Most common myths about cardio exercise that you must not believe
The first idea related to weight loss is
to start going to the gym and the next thought is to start with cardio.
Cardio is short for cardiovascular activities - activities that raise
your heartbeat such as running, skipping, cycling etc.
Cardio
is one of the best workouts for your weight loss and aims at overall
cardiovascular health. It also helps increase your lung capacity. Cardio
helps burn tons of calories and also releases your feel good
endorphins. But with these amazing benefits, cardio has also been
associated with numerous senseless myths. Here is a list of the myths
related to cardio.
Weight loss is promoted by cardio
Weight loss can not just depend on cardio,
it requires a proper balance of cardio, strength training and diet. A
perfectly regulated diet is important because without proper diet
neither strength training nor cardio is going to help. Strength training
is necessary because if you do cardio, it would lead to weight loss,
but that is the wrong kind of weight. Strength training helps build lean
muscle and speeds up the process of weight loss.
Fastest cardio is the best
Another famous cardio myth is that fasted
cardio is best. When we perform any cardiovascular activity, our body
taps into food that we have consumed to obtain energy. Suppose you have
not consumed anything before cardio, your body will start tapping into
stored reserves for energy. This leads to muscle and also affects your
overall performance.
Cardio under an hour is useless
All your body's movements result in a
caloric burn, whether you jog for 1 hour or run for 20 minutes, you will
surely burn calories. High-intensity short workouts are being favoured
nowadays, therefore, thinking that if you won't do cardio for an hour,
it will be useless is a complete lie. We hope after reading this you
would stop giving excuses of not having enough time c0to do cardio.
Leg workout can be substituted by cardio
Cardio is an entirely different thing when
compared to strength training. People often believe cardio is similar to
leg workout, which is not true. When we perform our leg workout we
strain numerous leg muscles to lift heavyweights. It results in
strengthening of muscles, while cardio trains leg muscles for a
different type of strain.
Cardio should always be done first
There is no specific order to when you
should do your cardio. Strength training helps burn more calories than
cardio. So ideally you should first do strength training as you have
more energy initially and is better to spend your energy on the workout
that will help in burning more calories. Regardless you can follow any
order according to your preference, but remember there is no hard and
fast rule to do cardio first.
Cardio requires a gym
This is one of the silliest myths, actually,
it is more of an excuse which has now turned into a myth. Any activity
in which your heart rate goes up is cardio. You can incorporate
exercises such as jump squats, burpees, jumping lunges, mountain
climbers, and more in your cardio routine. None of these exercises
requires a gym. All we want to tell you is cardio can be done anywhere,
not being able to attend the gym should never be a reason to not do
cardio.