Hams Fitness

Epsom Personal Trainer - 07742 952 208

Hoorah another mistaken belief. Time and time again I hear and see written questions and statements about “cardio”;

“How much cardio should I do?”

“I run for 45 minutes a day for cardio”

“You have to be on the crosstrainer for at least 30 mintes to burn any fat”

“I am in the fat burning zone on the treadmill”

PUUUHHLLEASE

Cardio= anything that raises your heart rate above a certain point, not mandatorily in the “cardio” section of the gym. Squat your bodyweight for 5 minutes as fast as you can and tell me it’s not cardio.

As for the length of “cardio” needed for health. Very little. Get your heart rate above 160 for 10 minutes and you’ll be as healthy as you’re ever going to be or have been. NOT EVERY DAY either - give it a rest let your heart heal.

Minimal impact cardio can be done with weighted exercises performed correctly with little rest. All the benefits of “cardio” and resistance training in one. No drawbacks.

Exercise is a great thing, it makes us feel great, we have all sorts of chemicals released in ours bodies that promote the feel good factor about what we have done, and rightly so - exercise if done correctly can be a great thing indeed.

On the flip side, it can lead you to feeling frustrated and betrayed! When you work your heart out, sweat out a weeks supply of sweat, lift more and heavier than ever, run faster, row harder and fight more ferociously than you normally do but guess what, sometimes results just don’t seem to be there.

Viscous circle, you then feel you should work harder, more often and for longer. WRONG, when results are not what you want you should rest, take a week to ten days of rest and relax, after all if results aren’t as you want right now, a small rest wont make them worse will it.

Your body adapts to stress, especially if it is repetitive, it reaches a point where it no longer needs to change. resting will reset your adaptation system and allow exercise to cause results once again.

Perhaps even try something new and different after your rest.

Seek professional advice too, they may know something you don’t!

Adios for now fitness fans,

Richard Ham Williams, Epsom Personal Trainer