Damn Cardio

I am having a very un-healthy relationship with my cardio training. I love it, and I hate it. I hate to start it and I love it when it’s finished. I hate the feeling I get when I miss a day and I love it when I go beyond my limits. It’s a messy, up and down and ugly relationship, and we all know those are the ones we never forget.

These days my knees hurt so badly after a run/walk, I cant stand to bear it. I’ve been walking hills and incorporating 2 x 100yds sprints and plan to bump this up next week (25mins total) with some ropes. I want a hybrid approach which will benefit me in the long run. Im always at a quandary cause I’ve looked my best doing long steady fasted cardio but I’ve performed my best running and doing sprints (a loooooong time ago). In the A.M. I’m also debating cardio before or after weights. I’ve always been taught cardio after weightlifting causes catabolism but I’m giving it a try for the next 3 weeks. Either way steady cardio in the AM and twice a week at night Im sprinting and skipping rope with a short one mile run.

I’m really feeling the HIIT right now. I plan on running a mile and combining it with short sprints cause running is just not for me. I want to master my mile and call it a day. Below are some interesting fact about cardio

The Simple Facts About Cardio

Before we talk about how much cardio you should do, you should at least know why it’s so important. Cardiovascular exercise simply means that you’re involved in an activity that raises your heart rate to a level where you’re working, but can still talk (aka, in your Target Heart Rate Zone). Here’s why cardio is so important:

• It’s one way to burn calories and help you lose weight
• It makes your heart strong so that it doesn’t have to work as hard to pump blood
• It increases your lung capacity
• It helps reduce risk of heart attack, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes
• It makes you feel good
• It helps you sleep better
• It helps reduce stress
• I could go on all day, but you get the point

Bottom line: you need cardio if you want to increase your fitness level and get your stress to a tolerable level.

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