Cardio
What Is Cardio Exercise? Everything You Need to Know
Jan
Cardio exercise – one of the most common words you’ll hear if you ask anyone for a piece of advice on how to improve your figure. Besides getting a full-body workout, you can also boost your overall health by incorporating this physical activity into your routines. This article will discuss what is cardio exercise and everything you need to know to get a deeper understanding of this physical activity. Stay motivated and incorporate this aerobic exercise as you work your way towards a healthier, better, and more fit version of you.
Cardio Exercise: What is it?
If you frequently go to the gym or recently signed up for an exercise program, you might often be hearing the words “cardio” and “aerobics” come together. This is because cardiovascular exercise is one of the most sought-after types of aerobic exercise.
A cardiovascular exercise is a series of rhythmic activities that will surely elevate your heart rate until it reaches a certain zone that can burn most calories and fat. This includes activities such as running, brisk walking, indoor cycling, rowing, and swimming. You can also execute a cardio exercise indoors at your home gym or fitness facilities with the help of several gym equipment like those of elliptical trainers, stationary bikes, treadmills, rowing machines, and others.
A cardio exercise focuses on challenging your endurance rather than your strength. When performing a cardio exercise, you can experience an increase in the intensity of your heart rate and breathing patterns. Switching from normal levels and elevating into moderate-to-vigorous levels helps you gain enough stamina to do more. However, certain modifications to strength training exercises are also possible. Doing so can help you get the benefits similar to that of an aerobic exercise. You can add intervals in between sets to keep your heart rate elevated.
Simply put, the cardio exercise is a great choice for weight loss and strength training. Whether you want to burn calories, enhance your endurance, or stay active, this aerobic exercise offers a high-intensity workout while remaining low impact on your knees and joints.
Benefits of Cardio Exercise
Cardio exercises are quick to gain its popularity because of the number of benefits it can provide. Get the motivation you need to do more and take a step closer to a healthier lifestyle.
Some of the most common benefits brought by cardio exercises include the following:
Strengthens the heart
Of course, the primary function of a cardio exercise is to improve and strengthen cardiovascular capacity. Gaining enough heart strength helps you endure more and get more positive results.
Aids in Weight loss
Cardio exercises will increase your heart rate, significantly allowing you to shed more fat and burn calories.
Provides Better Sleep Quality
It is common knowledge that aerobic exercises are full-body workouts. In return, it restores your body’s natural rhythm and helps enhance the quality of your sleep.
Improves Lungs
An increase in heart rate also increases your breathing rate in which your lungs cooperate and expand its capacity to do more.
Minimises Stress
Regular exercise will indeed help you maintain an elevated mood which motivates you to do more. It also promotes signals that will make you feel good and provides relief from anxiety and depression.
Increases Confidence
Performing cardio exercises regularly can bring significant changes to your figure. This can help you get more confident with the way you look.
Improves Overall Health
Regular aerobic activities can prevent heart disease and lowers health risks such as elevated cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, heart attack, diabetes, and others.
Other than those mentioned above, the best thing about cardio exercises is that it does not require a whole day of workout to achieve these benefits. Simple activities such as a fifteen-minute walk can already boost your capacity, elevate your mood, and lower your blood pressure.
If you find it hard to keep up with a regular fitness schedule, then cardio exercises are perfect for you. Performing cardio workouts would not require you with a lot of time and doesn’t need to be too intense to get good results. A little effort could go a long way and is much better than doing nothing.
Finding the Best Cardio Exercise
If you’re up for the challenge of a cardio routine, the first step is to set up a program that would suit your preferences. Choose the activity that you would like to do and feel comfortable regularly doing. Either you like exercising outdoors or enjoy the use of a fancy cardio machine indoors, just about any activity will work well. What’s important is its effect on your heart rate.
You can also set-up your home gym and get access to various options such as treadmills, stationary bikes, treadmills, stair climbers, ellipticals, and rowing machines. Moreover, there are other great alternatives and exercise accessories that you can use, like jump ropes, exercise balls, foam rollers, and more.
There are also several fitness and exercise companions that you can choose from ranging from fitness apps, exercise videos, and online workouts to help you stay on track. These can also help monitor your progress as you increase your fitness level.
