Written By: Nirmalya Dutta | Published : June 5, 2014 5:22 PM IST
Cardiovascular or aerobic workouts are an integral part any fitness regime. It helps you burn calories, lose weight, is great for your heart as it helps pump more blood. It's also great for your lung capacity; it helps reduce the risk of heart attack, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes! While it's been established that cardio is the greatest thing since sliced bread (whole wheat of course), there are numerous myths about the aerobic exercise. Passed on from generation to generation, these are the most common cardio myths that need to be busted.
Myth 1: Steadystate cardio is the best for weight loss
Every time you go to the gym, you will find people on the treadmill or elliptical or another cardio machine and will continue to monotonously spend time on it for 15 minutes or so before moving on to another machine. This is by far the worst thing for weight loss since you don't challenge your body to improve. The truth is that steady state or long-slow-distance cardio only helps you burn weight while you're actually doing it. On the other hand high intensity interval training (HIIT) short bursts of intense cardio followed by periods of rest will see your body burning calories throughout the day. So if you really want to lose weight fast, then combine it with strength training and HIIT for faster weight loss. You can also add kettlebell routines, burpees, kick-boxing, push-ups, squats to make it a cardio+strength training regime which will help you burn more calories as well.
Myth 2: Cardio is only for people who need to lose weight
Another common misconception finds skinny guys completely avoid cardio thinking it will burn away any muscle weight they put on. The benefits of cardio are same irrespective of a person's weight - it helps your heart pump more blood, is great for your lung capacity and also reduces the risk of chronic conditions. The truth is that if you want to lose weight or gain weight, you will need to incorporate some cardio in your regime. The quality and quantity of said cardio will depend on your fitness levels.
Myth 3: If you do a lot of cardio, you can eat whatever you want!
People live under the belief that since they're spending half an hour on the treadmill idly jogging at 6 km/h they can eat whatever they want. The truth is that we seriously miscalculate the number of calories consumed when it comes to food. For example, one burger like the McChicken, packs in 260 calories. To burn that amount, a 60-kg person would need to spend 75 minutes on the treadmill. So irrespective of whether you're doing cardio or not, you have to eat properly.
Myth 4: You shouldn't eat before cardio
The argument of whether to eat or not before cardio has been raging since the dawn of time but many experts believe that it's better to exercise on a full of stomach.
Kris Gethin, the editor-at-large of Bodybuilding.com writes in his book The Bodybuilding.com Guide to Your Best Body: 'I know a point of confusion for many people is whether or not to eat before doing cardio first thing in the morning. What many of the experts who develop these programs fail to point out is that the body is extremely catabolic after an eight-hour fast and its metabolism is at its slowest point, which furthers fat loss and increases muscle wastage. The sooner you eat upon rising, the faster your metabolism will speed up to digest breakfast; you will have effectively jump-started your body's fat-burning properties for the entire day. Food has a thermogenic (heat producing) effect, which raises the body's core temperature. Your first cardiovascular session of the day will be more efficient and productive if you eat beforehand because your body's fat-assimilating properties work much faster when they are under the influence of a thermogenic.'
Myth 5: You should do cardio before weight training
It's always a bad idea to combine cardio and weight training on the same day. If you do cardio before your normal weight training regime, you will have very little energy left in the tank to hit the weights hard enough. Instead, it's a better idea to keep your cardio sessions and weight training sessions on different days so you can reap the maximum benefits from both.
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