Benefits You May Get From Cardio Training

Cardio training or aerobic exercise is any activity that employs the use of considerably large groups of muscles in a continuous and rhythmic manner throughout certain periods of time. The most common examples of which are running, skiing, skating, sprinting, tae bo, elliptical training, walking, rowing, and biking. In some cases, circuit training is also categorized as cardio training since it requires continuous movements from one form of exercise to another.

In essence, cardio training works by elevating the maximum heartbeat the organ may reach somewhere around 65-80%. This state is called aerobic or heart beat state because only in here, and in some special instances will the heart reach such great increase in heart rate.

As we all know, there are many benefits that may be had with cardio training. Aside from strengthening and raising the level of endurance of the heart and the lungs, cardio training also helps burn unwanted fats and calories. And since heart problems are one of the major contributing factors to prevalent premature death among men and women, it is extremely important to get involved with any forms of cardio vascular training.

Does Aerobic Exercise Cause Muscle Wasting?

This is a claim you hear often, especially among bodybuilders, but also among some personal trainers. The most extreme version is aerobics makes you fat, the reasoning being that it leads to loss of muscle, which lowers your metabolism, causing you to gain fat because you’re now eating too much for your slow metabolism. These types of claims are based on some truth, as we’ll see, but are highly exaggerated. Your muscles are not going to waste away to nothing because you run half an hour per day.

There are some mechanisms by which aerobic exercise can interfere with muscle growth or cause actual muscle loss. The first is that concurrent aerobic exercise and strength training lead to competing adaptations in muscles. For example, steady state aerobics leads to endurance adaptations such as increased mitochondria (aerobic energy factories) and aerobic enzymes in the muscle cells, while strength training can lead to hypertrophy, or growth in muscle fibers. The bottom line is that doing both of these activities has been shown to cut muscle growth about in half compared to just doing strength training [Docherty, 2001; Gordon, 1967].