the confusion behind cardio
…and the secret to doing it right.
Cardiovascular exercise is one of the most misunderstood aspects of health and fitness. No, it’s not limited to your hour-long bike rides or 10km road races. Cardio activity is so incredibly accessible to everyone, regardless of one’s fitness status or time availability. In fact, you’ve probably done far more cardio work this past week than you’re giving yourself credit for.
Too often we get into this mindset that only organized, endurance-based activities like running or swimming count. It’s high time we realized that cardio training is far more flexible than that, including your activities of daily life and, yes, even weight training. Let’s tear away the layers of misinformation that we’ve been exposed to, and finally get to the real definition of cardiovascular exercise. Once you realize just how flexible and diverse this activity is, you can begin transforming the way you approach your fitness and weight loss goals.
What exactly is cardio?
Simply put, cardio can be defined as any activity that requires an elevated heart rate/breathing rate for more than 5-10 minutes at a time. Using this definition, it’s pretty clear that nearly every moderate-to-intense activity technically falls under this category. This includes but is not limited to…
running
biking
swimming
HIIT circuit classes
rowing
landscaping
walking
various house chores
weight lifting
stair climbing
the list goes on…
For whatever reason, many individuals have a hard time accepting that weight training is also cardiovascular exercise in its own way. Sure, it’s not entirely focused on the aerobic energy-generating process, but you’re still training your heart and lungs. Why is this the case?
“Our muscles require oxygen to function, so when we start using them hard enough and for long enough, we start breathing faster to get more oxygen into the system and our heart starts beating faster to pump that oxygen out to the muscles for them to use. Anything that engages this process is cardio. It can be climbing a fight of stairs, hiking up a mountain, running a marathon, getting after it on the elliptical, and countless other activities.” — Matthew Boutte
When we lift weights, we’re requiring the musculoskeletal system to work on overdrive, thus increasing the demand on the cardiovascular system to deliver the necessary fuels to sustain this level of activity. Next time you go lift weights, just feel your pulse after the session.
It’s hard to argue that weights = cardio training when you feel your heart racing!
Now, a valid argument to this perspective is that some activities are more cardio-based than others, and are thus officially categorized as ‘cardio’. For example, a 20-minute jog is naturally going to be more effective than a weight lifting session if you’re looking to consistently maintain an elevated heart rate. While this is technically true, it’s absolutely absurd to think that these ‘other activities’ aren’t training the cardiovascular system at all.
Whether your goal is to do more cardio or strength work, know that they are inseparable to some degree! As you’re exerting your body, the heart and lungs will naturally follow suit.
why is this important?
When we get obsessed with one method of exercise, there is always a risk of burnout and injury. For many athletes, it’s understood that running is the ‘end-all-be-all’ to cardiovascular training and that doing anything else would be settling for less. If more people would realize the fact that cardio training is essentially how you move through life, it would open the door to a wider scope of training and habit creation.
No, you don’t need to run every day to maintain your cardiovascular fitness.
Whether you’re utilizing cardio to stay healthy and avoid chronic disease, or you’re serious about athletic performance, please understand that there are many forms of cardio out there. Instead of solely running, biking, or swimming, try branching out every once in a while! Most importantly, remember that micro-decisions throughout your day, such as taking the stairs or parking further from your workplace, will make an enormous impact on your long-term health.
If you’re intentional, you can design your entire life to be a cardiovascular training exercise!
In Closing
Contrary to popular belief, cardiovascular exercise is far more than running, biking, or swimming. If you perform an activity that increases your exertion beyond a resting state, you’re technically doing cardio training. Now the key is to organize your life so that you’re exposed to many sources of cardio exercise, appropriately balancing light, moderate, and intense activities based on your goals and fitness levels.
If you start viewing cardiovascular work as an everyday challenge and not just the thing you do while running, you’ll be a much more versatile, healthy, and happy athlete moving forward!
Happy training!
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