Cardio Craze

Kelly Gonzalez
Busy Bodies
Health and Fitness
Date Published: June 3, 2009

Cardio Craze

If you walk into a gym around prime time this time of year you may have difficulty jumping on your preferred piece of cardio equipment. The cardio craze is on as people try to shape up and shed a few pounds for summer. Out of all the elements of fitness, cardiovascular training is the token form of exercise for fat loss.

Cardio burns a large number of calories during the actual workout segment. High impact activities such as running can burn about 100 calories/mile, while low impact activities like swimming for example can burn about 250 calories in 30 minutes. Considering the weight loss principle of more calories out then in, incorporating a sufficient amount of cardiovascular training into your weekly routine is a great solution, but this fix can become a dilemma when it is the sole solution.

The main problem I often see when it comes to cardio is what I like to call, “the cardio marathon.” A marathoner trains to run 26.2 miles at a steady pace. The most important training run for a marathon is the long run, in which the marathoner runs slower then race pace but gradually increases the distance week to week in order to build the physiological components necessary for their bodies to endure the workload of running 26.2 miles. Marathoners do cardio by running for hours because that is their overall goal. If your goal is fat loss you don’t have to, and shouldn’t do hours of steady state cardio.
People often say, “I can do the elliptical forever, I’m in great shape, but I’m not losing any weight!” Looking on the bright side, you are strengthening your heart, lungs, increasing bone density, lowering cholesterol, and blood pressure by performing cardiovascular training, but if you want to tone up and lose weight you need to train smarter not longer or harder.
In order to burn fat you need to rev up your metabolism so you burn more calories around the clock. In order to do this you want to change your body composition so you acquire more lean muscle mass and less fat. Okay, so how do you do that? There is no single activity to do this. It is a combination of cardio, strength training, and nutrition.

If I can offer just one piece of advice when it comes to fat loss and cardio it’s always switch it up. Why is 30 or 60 minutes such a magic number for exercise duration? Focus on quality over quantity. If you are accustomed to performing 30 minutes of cardio at the same intensity most days of the week add intervals to challenge yourself. Interval training uses both the anaerobic and aerobic system. During the intense burst of effort you are using glycogen stored in the muscles as fuel. If you recall from last weeks article about low carb diets, glycogen is stored in the muscles and liver for energy and excess is stored as fat. During the “working interval,” the body is not using oxygen for energy so you go into oxygen debt. When you recover your body pays back the oxygen that it was deprived of and breaks down the lactic acid (causes the burning sensation in muscles) that accumulated, then the aerobic system uses oxygen to convert stored carbohydrates into energy. Stored carbohydrates are burned meaning potential fat is burned.

Interval training is an excellent addition to your standard cardio routine. I recommend adding 20-30 minutes of interval training into your weekly exercise schedule 1-2 days per week. Start by warming up for about 5 minutes, work at a higher intensity by either increasing speed, resistance, or both for 30 seconds-1 minute and recover for about 2 minutes. Repeat 6-8 times.

To get in shape this summer I challenge you to step outside your comfort zone, if you are in love with the elliptical machine try a spinning class instead. If you are cardio master hit the weight room for circuit training or work on your flexibility in a yoga class. When it comes to shaping up, losing fat, and gaining overall fitness there are many pieces to the puzzle. The key is creating a balance between the components of fitness that works for you. Most importantly, enjoy the activities you do. If 60 minutes on a treadmill isn’t your thing, there are plenty of other options out there that can give you the results you’re seeking.