Cardio is short for cardiovascular or aerobic exercises.
Those are the exercises of low or medium intensity
that can be performed over longer periods of time.
Activities such as running, cycling or swimming are the most common examples.
This type of training has a lot of benefits,
but I'm going to focus on the ones that are the most important for the purpose
of getting better in calisthenics.
First of all, cardio workouts are strengthening your heart muscle
and improving its efficiency.
In a way running is the same for the heart
as bicep curls are for your biceps.
They also reinforce all the muscles taking part in breathing, like diaphragm.
So in short cardio workouts make you absorb oxygen more efficiently.
Muscles need oxygen to work and when you're doing a lot of, for example, pull ups,
the heart starts pumping blood extensively to deliver it.
But the oxygen demand here is higher than the supply
so eventually you will run out of breath and strength.
Postponing that moment by improving the efficiency of your respiratory system
can help you progress faster in exercises
where you aim at high quantities of reps.
Secondly, cardio workouts cause your body to burn fat.
Combining it with a proper diet will result in weight reduction
and a higer muscle to fat ratio.
Of course burning your muscles will have the contrary effect, so the aerobic exercises
should be only a supplement to the strength training.
Calisthenics is all about moving your body, so being lean is advantageous.
You can do more difficult exercises or do more reps of the easier ones,
if you don't have to lift excess weight.
And lastly, most cardio activities use mostly your legs,
because they are the biggest muscle group and can produce the substantial oxygen demand for longer periods of time.
Sometimes, it may be a struggle to exhaust your legs with pure bodywieght exercises.
So such aerobic session can be treated as additional lower body training.
Activities like cycling or stairs climbing can be a great way to train your legs
and keep the mouths of gym bros saying not to skip the leg day shut.
As for the question which cardio activity to choose -
the best one is the one you will enjoy, because being systematic and consistent is the key here.
If you pick something that won't be enjoyable,
it's more likely for you to give it up after a few sessions.
So take your time in searching for something you will be fond of,
whether it's running, cycling, swimming,
rope skipping, stairs climbing, trampoline jumping,
hitting a bag or using machines like cross trainer.
As for how long and how often to train,
I would recommend doing cardio 3 or 4 times a week
for 30 to 60 minutes depending on the activity.
As always if you have any comments or suggestions,
leave them in the comment section below and until the next time.
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