Entry 12: my thoughts on cardio

 Hey team,

What a week it has been! I'm currently on my first placement for my physiotherapy degree - this first placement is with older adults in a hospital setting and it's been really interesting so far.

Sports and musculoskeletal physio is what I want to go into but learning different bits and bobs from all areas is really interesting so I'm trying to be a sponge and soak it all up!

I hope you've all had a great week whatever you've been up to and are looking forward to the next week. Have you got anything exciting or challenging coming up? Let me know! 

This week, I wanted to talk about cardio training and what my thoughts are on it. Like lots of things in the fitness industry, cardio is a hotly debated topic, with people often sitting firmly on 1 side or the other.

So what do I think?

I think... don't skip your cardio guys. 

I know a lot of people hate it but cardio is so important and one that shouldn't be avoided. But I don't endorse it for the common reason of losing weight.

What IS cardio training?

So before just diving in to the benefits, I want to take a second to explain what it actually is, because most people understand it as the type of exercise (running, biking, walking) but not what the actual physiological meaning is. 

Cardio (or cardiovascular) training is a form of aerobic training that works the heart, lungs and surrounding blood vessels to improve their function. 

What are the benefits?

So now to consider the benefits of this. 

As mentioned above, it works your heart, lungs and blood vessels and this actually makes them stronger. The heart as many of you know is a muscle (and a very important one at that) and thus it can get physically stronger which increases the blood pumped around your body and therefore, the oxygen and nutrients delivered to working tissues. 

This is how our ability to use oxygen is improved. We often hear this referred to as ones VO2 max - this being the maximum rate at which the body can use oxygen as fuel during exercise and with this, the higher the better! 

This basically translates to the body becoming more efficient and this is why people who are considered very cardiovascularly fit don't get as puffed with everyday tasks and can withstand more load. 

What about weight loss?

Sure, cardio can have an impact on weight loss but you will always lose weight (not necessarily fat) if you're in a calorie deficit and doing any form of exercise helps, so cardio doesn't have a specific benefit on weight loss. 

In fact, weight training is actually more beneficial for losing weight than cardio is. Yes, it is an activity that will increase the energy you expend, and when you combine that with a calorie deficit, boom. You will lose weight.

But what weight training has over cardio is that it increases muscle mass much more and this increased muscle mass leads to increased calories burned at rest and during exercise.

How much should I be doing? 

When we come to think about how much cardio we should be doing daily or weekly, we do actually have some guidelines. 

Over the course of the week, the guidelines recommend getting at least 150 minutes of moderate cardio in or 75 minutes of intense cardio. So this roughly works out to 20 minutes of moderate cardio a day or 2x35 minute HIIT sessions. 

And you can get this done in a number of ways. 

If you're not into the super intense cardio sessions, you can opt for a brisk walk each day - I would aim for about 30 minutes a day to ensure you are covering bases in case the walk isn't challenging enough to be considered moderate. This can also be broken up into smaller walks throughout the day if that's more manageable for you but I do recommend trying to do those slightly longer ones to really reap the benefits. 

What type should I be doing? 

Then we can also think about what type and this is completely up to you! Walking, running, biking, swimming, circuit classes - there are endless options. 

However, I can make some recommendations that may be better suited for some people. 

Biking and swimming are generally going to be kinder on your joints than running is as it puts less force through the joints. 

But our bones also respond to loading and become stronger as a result. 

So there are pros and cons to each but I would say none significantly outweighs the other. Unless you have an injury or movement limitation, take your pick! And hey, there's no reason why you can't mix and match. Cross-training is a really effective way to improve your VO2 max, with some studies I've seen indicating that it may be superior to single training types. 

In general, it is important to manage your load regardless of what you are doing and easing into it (particularly running) is really important for preventing injuries. 

What do I do?

Like everything, what one person does may not be suitable for another but I like sharing my own experiences as I know that I appreciate when others do the same. And you never know what might help or inspire someone right! 

I used to say that I despised running and I never did it. But in the last 6 months, I decided to give it a go and I fell in love with it. 

Don't get me wrong, its really hard and it kind of sucks when you're doing it but I often find myself feeling bummed when its my rest day and I know I don't have a run scheduled. 

Typically I run 3 times a week with a rest day in between each one and I’ve also just started doing a weekend circuit class again which has a mix of cardio and strength training elements - these classes have worked really well for me in the past and I’m absolutely loving doing it again! 

Again, what one person does may not work for another. But ensuring that your schedule in cardiovascular activities into each week is so important for health! 

So I encourage you to take the time out to explore a range of different options to find something that works for you. And hey, if you do it for a month and get sick of it, try a different form and see if that works - you can always chop and change as you need, once you pick a cardio type you’re not stuck with it forever! 

If anyone has any questions or wants any guidance, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. Cardio can be off putting to a lot of people but maybe if we chat it through, we can figure something out that you’d love 

- Alex