When you hear the words Cardio or Cardiorespiratory training, think of walking, running, cycling, swimming, dancing, and whatever else increase your heart rate considerably. The more you keep your heart rate at a certain level during your workout, the better cardiorespiratory fitness you achieve. In other words, cardio involves mainly the training of your heart (“cardia” is the word for heart in Greek) and less the training of other muscles. Although all the other muscles are engaged in cardio activities, the heart is the muscle that receives the most stress. Yes, your heart is a muscle, too, and by training it, you make it healthier. Those who have quite good cardiorespiratory fitness can keep doing a particular activity for long without taking breaks and getting out of breath.
Brisk walking is by far the best, easiest, and most convenient way to train your heart and improve your cardio. Brisk walking simply means that you should walk fast enough to feel your heartbeats raised, but up to the level that you still can carry on a conversation. Start with a five or 10-minute brisk walk and gradually increase it over time up to 30-40 minutes. That time is enough to give you excellent results. Stick to a weekly schedule (3 times/week, if not more, is pretty good to start with), and make your heart breathe…
Be cautious! Running is quite overestimated. Contrary to some popular thought, we could say that running is not necessarily the best way to improve your cardio, and definitely not the only and best way to burn calories. You should always be smart. Running is a natural activity that may be needed quite often when doing everyday tasks. So, we all should be able to run easily (at least for some minutes), without considerable shortness of breath. However, some exercisers often overdo it with running because they mistakenly think that it’s the best choice for fat loss and the heart’s good health. No, it is not the best choice, it is just one of the choices. Cardio training that includes running in moderation is definitely beneficial. However, compared to walking, running causes more often lower back, knee, or hip injuries due to the high impacts and stress on the joints. If you love running and cannot live without it, add some minutes of a brisk walk between your running time, always run on dirt or track (avoid hard surfaces like the street), and buy new and good quality running shoes every few weeks or months.
Published: November 28th, 2023 | Last Edited: November 28th, 2023 | HEALTH – The Basics | All Posts |
More Posts from THE BASICS
Coordination
Coordination or Motor Coordination is how mostly your bones, muscles, and nerves cooperate to make your whole body or parts of it move or make a particular movement successfully. [...]
Speed
Speed is how fast you can move your body or parts of it. Having great speed means that you can accelerate very fast from a standing (for example) position, [...]
Balance
What is better than having good balance and walk, run, or stand without feeling a bit drunk? Βalance is essential in every aspect of your life, and what mostly [...]
Stretching
Stretching is about flexibility. Why should your muscles be flexible? Simply think of honey... and your muscles as honey's texture. Have you ever seen crystallized honey in its glass [...]
Cardio
When you hear the words Cardio or Cardiorespiratory training, think of walking, running, cycling, swimming, dancing, and whatever else increase your heart rate considerably. The more you keep your [...]
Strength
Strength training involves exercises with resistance. Such activities may include your body weight, dumbbells, or barbells with weights, rubber bands, machines, and various other equipment. There are many methods [...]
General exercise guidelines
Exercise at least 2-3 times per week. Your workout should always consist of the major 3 components of fitness, which are Strength, Cardiorespiratory, and Stretching training, and optionally balance, [...]
Yes, I do!
"I am thinner. I have burnt body fat and look more handsome. I have reduced the risk of having chronic diseases associated with obesity, such as heart problems, stroke, [...]
Do not complain!
Tons of money is spent daily on miraculous products that promise to keep us young forever, products that aim solely at our skin. They are useful. They have their [...]
Too many…
Indeed, they are too many… Watch 250 movies at your favorite theater, enjoy 500 dinner dishes at select restaurants, go on 20 unforgettable vacations to beloved destinations, read 130 [...]