Yes I am opening that can of worms! Now before you start forming a queue to sever my head, let me start by saying that I'm not suggesting that it's completely irrelevant - if you are training for an endurance event or are an athlete training for a sport which involves some form of muscle endurance then of course you need to do cardiovascular work. Also, if you currently have an injury which is preventing you from doing resistance training properly and 'Cardio' is all you are able to do then fine. The people who I'm aiming this blog at are those of you I see in the gym spending your whole time aimlessly pounding the treadmill, bobbing up and down on the X Trainer, or wearing out the pedals on the bikes! (You know who you are!) ;-) Question - WHY are you doing this?
Most common answer:
"Because I'm trying to lose weight and I burn X amount of calories each time I come to the gym (the machine says so!) and I also like the fact that it keeps me fit and healthy because I'm getting my heart rate up for an hour. Also, I don't like to do 'weights' as I don't want to get too muscular or bulky and I don't really know what I'm doing with the resistance machines or the free weights anyway."
So let's clear this up for you!
Have you ever looked around the gym and seen the Personal Trainers doing mainly weight training/resistance based exercises with all of their clients ..... there's a reason for that!
In a nutshell - resistance training does it all (if you are doing it at a high enough intensity that is), for starters it will do your precious 'Cardio' in the process, again - if you are doing it at a high enough intensity as you are using lots of muscles simultaneously in order to lift the weight(s). This doesn't mean that you have to be lifting ridiculously heavy weights all the time, it just means doing some form of resistance training, which can be with machines, dumbbells, barbells or using your own body weight.
The other great thing about weight/resistance training is that it will elevate your good, fat burning hormones such as testosterone and growth hormone. These hormones also have lots of other health benefits for example - lowering your blood sugars and cholesterol as well as keeping your skin youthful to name a few.
Now to explain what too much 'Cardio' does:
When your heart rate is elevated consistently for a long period of time - after a while (the time differs from person to person) but for argument sake let's just say 45 mins - an hour, your energy stores in the muscles (glycogen) are depleted so the body then calls on its 'back up' energy reserves - the muscle tissue itself! As muscle is made up of proteins which are a nutritious 'instant' energy reserve for the body. Why do we need muscle tissue? To stay healthy and strong of course! Particularly if you are trying to tone up & lose fat (who isn't these days?) - we need muscle tissue as it is what we call active tissue which needs lots of calories to survive, therefore elevating the metabolism even when you are at rest! So why would anyone want to do anything which breaks this wonderful stuff down?! Surely you would want to make more of it!
So book a session with a Personal Trainer today and get lifting, pushing or pulling!