For those of you who clicked on this article for an excuse to get out of doing cardio, think again. But if you want a head?s up on what too much cardio means and a suggestion for a short, effective cardio routine, then read on!
If you haven?t heard of him yet, Dr. Joseph Mercola is one of the leading Natural Health experts in the world. He is an advocate of natural medicine and has provided extensive research and discussion on important topics such as the vitamin D deficiency epidemic and the damaging effects of antibiotics. (Here?s his background to review.)
Last month he published an article,?The Exercise Mistake Proven to Damage Your Heart, which reported study results indicating the link between older athletes and scarred heart tissue (fibrosis). It appears as though extreme training can result in heart damage.
Here are Dr. Mercola?s thoughts on what it means to you:
You exercise because it makes you feel better, and for most, it helps keep your weight at an optimal level. It?s also one of the best treatments for insomnia and reducing insulin resistance, as well as being a wonderful aid in the treatment of depression. So the reasons to exercise are many. If you start slow, and most importantly, listen to your body, you shouldn?t run into the problem of exerting yourself excessively.
If you?re a serious athlete, however, you may want to reconsider how you train.
As I?ve discussed before, research has shown that replacing those long cardio sessions with shorter, high-intensity burst-type exercises, such as Peak 8, actually produces GREATER results in far less time!
Dr. Mercola?s Peak 8 program of high intensity intervals supports Canada?s new revisions to it?s physical activity guidelines (as well as those done by the American College of Sports Medicine) and is on par with current scientific evidence.
That is to say, your overall health is improved more effectively with short bursts of intense activity, for a shorter, overall workout time.
We now know there are 3 types of muscle fibers: slow, fast and super fast. Activating these super fact muscles naturally increase your body?s production of Human Growth Hormone (HGH), which is key for physical strength, health and longevity.
Dr. Mercola points out that neither traditional aerobic cardio nor strength training will work anything but the slow fibers and so does not produce HGH. And in fact, actually causes the super fast fibers to decrease or atrophy.
Power training, or plyometrics burst types of exercises will engage your fast muscle fibers, but only high-intensity burst cardio, such as Peak 8 exercises, will engage your super fast fibers and promote HGH, and that is the ?magic? factor that explains why it?s so much more beneficial for you than traditional aerobic cardio.
After a three minute warm up, you want to raise your heart rate up to your anaerobic threshold for 20 to 30 seconds, followed by a 90 second recovery period. Then repeat that cycle for a total of eight repetitions.
To perform the sprint portion properly, you will want to get very close to, if not exceed, your maximum heart rate by the last interval. Your maximum heart rate is calculated as 220 minus your age. (Keep in mind you?ll need a heart rate monitor to measure this as it is nearly impossible to accurately measure your heart rate manually when it is above 150.)
These cycles are preceded by a three minute warm up and two minute cool down so the total time investment is about 20 minutes, but the actual sprinting totals only four minutes!
If you have heart issues or other health concerns, be sure to discuss with them any physical activity program you plan to undertake. For those of average fitness, you should be able to complete these types of intensity intervals. It?s just a matter of working up to the 8 reps.
A personal trainer can help you safely implement new workouts like Dr. Mercola?s Peak 8 program. Do you practice interval training?
Source: http://www.gforcetraining.com/too-much-cardio-is-a-heartbreaker/
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.