cardio Archives

July 8, 2019 By Aqsa Shaikh 7 Comments

How Important is Cardio For Weight Loss?

You are well aware of the fact that you lose weight when you burn more calories irrespective of how much you eat. The best way to lose weight is to follow a combination of cardio, strength training and a healthy diet.

Cardio is one of the key components because:

You burn more calories at one time.
Getting your heart rate into your target heart rate zone means your blood is pumping, you’re breathing hard, and you’re sweating and burning calories.
You can easily add intensity to increase your calorie burn. With cardio, it’s easy to increase your calorie burn with small changes, for instance running or walking faster, jumping higher, climbing hills or trying new activities that your body isn’t used to.
It adds to your overall calorie deficit. Burning calories with exercise means you don’t have to cut as many calories from your diet.
You can do cardio most days of the week. With strength training, your muscles require rest to recover and grow stronger. Cardio can be done most days of the week without worrying about injury or over-training.

The Best Cardio Exercises

While you know that cardio is important for weight loss, which exercises are best and how much do you really need for weight loss?

The truth is, there really isn’t any best cardio exercise. The best activity is the one you’ll do on a regular basis. So, finding something you like is critical to reaching your weight loss goals. That said, some exercises offer more intensity than others.

Impact activities: Exercises that involve some impact, like walking, will usually boost your heart rate quicker than no-impact activities like swimming or cycling.
High impact activities: High impact, or exercises that involve running or jumping, will often burn more calories than lower impact things like walking.
Whole body activities: When you involve both the upper and lower body, such as an aerobic activity which is also is known as cross training, it’s often easier to get the heart rate up and burn more calories.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t bother with low impact exercise. Both types of activities offer opportunities to burn calories and doing both gives you a well-rounded cardiovascular endurance development.

To get an idea of just how much cardio can do for you, check out the following list of common exercises. Below is the number of calories burned for a 150-pound person in 30 minutes:

Step aerobics: 340 calories
Stationary bike: 238 calories
Swimming: 270 calories
Walking 4 mph: 170 calories
Running 5 mph: 270 calories
kickboxing: 400 calories

Everything from walking to kickboxing can burn a significant number of calories!

How Much Do You Need?

It’s tough to know exactly how much cardio we need for weight loss. The American College of Sports Medicine and the American Heart Association recommend about 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity activity on most days of the week. But, the truth is how much cardio you need varies from person to person and depends on factors such as:

How many calories you eat
How hard you exercise
Metabolism, age and gender
Fitness levels
Body fat percentage and weight
Exercise schedule

That said, here are some tips for setting up an effective cardio program:

If you’re a beginner, start with 3 days of the cardio exercise of your choice, working at a level you can handle.
Add time each week to work your way up to 30 to 45 minutes of continuous exercise.
As you get stronger, try interval training once a week to help boost endurance and burn more calories.
Work your way up to 5 to 6 days of cardio and try to vary what you do and how hard you work.

It will help you lose weight but it is most effective when combined with strength training and a healthy, low-calorie diet and adequate rest.

How Much Do You Need To Build Muscle?

You may think you shouldn’t do cardio exercise if you’re trying to gain muscle. But, cardio isn’t just for weight loss. It also helps condition the heart and lungs and promotes health and well-being.

If your goal is to gain muscle, you won’t need tons of cardio. But, doing at least three 20-minute sessions a week won’t hurt your goals and will help you reap the benefits of cardio without burning too many calories.

These are some simple necessities for cardio in weight loss. After reading this, I am sure all your misconceptions about weight training and weight loss are cleared!

Want to know more or still have queries? Drop them in the comments below!

#BeTheForce

July 19, 2018 By Shimpli Patil 7 Comments

Interval training, to put your fat on flame!

Most of us have this desirable goal of losing fat but, when asked to get acting on it, we have a fixed set of excuses ready- No time! Too tough for me! Too boring to repeat the same pattern etc…

Well, it’s time to ditch these excuses and rev up the workouts, which would consume lesser time, could be easily done, least monotonous as you can get creative and come up with your own style… and not to forget- The most effective workout to reduce the fat- Interval training it is!!

Interval training is a workout in which we alternate the bursts of high-intensity exercises with intervals of lighter activity. All that we do here is, we repeatedly challenge our body and then give it shorter breaks to recover, for a massive cardio blast. It helps burn more calories in a short period of time, as compared to a steady-state exercise.

Here’s how it works-

When we vary the intensity while working out, it leads to muscle confusion. Our body gets confused and wonders what’s happening! As a regulatory mechanism, our heart rate shoots up and it starts pumping more blood. More the blood, higher the Oxygen and to your surprise fat combustion occurs more efficiently in the presence of Oxygen.

Ever wondered why candle stops burning when we put a glass over it and block the Oxygen? That’s exactly the principle. Any burning process requires O2 which is a key to burning fat. And since interval training involves a lot of Oxygen, it’s been gaining fame in the fat loss/inch loss sector.

There are no hard and fast rules in interval training. We can have variations as we want, to make it most enjoyable and thus keep boredom at bay.

