The Benefits To Cardiovascular Exercise
Why is Cardiovascular Health so important?
Cardiovascular health is extremely important for everyone, this does not only apply to those striving for health & fitness goals. However, it is painful to see just how many people misunderstand & don’t put enough emphasis on it. This means so many people are missing out on a huge range of health benefits.
The biggest problems I see these days as a personal trainer are, people performing either excessive cardio in the pursuit of fat loss or minimal cardio being performed by those pursuing strength & hypertrophy goals. When you read that, I prey you too cringe & never want to read that sentence again because it is a major problem.
We will go into more detail about how cardio can assist both fat loss & muscle/strength gains in a second. Let’s focus on why cardiovascular health is so important for now. Firstly there is an endless list of the benefits to participating in cardiovascular exercise, some of which include:
Strengthens & grows the heart
Makes the heart more efficient with blood (both pushing it out & receiving it)
Reduces the risk of many serious diseases including but not limited to; CHD, Hypertension, Type 2 Diabetes, some forms of Cancer & much more
Builds a strong immune system
Naturally boosts energy levels
Improvement in mental health
Assists in weight loss
Lower blood pressure
Higher insulin sensitivity
The benefits to participating in cardiovascular exercise are endless, but before you get overwhelmed by it all. I just want to point out the fact that cardiovascular exercise could actually count as everyday tasks such as cleaning the house, walking to the store instead of driving, parking a few blocks away from work, walking the rest of the journey & more.
There are countless ways to which you can add some additional cardiovascular exercise into your daily life whilst reaping the rewards that come with it. However, I must state that to be more specific towards your own goals, you may want to actually follow a cardiovascular programme. Should your goals be more specific towards becoming healthier, improving performance etc… I didn’t specifically mention weight loss because I do believe resistance training is just as important to weight loss as cardio is.
Fat Loss
Let’s start with those pursuing fat loss goals. Time & time again, I see people who want to lose weight spending hours upon hours, sometimes on a daily basis on the treadmill performing steady state cardio. If this is your current routine then you may see some results to begin with. However, I can almost guarantee that these results will not last very long & you will hit a plateau quicker than you expected. You’ll then be left scratching your head telling yourself “I can’t lose weight” or “maybe it’s my genetics” or “nothing works for me” etc…
I have already touched on this in one of my other blogs so if you want in depth information about fat loss plateau’s then please click the following link: https://www.fitzempirept.co.uk/blog/the-key-to-unlocking-your-weight-loss-goals.
However I cannot stress enough how important it is for people who want to lose fat, to also look to build more muscle! With that being said, you should have more of an emphasis on one or the other. Depending on which means more to you. Please do keep in mind that the metabolic effect of building muscle cannot be underestimated when pursuing weight loss goals.
If you are one of those people constantly on the treadmill & cutting your calories more & more until you are at a point of practically starving yourself, then I promise you, no matter what your body fat % is right now. You need to switch your focus to building muscle for some time. This doesn’t have to be an extended period of time but I would recommend doing this for at least 4 weeks.
This is the fun part which I know you will love. By increasing your calories to a slight caloric surplus (200-500 calories above your maintenance calories (stay on the lower end the higher your body fat % is) you will actually begin to train your body to burn more calories throughout the day, even at rest. This is because muscle uses up more energy than fat. So if you take my advice, increase your calories for a minimum of 4 weeks & enter a building muscle phase of training. Then once you decide to go back to cutting your calories down in order to be in a caloric deficit again, you will actually be able to lose weight whilst eating more calories than you are right now.
Building Muscle/Strength
Now let’s switch to the other end of the spectrum. I myself have been guilty of this for far to long. The mentality of “bulking” can be a dangerous thing when you focus so much on your calorie surplus. Far, far, far to many people looking to build muscle simply neglect cardiovascular exercise all together as they don’t want to “burn additional calories”.
Absolute ludicrous. “The whole point in the calorie surplus is to help you build muscle”. Yes that is true to a certain extent, but what if we look at it from a different perspective? Let’s say that the calorie surplus is actually to help fuel your muscles for the exercise you are putting them through, see the difference in mentality?
When you consider the fact that your calories are simply the fuel for your body to get through the exercise you put it through as well as ultimately building your physique. You will actually develop a much healthier relationship with both nutrition & exercise.
With all that being said, cardiovascular exercise does not necessarily have to consist of long runs or walks at a time. There are many different forms of cardiovascular exercise ranging from various forms of interval training (e.g. aerobic, lactate & CP intervals) to more advanced techniques such as fartlek sessions, cooper run tests & so much more.
So now you understand there are so many options when it comes to cardiovascular training, so now let’s address the elephant in the room. Why should you perform cardiovascular training whilst building muscle? The answer is simple. THERE ARE SO MANY BENEFITS TO CARDIOVASCULAR HEALTH!
First of all, no matter whether you want to build strength or muscle, or even both. A good cardio routine will actually help you maintain a higher work capacity. This means you will be able to do more in a single sessions. This could be nailed all the way to performing an extra rep, even a whole extra set. During my early days of lifting, I always found myself gassed in my sessions. It would also take me days to regain my energy back again from the previous session, probably a hint of overtraining there. However, if I had been performing some light cardio on “rest” days & had included 1 or 2 dedicated days for cardio, I would have recovered better, felt more energetic and would have even been able to perform better as well as do more during my workout.
Conclusion
No matter what you are striving for inside or even outside of the gym. Your cardiovascular health must be a top priority. We focus on our mental & physical health which don’t get me wrong, is a must. However, not enough people are conscious enough of the fact that cardiovascular health should be right up there, along side mental health.
After reading this, if you have hit a plateau, either recently or even in the past. I hope you can realise that all you need to do is make a change in your routine & mentality. Stop putting all of your eggs into 1 basket. Mix & match a little & see just how far that takes you.
I hope you enjoyed reading this article, if you would like more information on weight loss plateaus & a simple way to overcome them. Please check out my blog article named “The Key To Unlocking Your Weight Loss Goals”.
Written By: Joseph Fitzpatrick
Joseph is the founder of Fitz Empire & is currently working as a self employed personal trainer in London, United Kingdom.
