Cardio's Importance

                    Cardiovascular Training

Cardio training is a type of exercise that is really important for the health and well-being of the Human Heart. The cardiovascular fitness of a person is determined by the ability of his heart to pump oxygen-rich blood to the muscles and tissues. Although some peoples use cardio as an approach for losing weight, it is also beneficial for all of the human body.

                                                                                                                                                                           Cardio exercises are referred to as any periodic activity that raises your heart rate into your target heart rate zone. In this zone, your body burns out most of the fats and calories. During cardio training exercising you have to maintain a moderate level of intensity, for a specific duration, during which your cardiovascular system starts supplying fresh oxygen to working muscles.

                                          

           Cardiovascular exercising is a little different than the other types of exercises because it depends on your body's ability to use oxygen during the exercise session. Cardio capacity varies from person to person and also on basis of gender. The cardio capacity of males is naturally 25% more than the females and this capacity decreases as you get older. This doesn't mean that the cardio capacity of a person can't be changed.

                                                Cardiovascular exercising or workout usually involves a variety of exercises/activities such as walking, jogging, cycling, swimming, jumping rope, stair climbing, rowing, etc. You don't have to do all of these activities instead you can select only a few exercises according to your body type and your interest. when you do these activities consistently for a specific period of time it has beneficial effects on your mental and physical health.

Cardio exercising is beneficial for the human body in a variety of ways.

• Cardio burns fats and calories, which makes losing body fat easy.
• Cardio improves your sleep quality especially when it is done with high intensity.
• Cardio improves your body image and increases hormone production which improves your sex life.
• Cardio increases bone density when you do weight-bearing cardio like hiking or stair climbing.
• Cardio increases the amount of air your lungs are capable to hold.
• Cardio/workout pushes blood to every corner of your body and as a result of fresh oxygen-holding blood circulates in your body which releases stress and anxiety.
• Cardio provides more confidence in how you look and feel every day. 
• Cardio decreases the risk of heart attack, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, and some kinds of cancer.
• Cardio strengthens the heart so it won't have to work hard to pump blood.

                               For making an efficient cardio program you have to take care of few factors which are mode, intensity, duration, and frequency of cardio. You can alter/change the mode of cardio exercise according to your body's ability and strength. you can choose an exercise which interests you from different kinds of exercises like swimming, rope skipping, jogging, cycling, skiing, stair climbing, elliptical trainer, dancing, rowing, etc. The frequency of cardio exercises is the number of working out sessions you do every day or every week. This frequency varies according to your daily activities and the sports you do every day. Usually, 20 minutes of cardio training, three times per week is the ideal frequency. Duration is the time spend doing single or multiple cardio exercises. You can set cardio duration according to your strength or capability between 15 - 60 minutes. The intensity of cardio can be determined by keeping the track of heartbeat or pulse count. The heart rate of a certain person can be determined by subtracting his/her age from 220. So if you are 40 years old ideal heart rate should be 180 beats per minute.

         Ideal heartbeat,        220-40= 180 beats/minute

                        

                                                                                          High levels of cardio exercising result in protein loss from muscle, which can lead to reduced muscle mass and strength. So consider keeping your cardio sessions relatively brief and less frequent. when you perform moderate cardio exercises it increases the glucose and amino acid uptake in your liver and muscles. If you want to build muscles and lose fat perform 10-15 minutes of low to moderate intensity cardio after strength training.