from fat you will burn more calories here than in low intensity. And then we have high intensity interval training or HIIT. This is to be done in shorter amounts of time, never lasting over 30 minutes total. During HIIT you will elevate your heart rate very high then let it recover quickly over and over again. The benefits of this are to train your body to become more efficient at utilizing oxygen which will in turn make calorie burn more efficient. HIIT has also been shown to increase your RMR (as we discussed in previous blogs) for up to 24 hours after finishing, making your body a calorie burning machine for long after you are done exercising. A good example of a beginner HIIT program would be 30 second sprints (100% effort) then 30 seconds of rest (0-50% effort) then repeat the cycle for 15-30 minutes. As you get better, move up to a 60 second working time with a 30 second rest. You can do this with any type of cardio, not just running, so feel free to add cycling, burpees, or stairs. The point is to put in maximum effort during the working portion. Now, let’s look at how these correlate with some common fitness goals.
Muscle Gain: You will most likely want to stay in the low intensity range. Like we talked about, the body will burn fewer calories in these zones helping to preserve the muscles. The calories will be mostly burned from fat so it will help keep your body fat low while dieting to bulk up.
Weight Loss: This goal will need a nice mix of all three! Losing weight cannot be accomplished by just cardio and it surely cannot be accomplished by just walking twice a week! Depending on how deconditioned you are it may be necessary to start out slower but as your stamina builds up you have to push yourself into the higher intensity ranges. This will help in re-boosting your metabolism and help train the body to burn calories as efficiently as possible. Also try adding the HIIT in on days that you are short on time. A good split would look like: low intensity on days you weight train, high intensity on off days and HIIT once a week.
Increase Fitness Level: Mix high intensity cardio with HIIT. This will help increase your body’s oxygen utilization the fastest allowing you to increase your cardiovascular endurance. You will burn a ton of calories training like this so make sure your diet is up to speed or you will hit a wall quickly. I would do HIIT 2-3 times per week with high intensity cardio on the other 2-3 days. If training for any kind of distance run or race remember to start low on the mileage and work your way up so you don’t injure yourself.
Now that we have some basics established, try to incorporate them into your routine. If you are currently trying to lose weight but not really pushing yourself then step it up! Next week we will break down the five heart rate zones and how each one affects the body to give us a little better idea on how to make our cardio exact. This also will require you to have a heart rate monitor so look into getting one ASAP. If you have questions about which ones are good or want to order one please contact me directly. Make this week the week it all starts! No more excuses, get your butt on a treadmill or outside running and BRING IT!!!!!!
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