03:08
Faizan
Cardio training is an effective method for burning calories and improving overall health, but too much of anything can be bad for your body. If you hit the track for long periods of time, you'll likely undo any muscular gains you've been making by burning muscle along with fat. To burn fat without losing muscle, limit your cardio training and when you do run, increase your intensity.
Energy Pathways
Whenever you exercise, your body needs to produce energy to keep you moving. Which energy-producing system you use -- aerobic or anaerobic -- depends mostly on your level of intensity. Cardio exercises typically fall into the aerobic zone, which is also known as steady-state exercise, wherein the relatively slow process of breaking down energy sources through oxidation is enough to keep you going at a moderate pace for a long period of time. If you increase your intensity, you'll enter the anaerobic zone as your heart rate increases, accessing faster means of converting energy sources to energy, making your workouts shorter and more conducive to muscular gains. Lifting weights is also anaerobic and improved anaerobic conditioning through high intensity cardio can improve energy efficiency when you lift.
Cardio and Muscle Loss
You may have heard that cardio is bad for building muscle. Although it is true that steady-state cardio training does not stimulate new muscle growth to the same degree as high-intensity workouts, you won't lose muscle mass from cardio if you limit your sessions. Too much cardio training causes your body to release a potentially-destructive hormone called cortisol, which can decrease bone density and muscle mass. Essentially, this is a result of overtraining, which can be done with any form of exercise, cardio or otherwise.
Low-Intensity Cardio
Low-intensity cardio training, such as a light jog, an uphill hike or a moderate bike ride should generally keep you in a heart rate zone between 60 and 80 percent of your maximum. In this workout zone, you will burn calories and increase cardiovascular fitness. Which form of cardio is best depends on your personal fitness goals and your overall level of fitness. Running can be stressful on your joints, so you might prefer swimming or biking. Either way, the key to sustaining muscle mass is to limit your cardio to 30 minutes or less at a time and to allow your body to recover after training. You also need to consume enough calories from protein to keep your muscles well-stocked with the building blocks necessary for new growth.
Best of Both Worlds
If you want to be more proactive about increasing cardiovascular health and making muscular gains, you're going to need to ratchet up your exercise intensity. Interval training involves alternating between periods of high and low intensity. If you hit the track, this would take the form of sprinting for 40 yards and jogging lightly for the next 100. Generally, you should aim to jog for twice the amount of time that you sprint. Since sprinting is intense in nature, you shouldn't do it on consecutive days to allow for proper rest and recovery.
Energy Pathways
Whenever you exercise, your body needs to produce energy to keep you moving. Which energy-producing system you use -- aerobic or anaerobic -- depends mostly on your level of intensity. Cardio exercises typically fall into the aerobic zone, which is also known as steady-state exercise, wherein the relatively slow process of breaking down energy sources through oxidation is enough to keep you going at a moderate pace for a long period of time. If you increase your intensity, you'll enter the anaerobic zone as your heart rate increases, accessing faster means of converting energy sources to energy, making your workouts shorter and more conducive to muscular gains. Lifting weights is also anaerobic and improved anaerobic conditioning through high intensity cardio can improve energy efficiency when you lift.
Cardio and Muscle Loss
You may have heard that cardio is bad for building muscle. Although it is true that steady-state cardio training does not stimulate new muscle growth to the same degree as high-intensity workouts, you won't lose muscle mass from cardio if you limit your sessions. Too much cardio training causes your body to release a potentially-destructive hormone called cortisol, which can decrease bone density and muscle mass. Essentially, this is a result of overtraining, which can be done with any form of exercise, cardio or otherwise.
Low-Intensity Cardio
Low-intensity cardio training, such as a light jog, an uphill hike or a moderate bike ride should generally keep you in a heart rate zone between 60 and 80 percent of your maximum. In this workout zone, you will burn calories and increase cardiovascular fitness. Which form of cardio is best depends on your personal fitness goals and your overall level of fitness. Running can be stressful on your joints, so you might prefer swimming or biking. Either way, the key to sustaining muscle mass is to limit your cardio to 30 minutes or less at a time and to allow your body to recover after training. You also need to consume enough calories from protein to keep your muscles well-stocked with the building blocks necessary for new growth.
Best of Both Worlds
If you want to be more proactive about increasing cardiovascular health and making muscular gains, you're going to need to ratchet up your exercise intensity. Interval training involves alternating between periods of high and low intensity. If you hit the track, this would take the form of sprinting for 40 yards and jogging lightly for the next 100. Generally, you should aim to jog for twice the amount of time that you sprint. Since sprinting is intense in nature, you shouldn't do it on consecutive days to allow for proper rest and recovery.
Posted in: Aerobics