Factors to Consider When Choosing A Cardio Exercise
Is this your first time to try out cardio exercises? Don’t worry, we’ve been there too, which is why we’re here to help you. Learning all about cardio exercise can be a mix of excitement and challenge, but it can also be overwhelming. You may find yourself in trouble when choosing the exercise that would work best for you. That’s fine. The secret here is to try out the different options available and explore which fits your needs best.
When choosing your cardio exercise, it is important to keep some things in mind:
Enjoy versatility
Don’t be scared to embrace flexibility. Sometimes, taking a step outside your comfort zone can help you learn new experiences. What’s good about cardio exercises is that it does not require constant routines. You can spice it up by trying out different things every session.
Listen to yourself
If you are not into outdoor exercises, you don’t need to force yourself to do so. Doing something that you enjoy rather than doing something that you see as a task can greatly affect how your body will respond during these exercises.
Convenience and accessibility
Experts recommend performing cardio routines three times every week. To maintain this condition, it is best to choose an activity to perform conveniently to avoid skipping your exercises.
Avoid complicated schedules
Keeping your routine simple will definitely take away your stress. It also avoids confusion and helps you focus on what really matters. Get out of those complicated schedules and make a cardio activity as easy as possible.
Workout Duration for Cardio Exercise
Another essential element to get a successful workout experience is to know how long a certain routine should last. Don’t force yourself to complete an expert-level duration. It might take some time to build up your endurance and be prepared for a continuous phase. You can also consider adding pauses and breaks in between routines.
Frequency of Cardio Exercise
Now that you’re all set for an amazing cardio routine, the final piece of information you need to know is how often you should do a cardio exercise? The answer is pretty simple- it depends on your capacity and fitness goals. If you are in it for a healthier lifestyle, moderate activities daily are good. But if you’re into a complete physical transformation, there’s a whole different story for it.
Workout Intensity During Cardio Exercise
Intensity is also associated with frequency. It is advisable to perform moderate workouts if you prefer to execute your routine daily. But if you opt for high-intensity workouts, you would need to have some rest days in between.
Once you get used to your routines and enhance your endurance, you can increase your intensity from time to time. Intensity is a crucial factor and will affect the following aspects on your workout:
- Number of calories burned – The more intense your workout is, the higher your heart rate will be. The higher heart rate means a higher number of calories shed.
- Heart rate monitoring- You can easily monitor your exercise’s intensity with the help of a perceived exertion scale.
- Saves time- If you fall short with time, raising your intensity will help you burn more calories in a shorter span.
- Variation- When you feel like your current routine is getting too repetitive, you can increase the challenge by switching from low to high intensities for every set.
Cardio Exercise Basics
Before you perform a cardio exercise, you must learn the proper warming up and cooling down techniques. These steps will help your body switch from a normal heart rate to a higher level and vice versa. It is also important to condition your body to avoid a rush of blood pressure or drop during this transition.
Warming up
Starting your workout at full intensity and effort can bring more risk and can shock your body. This is why it is essential to do some stretches and warm-ups before starting with the more intense portion of your routine. This technique will get your blood flowing and loosen up your system as you prepare your body for the real deal.
- First, you should stretch and focus on the muscles you’ll be working on during your workout. Several experts recommend doing a five-to-ten-minute low-intensity activity that will help raise your heart rate steadily.
- Next, perform the workout that you’ll be doing, but at a slow and steady pace. Keep in mind that you are conditioning your body to get surprised by the movements you’ll be doing.
- Finally, warm up your muscles and get enough flexibility. This will avoid the risk of getting cramps and fatigue.
Cooling Down
After a satisfying workout, be careful not to stop immediately. Just like a warm-up, prepare your body to a cool-down pace with a low-intensity activity. This will avoid a sudden drop in heart rate. You can opt for simple stretching and jog in place before you end your workout.
Final Thoughts
Cardio exercise is indeed a useful routine that will help keep your body healthy. With simple and easy to execute the physical activity, you can successfully improve your overall lifestyle. It is also a great way to boost your confidence because it helps you get the sculpted figure you’ve always wanted.
If you want to have an accessible exercise companion for your cardio exercise, Home Gym Australia is proud to offer some of the best cardio machines that you’ll ever find. Enjoy the benefits of a full-body workout by choosing among the various top-of-the-line products from world-class brands and models.
Please don’t hesitate to send us your messages or contact us if you need any help or assistance. We have a friendly support staff that will surely accommodate your every need. You may also browse through our website to know more.
References
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