The Role of Cardio

Cardiovascular training is most commonly known for movements that increase your lung capacity, ability to use oxygen, circulation, and endurance. This includes running, biking, and swimming, but it can also include strength training. Each of these will help to burn calories and body fat, reduce stress and improve overall health and well-being. Cardiovascular activity can be broken into two categories: aerobic (with oxygen) and anaerobic (without oxygen). The best way to incorporate cardiovascular training is in a way that supports your goals.

Aerobic Training

Aerobic activity is best used as a means of recovery and maintenance. This type of activity should be very light, such as walking, hiking, or going for a light swim or bike ride. If you have ever heard of the “fat burning zone,” this is the intensity of exercise that would keep you in this zone. Unfortunately, while low intensity exercise does utilize fat more than sugar, it does not actually help to burn more total fat. During steady state aerobic work, the body uses fat most efficiently, meaning that it burns fat very slowly. It may be the main fuel source, but you just do not need much fuel for slow, easy exercise. Add to this the ease with which your body recovers from this type of exercise and your net fat loss for this type of training is limited. If your goal is fat loss, this should be used sparingly (meaning you should be involved in other types of exercise instead) and for recovery purposes only. If your goal is general health, enjoy these activities more freely.

Anaerobic Training

Anaerobic activity is what you will want to focus on for fat loss and enhanced cardiovascular endurance and recovery. This type of activity is demanding and requires your body to work hard both during and after your training to recover. The more common forms of anaerobic training are circuit training and interval training. Circuit training involves moving from one exercise to the next with little-to-no rest, completing 5-10 exercises before taking a longer break. This type of exercise most commonly includes a combination of body weight movements, barbell/dumbbell exercises, kettlebell exercises, and more. Interval training involves working at a high intensity for a set period of time, then taking a recovery break for a set period of time. This type of exercise is most commonly used while training on a bike, treadmill, or rower. In participating in this type of training, you will be asking your body to work hard for a short period of time and then recover. While you will not burn as many calories during the training, you will end up burning more total calories and fat because of the effort your body has to put in to recover from the workout.

How Much?

It all depends. The first question: what are your goals? The second: are you already strength-training?  If your goal is to look and feel your best, then you should really be most concerned about establishing a solid strength-training program first.  Only after you have this in place does it make sense to ADD more traditional forms of aerobic and anaerobic exercise. Let us assume that your goal is fat loss and that you are currently strength-training 2-3 days per week. If you really want to focus in on your goal, add 1-2 days of anaerobic training on your off days. Luckily, this type of training can produce a positive response with as little as 4 minutes of work (but it has to be intense!). When you are first starting, try adding 5-15 minutes of high intensity cardiovascular exercise just one time per week and see how you feel. You need to be able to recover from all of your workouts, so if you notice that this training is negatively impacting your strength days, then go for less time, or cut it out until you feel more proficient in your strength training. Once you have set a base with your strength work and your anaerobic work, then you can think about adding aerobic activity here and there.

One last note: try to make this fun. We spend so much of our time in the gym doing things that we “have” to do, why not mix it up and keep it enjoyable. As long as it gets you breathing and forces you to work hard, you will see results. So go hard, have fun, and start working toward your goals!