There are many ways to increase or diversify your cardio exercise routine. You have many options, whether you want to run, jump, cycle, swim, bike, run or walk, or you prefer high-intensity interval exercise.
Fitness enthusiasts can fall into this trap by believing or performing one of the 5 cardio mistakes. These are five cardio mistakes to avoid.
5 Worst Cardio Mistakes
Cardio Mistake. Believing Cardio Kills Muscle Bulk
Do you have ever thought of increasing your muscle mass, and then avoiding cardio? You’ve worked out at the gym, gained strength and felt good. However, you still feel a little fat.
Let’s just be clear: bulking means you have an excess of calories. It can be difficult to build lean muscle while not gaining a lot more fat.
In this scenario you will need to trim down to get that six-pack. However, you are afraid that if your cardio routine is too intense you’ll lose the muscle definition and tone you’ve worked so hard for.
Is this true? Not necessarily. Cardio (or aerobic), exercise is referred to as this because it raises your heart rate. Your heart is a muscle. It needs to be worked on if it wants its best for many years. A healthy heart will show in the way your body feels and looks.
Keep in mind that to lose weight you must eat less calories than your body needs.
If you are adding cardio to the calorie deficit, this can cause you to lose muscle mass. You need to make sure you don’t eat too many calories.
You can incorporate cardio into your exercise routine for a few days each week. But don’t get too obsessed with it. It’ll help you stay on track. Moderation is encouraged.
Cardio Mistake. Cardio is not the only way to lose weight
This is false. Although you’ll see lots of men and ladies go to the gym for hours on end, their body composition won’t change.
Why? The most likely reason is that they are not looking after themselves outside of the gym. They will eat whatever they like at their home, and then they’ll go to the gym thinking that cardio will help lose weight.
It’s important to remember that calories are in and calories are out. So if your body is consuming more calories per day than it’s actually burning, there won’t be any noticeable changes (at least not in a direction that you want).
Your cardio exercises should be balanced with your diet. There are many other ways you can burn calories. You can even burn extra calories while you sleep.
Cardio Mistake. More Fat Loss = Longer Cardio
Do longer cardio sessions help you lose fat more quickly? No.
Cardiovascular health is all about reducing the number of steps.
Your cardio work outs should last between 30 and 45 minutes. The best time to do interval training is 15-to-20-minute sessions once a week.
Cardio sessions for long periods of time will only exhaust your muscles.
Make sure to incorporate strength training into your workouts. Focusing on cardio will result in a loss of gains that you didn’t make. Use it instead to help you cut back a bit and maintain your cardiovascular fitness.
Cardio Mistake. Snail Pace Cardio
We’ve all seen them. The people who get on the treadmill with little effort in hopes of getting something back.
Unfortunately, they will never be able reach the level of fitness that they desire. Their heart rate is not high enough for them to burn calories sufficiently to make any progress.
This trap is easy to fall into. Increase the pace and the incline of your treadmill so you can reach your target heartbeat. For most adults, this will mean that you walk at around four miles an hour. However, each person is different.
Once your heart rate reaches that level, continue this for approximately 30-40 minutes.
Cardio Mistake
Limiting the cardio you do is a trap. Everyone online has an opinion. Everybody wants to share their opinion with you. But what works well for them might not work for us.
High-intensity, interval training may be a better option for you if your injuries are severe. You may prefer to swim.
Also, if meditation during a prolonged low-intensity training is what you prefer, you may not be interested in listening to gurus who tout the benefits and advantages of kickboxing.
We encourage everyone to try different kinds of cardio. Try different types of cardio to find the one that works best for your needs. Cardio shouldn’t be something to be afraid of. In fact it should be used as a complement to your other workouts. You should not ignore cardio, but you should also be able to focus on it.
