Let's look at whether low-moderate intensity, prolonged cardio exercise is actually beneficial to your body or if it is primarily a waste of time before you start spending hours upon hours on those monotonous treadmills, stationary bikes, and elliptical machines. After reading this, I think you'll agree that there are more effective ways to get in terrific condition than spending countless hours on monotonous cardio equipment.
People who are seeking to prevent heart disease or lose weight frequently hear fitness experts and doctors recommend low to moderate intensity aerobic workout (cardio).Most frequently, the advice is along the lines of "do 30–60 minutes of steady-pace cardio, three times a week, while keeping your heart rate at a modest level." I want you to think about some new scientific data that suggests that constant pace endurance cardio exercises may not be all that it's built up to be before you just succumb to this widespread assumption and become the "hamster on the wheel" doing endless hours of tedious cardio.
First, understand that rather than moving in a continuous state, our bodies are built to execute physical activity in short bursts of effort followed by rest. Physical variability is one of the most crucial factors to take into account when planning your training, according to recent study. Nature exhibits this propensity since all organisms move in a stop-and-go manner rather than in a stable state. In reality, only humans strive to engage in "endurance"-type physical activities in nature.
The majority of competitive sports rely on stop-and-go action or brief bursts of exertion followed by rest, with the exception of endurance running and cycling. Consider the physical differences between sprinters and marathon runners to assess the benefits of steady state versus stop-and-go training. While the usual dedicated marathoner is more frequently gaunt and sickly looking, sprinters typically have a body that is incredibly lean, muscular, and powerful looking. Which one do you prefer to resemble now?
The internal impact of diverse forms of exercise on our bodies is another consideration when considering the advantages of physical variety. Scientists are aware that excessive steady state endurance exercise (defined differently for each person but generally as more than 60 minutes per session most days of the week) can increase the body's production of free radicals, degenerate joints, impair immune function, cause muscle wasting, and trigger a pro-inflammatory response that may result in chronic diseases. Contrarily, highly variable cyclic training has been associated with an increase in antioxidant production, an anti-inflammatory reaction, a more effective nitric oxide response (which may support a healthy cardiovascular system), and an increased metabolic rate response (which can assist with weight loss).
Additionally, steady state endurance training only prepares the heart to function in a single heart rate range; it does not prepare it to react to a variety of daily stimuli. The heart is taught to adapt to and recover from a variety of stressors through highly diverse cyclic training, which reduces the likelihood that it may malfunction when you need it. Consider it this way: Exercise that teaches your heart to beat quickly will improve your heart's ability to handle stress on a daily basis. Your heart rate and blood pressure may both spike under stress. Running in a steady state and other endurance exercises do not prepare your heart to withstand sudden changes in blood pressure or heart rate.
Let's take an example where you jog for a solid 45 minutes while attempting to keep the same pace. You likely kept your heart rate at the same level the entire time, say 135 beats per minute, as long as there were no significant hills on your path. Let's compare that to a lot more efficient workout where you stroll for a minute or two to recover in between all-out wind sprints for 20 minutes. You are rapidly varying your heart rate up and down on a much bigger scale with this more effective workout, causing it to get stronger to be able to handle varying demands.During the recovery walks and sprints, your heart rate will likely fluctuate between 110 and 115 and 160 or more beats per minute. This does not imply that the only method to benefit from this type of training is through sprints. You will see these better results with any training method that uses a wide range of intensities.
The recovery period between bouts of exertion is a crucial component of varied cycle training that distinguishes it from steady state cardio. The body needs that recuperation time in order to respond to an exercise stimulus in a healthy way. Variable cycle training also has the advantage of being far more engaging and having lower dropout rates than lengthy, monotonous steady state cardio regimens.
In conclusion, improved cardiovascular health, increased anti-oxidant protection, improved immune function, decreased risk of joint wear and tear, decreased muscle wasting, increased residual metabolic rate following exercise, and an increased capacity for the heart to handle life's daily stressors are some potential advantages of variable cyclic training compared to steady state endurance training. You can profit from stop-and-go or variable intensity physical training in a variety of ways.
The majority of competitive sports, including football, basketball, racquetball, tennis, hockey, etc., naturally involve highly variable stop-and-go motion in addition to the wind sprints stated above. Additionally, weight training naturally consists of brief periods of exertion followed by rest intervals. Another training technique that makes use of effort and recovery times is high intensity interval training, which involves switching between high and low intensity intervals on any piece of cardio equipment. For illustration, a treadmill interval training session would resemble this:
3–4 minutes of quick walking or a light jog serve as a warm-up;
Interval 1: Run for one minute at a speed of 8.0 mph;
Interval 2: For 1.5 minutes, walk at a speed of 4.0 mph;
Interval 3: Run for one minute at a speed of 10.0 mph;
Interval 4: Walk 4.0 miles per hour for 1.5 minutes;
For an extremely challenging 20-minute workout, repeat those four intervals four times.
To attain the best results in terms of heart health, fat loss, and a strong, lean body, the key takeaway from this article is to aim to train your body at highly varying intensity rates throughout the majority of your exercises.
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