We can-

Interval walk: Walking fast for 2 minutes, then walking slowly for a minute, again fast, then slow and go on this way as long as we can.

Interval runs Alternating 2 minutes run with a 1-minute walk.

Interval swim: Alternating fast-paced swimming moves with slow-paced moves.

We can also try this with cycling, dancing, strengthening exercises (Tabata- being the most popular form of High-Intensity Interval Training) and the list can go on.

It’s quite possible to take interval training to many levels. The length and speed of each high-intensity interval solely depend upon our strength and capacity. To get better with it, we need to make sure we push our body way past our comfort zone each time we do it. Remember, not to rush into strenuous exercise before our body is ready, to avoid injury. Ensure a good warm-up session before starting with it, and end it with stretches.

If you are a novice exerciser, I would say, don’t start with interval training directly. Give your body some time to build the stamina with steady cardio workouts for a few weeks to a month. You can then add interval training to your routine. In fact, you can also add these interval training plans to your gym routine once a week to enhance your speed and cardiovascular endurance.

So what are you waiting for? Jump into your workout shoes and jazz up your workout routine by adding interval training! You can self-observe the changes in your body fat levels. Just pull out a measuring tape, measure your inches before you start with the training and re-measure them after a good gap (say, after a month). You may be surprised with the result. There may be a subtraction in your inches which indicates a drop in fat percentage.

P.s. If you have a chronic health condition (Hypertension or Cardiovascular illness), it’s better to keep away from interval training to avoid any aggravation.

October 29, 2017 By Trishala Chopra 2 Comments

How much cardio should you do?

cardio exercise

CARDIO- The only form of exercise which has grabbed everybody’s attention and why not, almost all the common activities are a form of cardiovascular exercise.

Whenever I ask someone about what exercise you do throughout the day- their reply is mostly WALKING. Hours of walking sometimes.

So, what does cardio include?

Walking (As already mentioned above)
Running
Swimming
Cycling
Aqua-aerobics
Aerobics
Zumba
Rowing
Boxing

I have seen people concentrating only on cardio exercises for years without any change in their routine. Some people consider themselves to be fit with simply walking.

Fitness is measured by different things and not just your overall structure.

As a part of your fitness routine, these 3 components are very important which is as follows: –

Cardiovascular exercises
Strength training exercises
Flexibility exercises

None of the components can be skipped.

All these 3 components are very important for a proper fitness regime.

The question which I always get is (which also became an idea to write this article) how much cardio should I do?

And my answer is (Always), you should actually ask how much of these 3 components I should do?

Well, I will be covering all these 3 components in 3 separate articles so for now, I will be concentrating on cardio.

So, going back to the question which I always get, I wish I had an answer to that which could be as simple as

Do 60 minutes a day or maybe 150 minutes a week!

But being a healthcare professional, I cannot give a generic answer.

In fact, that question has no specific answer.

The amount of cardio which should be done completely depends upon these 4 factors: – (Ps: – Please read all the factors before you come to a conclusion for yourself)

cardio ex1

(1) It depends on what you are aiming at.

Well, not everybody needs weight loss! Some people might be looking for muscle gain while someone else might need to run a marathon.

So, does that mean all of them will be doing 150 minutes of cardio per week?

Definitely not!

Along with the aim, you also need to know about your metabolism.

Metabolism is the rate at which your body needs calories while resting.

So, for a person who wants to lose weight will probably be needing a lot of cardio but for someone who wants to build muscle- the amount of cardio which you require completely depends on your metabolism. If you have a fast metabolism then you don’t need any cardio but if your metabolism is slow then you need to do some amount of cardio.

Someone who is into different sports like shot put or powerlifting or sprinting might require very little cardio.

Why am I targeting these 2 categories first?

It is because losing weight and gaining muscles are totally different things to talk about. For your body as well, it becomes a very confusing state because the body cannot do 2 things simultaneously. However, with proper training, it does become possible sometimes.

Then, what about fat loss? How much cardio should one do?

If losing weight is your only goal then it is okay to put your focus more on cardio and neglect the muscle gain part.

You just work on not losing muscles while you are losing your fat.

This can be achieved by 2 times a week strength training and adequate proteins in your diet.

What If someone is a marathoner? How much cardio should one do?

It also includes a good amount of cardio and minimum strength training but flexibility here is very important. It can all be divided throughout the week with a focus more on cardio and other endurance sports.

Although I don’t like putting anything in a restricted way I guess I can do with sharing some guidelines about the first factor which I have discussed in brief above so that it becomes easier for everyone to understand.

Building muscle + Fast metabolism = No cardio
Building muscle + Slow metabolism = 2-4 days per week with about 20-30 minutes every day.
Losing fat = 5-6 times per week with about 45-60 minutes every day
Marathoner= 4-6 times per week with about 30-60 minutes every day

*This is very generic; the requirement might differ in each person but this can be used as a guideline to work upon.

(2) State of your hormones

Well, the most common problem which most of us are facing is WEIGHT GAIN or UNABLE TO LOSE THE EXISTING WEIGHT which ultimately makes you hit the gym and your trainer will suggest you do cardio. He or she will decide the plan and everyone blindly follows that plan. But, do you think everybody needs exactly the same amount of cardio?

