What does cardio mean

What does cardio mean

What does cardio mean when it comes to fitness? Well, putting it simply it means using your heart. Actually the phrase should be termed “ cardio pulmonary “ which is relating to heart and lung , which is more accurate.

When we exercise in a huffy puffy way for more than about 3 minutes we are working the heart and lungs. This pumps blood around the body with oxygen, water and other vitamins and minerals. This is then blasted to where the body needs them . This is one reason it feels good after this kind of exercise.

Cardio is only one of a number of different types of fitness and obviously a particularly important one. In my experience though most people hate it. The reason being you do not get a rest unlike for example with weight training.

But we all know that it burns fat and that it improves your ability to do general things. These can be running around with the kids without having to stop after 2 minutes. Even participating in your local touch football team or tennis event .

Apart from being a great fat burner , cardio fitness as I said earlier works your heart and lungs which are both organs and have muscular components. Like any muscle, they like it when you exercise them. The longer you do it for, the more they like it. I have always said that if you hate cardio, then pick a version that you PREFER. You are more likely to do it. For example, if you hate running do not run … if you like cycling then cycle!!!  If you do not like any, then choose five and do 6 minutes of each one in a row. That way you are changing the boredom or dislike of that exercise very quickly.

The blood pumped around your body is about 70 percent water. As we know, water hydrates us, this is why it is really important to drink about three litres of water a day. If we do not, the water pumped through blood is not pushed through the body efficiently. We will feel tired and sluggish as a result. The other vitamins and minerals will also not reach the required areas in an effective manner.

When we exercise it has a naturally dehydration effect as the body will be producing heat. It is really important to replace what we have used up. Also, our brains are about 85 percent water. If that organ is dehydrated, naturally we will not feel great there either.

As a fat burner, as I said earlier, cardio is an excellent way to achieve this. One way which makes cardio far less of an arduous task is to play a sport such as tennis or touch football where your heart rate is continuously elevated. We increase the heat in our bodies when we exercise, hence we burn fat, similarly to a stove burning fat in a frying pan, or wood being burnt on a fireplace. If you play a sport, then the goal is to win the game and you will be running around chasing a ball or helping your team which takes your mind off the fact that you are exercising, so you end up killing two birds with one stone. A two-hour game of tennis is far more fun than two hours on a treadmill!

Remember, fat is a fuel, in fact next to carbohydrates, it is an excellent source of fuel for exercise. Too much fat though is obviously a bad thing so if we can keep our fat intake to about 30 or 40 Grams a day ( less than 10 per cent saturated fat) , plus 30 mins of huffy puffy exercise a day , we are on the right track .

Combine this with strength training , good all round nutrition and the occasional glass of red wine and you’ll be hitting your goals in no time !

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