”I just need more cardio” “maybe I’ll start running or I’m gonna do some kind of Boot Camp instead.”
This is one of the most common things we hear when people are not seeing the results they want with a functional fitness program.
(First of all, all exercise is “cardio”)
There are the two main reasons people say this. The first is because they want to lose weight. They don’t feel like they are losing it fast enough. Others want “more cardio” because they are training for some type of endurance event.
Weight Loss
Let’s first talk about why you don’t need ”more cardio” for weight loss. The first point pure and simple is that losing fat is accomplished in the kitchen. Yes, exercise can help, but if you are not eating right then the exercise is fighting an uphill battle. Unless you start training for the Tour de France you’re not going to be able out exercise your diet.
Honestly, trying to substitute more cardio workouts for the harder choice of changing your diet is kind of like copping out. You are beating around the bush and trying to find a magic pill and avoid hard work.
Endurance
Reason number two. If you’re training for some sort of endurance event, yes of course you need to do the movements for your competition. But you also need to increase the efficiency of our cardiovascular system. Simply doing more running doesn’t always make us better at it. If you’re trying to build your cardio engine you first have to build tolerance to CO2 that we have talked so much about.
At Trinity Strength, to help our athletes build their cardio system we ask them when they first join to spend the whole first month breathing only through their nose. If you have not done this before it will give you all the “Cardio” you ever wanted. Once you can work out at the same speed you did before with your mouth open you will be much more suited to run those marathons.
(While are talking about breathing, back to those of you who want more cardio for losing weight. Studies are clearly showing that keeping your mouth closed during exercise is going to help you burn a lot more fat. But we’ll save that discussion for another post) In the meantime check out this podcast covering all things breathing and weight loss.
