Importance of Cardio in a Workout Plan

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Life Style

Aug 4, 2014

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Cardio is an integral part of any workout plan because it has a lot of great advantages. For the majority of people who go to the gym, the goal is not look like the Hulk. We want to simply look great and feel great. Cardio is an effective exercise to melt the excess fat in your body so that your muscles look more defined and your body looks more attractive. Therefore just lifting weights isn't sufficient but then again, sticking to your treadmill only isn't going to benefit your either.

To see ourselves in the mirror and be happy with what we see and you will not get that without cardio. Here are a few things that cardio can bring home for us.

Improved Circulation

Cardio improves the circulation by improving the health of our hearts. The heart is also a muscle that has to be worked to get better and nothing works out the heart better than cardio. Along with improved circulation comes other benefit like lowering blood pressure which is a great concern for a large part of our population. A strong heart enables us to do more things because the oxygen in the blood travels better and therefore gets to our muscles more efficiently and makes it stronger. So simply put, a strong heart equals a strong you.

Increased Lung Capacity

This goes hand in hand with the first mentioned benefit. With increased capacity of the lungs, we can push ourselves further and faster. This is of great importance for people who wants to be able to do more in their days. A stronger lung enables us to not get winded easily and therefore get more things done. The increase in our lungs capacity will then increase our oxygen intake and therefore increases the oxygen being distributed to the body and that makes our muscles stronger and healthier. It's all connected to each other and it all begins with cardio.

Increased Endurance

Endurance has long been linked to athletics and rightfully so. But that does not mean that just because you do not run the 1000 meter relay in the Olympics, you don't have to do cardio in the gym. Increased endurance allows your muscles to perform better longer. Everyday life consists of routines, doing things in a cycle over and over again. Building a body that is suited for endurance is a great advantage since you can cope up with everyday routines better. Increased endurance allows you to do things better on a regular basis and that's another advantage you get from doing cardio.

Increased Metabolism

Now this is not something that is known by many people but cardio actually improves our metabolism. Metabolism is simply the rate in which the body's various processes are done. An increase in metabolism will greatly increase the rate in which your body consumes energy. Fat is stored energy so the faster your metabolism, the faster you shed those love handles and the better you look. Increased metabolism is linked more to fat loss than weight loss. Losing weight does not always mean a healthier body but losing fat and an increase in muscle tissue might look the same in the weighing scale but a lot different in front of the mirror.

Improved Recovery

Low-paced cardio decreases some of the by-products produced while on a heavy lifting session. Your muscles can create chemicals that catabolize your muscles. Without doing proper cardio, you might be losing the muscles that you have worked so hard to get without you even knowing it.