Cardio is a very important component of your overall health and fitness plan, both because of its effects on your heart, and as a tool for losing fat. Just as in weight training, the body adapts to the work that you perform during cardiovascular exercise. The benefits are many.
Benefits of cardiovascular exercise
Its primary benefits are in cardiovascular function, which include increased cardiac output, increased stroke volume, and a reduced heart rate during rest and submaximal exercise. In other words, your heart becomes more and more efficient, performing the same amount of work with less effort. It has also been shown to cause neurological adaptations in relation to exercise, where the body produces more efficient locomotion with lower energy expenditure.
The same effects can be observed in the body's musculature. As cardiovascular training progresses, the body will be able to perform the same intensity of exercise with greater ease.
For example, in previously untrained subjects, the average resting heart rate is 74. After a short-term period of aerobic endurance training, these same people reach an average resting heart rate of 61. This is after just 3-6 months of exercise.
Where to begin
A typical beginning cardiovascular routine might include 4-5 sessions a week that are approximately 30 minutes in duration. This could involve jogging, walking on an inclined treadmill, an elliptical, or a stair-stepper. The general idea is to get the heart working at a rate higher than your resting heart rate.
It should be kept in mind, though, that it is possible to do too much cardio, just as it is possible to do too little. Overtraining in cardiovascular exercise has been shown to cause a host of health problems, in addition to deteriorating your muscle tissue, and therefore negatively affecting your body composition.