When your weight becomes a problem the hormone which comes into the picture is CORTISOL.

Cortisol is a hormone which is released all the time in the body but most commonly it reaches its peak under extreme stress. When the stress is often short-term like some assignment to complete or some exams to give then the graph of cortisol keeps fluctuating but when the stress becomes long term which goes on for months and years then the gland which produces cortisol is adrenal glands that starts burning out which means there won’t be enough cortisol which is produced. Well, none of this is good. Neither LOW nor HIGH. Everything goes well in balance.

So now that was about the theory, let’s understand how to practically apply it.

Symptoms of cortisol imbalance: –

Rapid weight gain
Muscle weakness
Chronic fatigue
Mood swings
Anxiety
Depression
Confusion
Insomnia
Fluctuating sugar levels

How to know about your cortisol imbalance?

It is important to do a stress test first and then go for the lab reports and get your 8 am cortisol checked.
Visit an endocrinologist with your reports.

How much cardio should you do if your cortisol levels are not up to the mark?

Under 60% of your maximal heart rate.

How to calculate your maximal heart rate?

220 – your age= maximal heart rate

For example: –

Person who is 40 years of age,

220-40= 180 (Maximal heart rate)

60% of 180 = 108 beats per minute.

You should not cross 108 beats per minute while doing cardio in any case.
You must strictly monitor it and get yourself a personal trainer/coach who can help you understand this.

Why are we discussing cortisol imbalance and what is the reason behind reducing your cardio activities in such cases?

treadmill-2581437_640

All the exercise puts the body into some stress. This stress can affect stimulation of different hormones.
When you do steady cardio like a treadmill or cycling your body increases cortisol and reduces other hormones like growth hormone.
When you do interval training your body increases cortisol and growth hormone
When you do strength training with moderate repetition and sets your body increases growth hormone and cortisol by a small margin.
When you do strength training with heavy repetition and sets your body increases testosterone (Which is mostly seen in bodybuilders)

I have given you an in-depth reason here so that you can understand that doing cardio under any stress will increase the complication even more and will do no good to your body.

So before getting into intense workouts, check your cortisol levels.

If everything is okay then you can do the cardio as discussed above.

(3) Depends on your intensity

Whenever I try getting the history about exercises, I get to hear this very often: –

” I do cardio for about 1 and half hours in the gym but I am not getting any results “

” I walk for about 2 hours a day, one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening but I don’t think it is helping”

Well, the basic point to this is,

YOUR DURATION DOESN’T MATTER.

WHAT MATTERS IS- YOUR INTENSITY.

You can work out for just like 15 minutes and still get the same effect as you might get it from longer duration.

Since a couple of months, I often see people talking about high-intensity workouts, low-intensity workouts. I was actually very curious to know their definition of these workouts. I was actually very surprised to know that out of 10 people not even 2 of them knew what exactly it is. They were talking about it because they read it on the internet or their trainer told or something else. You don’t need to be a doctor or personal trainer or a certified health expert. You as a common man to have the rights to know, after all, you are the one who is actually, going to follow that advice. Well, writing this article in this depth is just for everyone to understand the basics behind all the theories which are coming up.

So, coming back to the theory behind intensity.

What is a low-intensity workout?

Under 60% of your maximal heart rate (How to calculate it is mentioned above) is a low-intensity workout.
These intensity workouts will not increase the endurance but do have relaxation benefits.

What is moderate intensity workout?

In between 60-85% of your maximal heart rate is moderate intensity workout.
This is a basic workout if your goal is to lose fats.
Start with 3-4 times per week and for 30-45 minutes
This is just about cardio however in this routine strength training is also required which will be covered in the upcoming article.

What is a high-intensity workout?

Anything above 85% of your maximal heart rate is high-intensity workout
This can be maintained only for about 1-4 minutes before your speed drops and then gradually goes ahead.
Start with 2-3 times per week for about 20 minutes.
This course will include proper strength training also which will be covered in upcoming article

Note: – High-intensity workout is not suggested for anybody who has not done any cardio exercises for past 4 months, for someone who has serious cardiac issues. Please consult your doctor before getting into these kinds of workout. Inform your coach and coaches too can take this as a basic part of history taking.

(4) Depends upon how well your response to cardio exercises.

As I mentioned in the beginning of the article, every individual is different and there is no same answer to HOW MUCH CARDIO YOU SHOULD DO?
It all depends on your responses which can vary from person to person
I can simply guess that maybe you require this much workout but I am never sure about it unless I check the response for minimum 15 days.

My players always ask me that why do I give the workouts for 15 days and then think so much for the next set of workouts. Sometimes it so happens that I refuse to change the workout and make then repeat it for 15 days. I know it’s annoying, like very annoying but it is better than any serious injury. Unless I am sure about the responses and progress I do not go ahead in case of workouts.

This article only gives you insights about CARDIO but your workout routine is incomplete with strength training and flexibility.

My next blog is HOW MUCH STRENGTH TRAINING YOU NEED TO DO?.