CARDIO EXERCISE FOR WEIGHT LOSS, HEALTH, AND FITNESS

Cardio Exercise is for Overall Fitness, Health, and Weight Loss
By Donovan Baldwin

There is a lot of talk these days about exercise, fitness, weight loss, and health.

Just about veryone has wondered about these subjecst has also, at some point in time, wondered which cardio exercise is better. 

Of course, there are many who are new to the subject who are just not sure what cardio exercise is.

Cardio is Shorthand for Cardiovascular

The cardiovascular system is, very simply put, the heart with all its connected miles of veins and arteries.

Since the heart is essentially a muscle, it reacts to exercise by becoming fitter, stronger, and more efficient.  It also becomes less prone to failure, which is usually signaled by heart disease or a heart attack.  An additional benefit is that the exercises which are good for the heart are generally good for the other parts of the cardiovascular system, and many other organs, glands, and functions of the body as well!

However, not all exercises are of equal cardio benefit, and this is primarily for one reason. 

Endurance.

Some exercises, such as weight lifting, require such brief moments of exertion, followed by resting periods, that the heart is not sufficiently affected to get much strengthening and training benefit. 

To be effective, a cardio workout must be one where the exercise, or exercises, can be continually sustained over a length of time...such as 30 minutes, for example.  Some of the best examples of cardio exercises are walking, running, and trying to keep up with a Richard Simmons tape.  If you want to get an excellent overview of the effects of a good cardio workout, get a copy of "Aerobics" by Dr. Kenneth Cooper.  It is simply written yet provides a great explanation of the value of cardio exercise.

Resistance Exercise

This is not to say that resistance exercises such as weight lifting or push ups have no place in a fitness program.  It is just that they produce certain health benefits as well, but have little to offer in the way of improving the strength and efficiency of the cardiovascular system.  However, any complete exercise program, whether for fitness, health, or weight loss, should include both types of exercise to provide the most health benefits.

High Intensity and Low Intensity Cardio

Cardiovascular exercises come in two styles...high intensity and low intensity.  If you are new to exercising, and to cardio in particular, you will want to start with low intensity.  Although the lines are blurred between the two, as what is "low" intensity to one might seem like "high" intensity to another, and one person may find another's "high intensity" too low to do them much good.  To put it in simple terms, both low and high intensity exercises will help you to burn off body fat. 

A simple example of low versus high is walking versus running.  The blurring between the two can be illustrated by realizing that some people are doing well to walk a few blocks and are getting exercise benefits, while others in better condition, may need to walk several miles at a very rapid pace to continue to improve their cardiovascular fitness.  Someone trying to stay in the low intensity area, to protect arthritic joints, for example, may also choose to stay with low intensity, low impact cardio and still be able to get excellent results simply by extending the time they exercise and staying with it.

Let's Not Turn Up Our Noses at Low Intensity Cardio for Weight Loss, Either

The question here is which is the most effective to burn off more body fat, High intensity or low intensity cardio? 

Scientists investigating the issue first discovered that during intensive exercises, your body burns a fuel called "glycogen", which is a form of stored carbohydrates which have been stored in your liver and muscles for energy. 

During low intensity exercises, on the other hand, your body will tend to burn a lot of fat, rather than the energy rich glycogen.

If you're wondering whether or not it works, the answer is "maybe" because we can see there are so many obese people still around, even though they may be working out with low intensity routines.  They DO lose weight and get fit and healthy, but they just don't seem to lose THAT MUCH weight while people on high intensity cardio routines do.

It can make you wonder: How can this be?

The scientists were absolutely right when they said the human body burns more fat, i.e. "body fat" during low intensity exercises like walking or swimming.  During a high intensity exercise such as running, the body will burn a lot more calories.  Even though some of the calories burnt are from glycogen, there are still a great many fat calories burned as well.

To put the icing on the cake (just look, don't eat the cake), when your store of glycogen begins to get low, carbohydrates from food that you eat will later get converted into glycogen to fill up the store and will not be converted to body fat as they are left unused to provide energy when needed later.

While low intensity exercise can have great benefits and should not be ignored, the goal is, if possible, to achieve a level of high intensity cardio exercise as it will juice up your basic metabolism even after you have completed your workout.  What this means, is simply that, with high intensity cardio, your body will continue to burn body fat hours after you have left the gym. 

This effect is nearly non-existent in low intensity cardio or aerobic workouts. 

Cumulatively, your body wil burn up more calories during and after you have finished a high intensity cardio exercise than it will with low intensity...even though you can still burn a great many calories DURING a low intensity workout.

You can easily inject high intensity exercises into your cardio workout by introducing some form of interval training. For example, you could walk for 5 minutes or so, then break into some jogging for another 5 minutes or so.  Then, begin to walk briskly again until you have caught your breath and then sprint, or at least run or jog, for a minute before you walk again.  From this point, simply alternate your running and walking for the next 15 or 20 minutes until you are finished.

One of the best things about any kind of cardio exercise is that the more you do it, the more energy you'll have in the long run.  Cardio will help you to burn fat, burn calories, and lose weight although it is more useful for keeping your energy levels high and your heart strong and healthy.

If you've never tried cardio before, high intensity or low, you should give it a shot.  If you like to exercise, you'll find cardiovascular exercise the best way to boost your energy and keep in top shape. 

If you are just starting out, you'll want to go slow and keep your cardio exercise in track - as it is very easy to overexert yourself.  Also, avoid combining smoking or alcohol consumption and exercise as this will get in the way of your health, fitness, and weight loss goals.

Walking and running are excellent fat burning activities, but weather, and sometimes pride get in the way of doing cardio exercises regularly. Many do not wish to exercise in public, sometimes traffic, and the daily schedule are issues in having a place or time to exercise. This is when treadmills, steppers, and elliptical exercise machines can fill a need and help you have a regular, progressive, and beneficial cardio exercise program.

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P. S. If you want to learn more about why Diets Don't Work, please click here.

If you want to learn how to burn fat, a great book to read is Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle by Tom Venuto