What is Cardio?
Written By: coach on November 3, 2011
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Cardio is short for cardiovascular. That means any workouts you do with the goal of increasing your heart rate and improving your cardiovascular system should be considered cardio. So, intense workouts like interval training and even some forms of circuit weight training are, in fact, cardio. Generally, you can keep the workout anywhere from 25 to 60 minutes but a lot of interval training can last just 4 to 12 minutes.
Some common examples of cardio workouts are running, biking, weightlifting, kettlebells and swimming.
Top 7 Reasons Why Cardio Is Good
Add More Volume
- Cardio is a great way for you to add training volume, burning more fat, without putting your recovery at risk.
Fat For Fuel
- When you do cardio, you burn bodyfat for fuel. So it’s a great way to lose fat while you train your body’s cells to burn fat more efficiently.
Spares Muscle Mass
- Because it burns fat preferentially, cardio is a great way for you to add exercise volume to your training without running the risk of tapping into your muscle mass for fuel.
Aids Recovery
- By increasing blood flow, cardio can actually help you recover more quickly. Your cells get flooded with nutrition while toxins and other by-products of cell metabolism are flushed away.
Increased Work Capacity
- Cardio will improve your General Physical Preparedness. Your endurance capacity is a big factor in your overall fitness. Cardio is still one of the best ways to develop it.
Moving Meditation
- Cardio is one of the best ways to get into a “groove” or practice intense concentration. The repetitive nature of cardio provide the perfect environment for losing yourself in your thoughts.
Perfect Match For Low Carb & Fasting Days
- When you’re following a Low Carb diet or using Intermittent Fasting, you’ll quickly get yourself into a glycogen depleted state. That just means the muscles and liver aren’t storing as much “sugar.” Since cardio uses fat for fuel, it’s a great match. That’s one of the reasons we love morning cardio before breakfast.
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