What is cardio?
Getting fit will require you to participate in some form of aerobic/anaerobic exercise, also known as cardio. Cardio stands for cardiovascular exercise and basically refers to any type of exercise that benefits the heart. Aerobic exercise is normally performed for a period of 15-20 minutes and is of a lower intensity than anaerobic exercise. Aerobic exercise can include activities such as walking, biking, jogging, swimming or aerobic classes.
Anaerobic exercise on the other hand is performed at a higher intensity and generally lasts for a shorter period of time. Examples include Weightlifting , sprinting and football. For many of you the thought of doing cardio doesn’t bear thinking about but the truth is, cardio is a key element in all workout routines. Cardio will help improve general health, burn off additional calories and get you into better shape physically. There are a number of Health Benefits Associated With Cardio Work . When exercising overtime, your heart will get stronger, pumping more blood with each beat. This is known as stroke volume. Athletes and runners can have stroke volumes of more than double that of an average persons.
Its also worth noting that the heart is also a muscle and therefore gets bigger the more cardio and exercise you perform. Due to its increased size through the use of cardio, this allows for more blood to enter the hearts ventricles meaning that more blood gets pumped after each heart beat. Due to the increased amount of blood that the heart pumps per beat, it means that the heart doesnt have to pump as fast in order to meet the demands of cardio and physical exercise.
This places less stress on your heart both when performing cardio and when you are resting. Your resting heart rate will have also dropped as a result. For those of you who dont know, your resting heart rate is how many times your heart needs to beat during periods of inactivity where you are doing nothing e.g sleeping, watching tv or playing on the computer. For more information on cardio, take a look at Natural Physiques - What Exactly Is Cardio?
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