Cardiovascular exercise, or simply cardio, is a form of activity that involves the movement of your major muscles.Cardiovascular exercise, or simply cardio, is a form of activity that involves the movement of your major muscles. It makes your heart beat faster, your whole body sweat, and your breathing rapid. The large muscles of your arms, legs, and hips get involved in a cardio exercise.
Usually, any form of exercise that includes aerobic metabolism is known as cardio. But, what does aerobic metabolism mean? It is the use of oxygen in cellular reactions. This oxygen helps your body produce energy and exercise for a long time.
A cardiovascular exercise tends to:
- Increase the heart rate
- Raise oxygen and blood flow in the body
- Boost respiration process
High-Impact Cardio
As the name suggests, high-impact cardio involves high energy. It is an aerobic activity that requires having both feet off the floor. It is also referred to as a weight-bearing exercise. This is because, during a high-impact exercise, you support your whole body weight against the force of gravity using your legs. Its examples are jumping rope and aerobic dance.
Low-Impact Cardio
Any cardiovascular activity that includes having one of your feet off the floor is low-impact cardio. Most of these exercises need high energy. Plus, it is also a weight-bearing workout against the force of gravity. Its examples are walking and running.
No-Impact Cardio
Any cardio exercise that is performed underwater is an example of no-impact cardio. Another example is bicycling. This is because the tires of the bicycle balance most of your body weight. Moreover, the pull of gravity is less under the water. Thus, aquatic exercises come under this category.
Importance of Adding Cardio to your Regular Routine
Why should you add Cardio to Regular Workout Routines?
Here are some benefits of cardiovascular activities you must consider!
- Helps Regulate Weight: Low-impact cardio can help you lose pounds by burning calories. As you adjust to the new routine, you can increase the intensity of whichever exercise you’ve taken up. Beginners usually start with brisk walking and running. Cardio exercises of all kinds support your weight loss efforts though.
- Improves Cardiovascular Health: About 30 to 50 minutes of cardio exercises help you build strong heart muscles. Your cardiovascular health depends mainly on your heart, breathing process, and blood flow in the body. Cardio to Regular Workout Routines,Cardio thus helps strengthen them all. Also, these exercises help in enhancing HDL (good cholesterol) while lowering stress.
- Lower Blood Pressure: As said earlier, cardio helps in increasing your heart rate. This leads to a smoother blood flow process in your body. The most common cardio exercises for maintaining BP levels are skating, swimming, and running. If you’re aged above 40 years, you can choose easy low-impact activities like morning walks and slow jogging.
- Manages Asthma Symptoms: Arthritis is a common problem among old people. It causes severe pain in the muscles and joints. It increases immobility that may restrict body movements. Cardio activities help manage arthritis symptoms and reduce stiffness. Regular workout involving such exercises has been found to be an alternative to a number of supportive therapies.
- Regulates Blood Sugar: Aerobic exercises help in managing blood sugar levels to a greater extent. Even a 30-minutes walk every day can make a difference. And once you make it a habit, you shall gradually increase the intensity and duration of the activity. Experts believe that cardio is the #1 physical activity for diabetic patients.
- Manages Sleep Schedule: A variety of ongoing studies connect sleep problems with diabetes, respiratory disorders, and stress. Thus, cardio can indirectly help in maintaining a healthy sleep schedule.
- Stimulates Immune System: Good immunity comes with an appropriate number of cells in the body. Cardio exercises stimulate your body to release antibodies and fight infections. Plus, these activities already make you less vulnerable to many respiratory and cardiovascular problems.
- Boosts Brain Power: When you engage in physical exercise regularly, the parts in your brain that regulate memory grow in size. This is a positive sign. It helps in increasing your thinking skills.
- Improves Mood: When you remain active and help your muscles move rightly, your stress levels go down anyway. The brain regulates your mood. When you’ll see positive changes in your health, you shall continue leading a stress-free life and lookout for ways to do things better.
Why should you add Cardio to Regular Workout Routines?
Want more reasons to add cardio to your regular workout routine?
All in all, cardio exercises help in keeping diseases away. These include heart attack, cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, blood clots, muscle stiffness, and many more.
