Cardiovascular exercise. These very words can stir up a great deal of different emotions. Some people love cardio, as it usually called. Some people hate it. Perhaps it is in the way that we look at it. It is most often thought of related to weight loss, which, in itself stirs up many emotions. Cardio provides many benefits to our bodies to help us stay healthy.
Just what is cardio? Cardiovascular exercise, or cardio training, is performing any activity that involves the use of the large muscle groups of the body in a regular and uninterrupted manor. It elevates your heart rate between 60% and 85% of the fastest heart rate that you can get. Some activities that are examples of cardio training are: walking, running, biking, rollerblading or any other aerobic exercise.
WEIGHT LOSS
I want you to think of cardio as having many benefits to your overall health-not just for weight loss, although weight loss is a very important benefit. When you are performing cardio training, you are moving your body. When you are moving your body, you are burning off calories in the form of energy. Some forms of cardio will burn more calories than others and some will depend on the amount of time that you do them. If you walk 30 minutes at a brisk pace, you will burn more calories than walking 30 minutes at a slower pace.
HEART HEALTH
Improving the health of your heart is a major benefit of cardio training. Your heart is a muscle and it needs to be worked to stay strong. Have you ever wondered why you feel winded after walking up a flight of stairs? It is because you have not been working your heart muscle. When you perform a cardio activity for 30 minutes five times per week, you are helping your heart muscle get stronger. When that muscle is strong, it is able to pump blood throughout your body. Climbing that flight of stairs will no longer leave you winded and breathless.
REDUCED RISK OF DISEASES AND ILLNESSES
Cardio has been shown to help reduce the risk of heart disease. Obviously, if you are exercising your heart muscle, it will only make it stronger! Cardio training also provides relief from anxiety and depression. Have you ever heard of the "runner's high"? When you do cardio, your body releases hormones that make you feel good, thus helping you reduce the amount of stress in your body.
A BETTER YOU
Cardio helps you develop a "better you". By this I mean you will have more confidence in how you look and feel. You will have more energy to perform your everyday tasks and tackle that big "to do" list. If you use more energy during the day, your body will sleep better at night, so that you will feel more rested in the morning and ready to begin your day.
When you feel better, those around you will notice, and it will be contagious. You will be setting a good example for your family and co-workers to follow. Who knows what will catch on?
Now that you know the benefits of cardio, why not get started? The sooner that you do, the better you will feel!
Author Resource:-
Are you sick and tired of trying every fad diet under the sun only to find they don't work? Are you tired of being lied to about the latest weight loss diets? Learn what really works by going to http://weight--loss--diets.com
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.massagebyben.com/articles/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites 