With respect to fitness, a seemingly endless choice of exercise forms can confuse some people. Many choose to do only cardiovascular or strength training, possibly thinking one form is superior to the other. If combining the two into our regimen could provide a balance in overall health, fitness conditioning, and injury prevention.
What is Cardiovascular Exercise?
Cardiovascular exercise, which is usually called “cardio,” includes any exercise that raises the heart rate up and encourages the circulation of oxygen throughout the body. Some cardio improves the functioning of the heart and lungs, increases stamina, and burns calories. The examples of good cardio are running, cycling, swimming, rowing, and fast walking.
What is Strength Training?
While strength training, on the other hand, includes any set of exercises whose main purpose is to improve muscle strength and endurance. By working your muscles through some forms of resistance exercises, either by employing weights, doing exercises using body weight, or using a resistance band, muscle development would take place with an increased strength for the body itself. This regime helps to tone the body as it ups the metabolism and bone density.
Why combine cardiovascular exercise and strength training?
Each exercise delivers its own benefits, which perfectly complement with one another. And they work hand in hand to form a wholesome fitness routine that will produce better health and performance. Here are a few reasons you ought to do both, in place of only one type of workout in your exercise program:
1. Fat Burning
This cardiovascular exercise is the most popular means of burning calories that guarantee both shedding excess fat and improving body composition. Strength training is less effective for burning calories during the workout itself, as it does lead to the development of lean muscle mass. Lean muscle increases metabolism, thereby burning more calories at rest. Thus, combining both can ensure maximum fat loss with the retention of muscle mass.
2. Development of Cardiovascular Fitness and Strength
While cardio exercises can contribute to better heart health and an increase in lung capacity, the completion of a strength-training routine helps build muscle strength and thus develops functional fitness. This combination of cardio and strength-training activity builds not just aerobic and endurance fitness, but also muscular strength itself, which will bear benefits on an individual’s ability to work and participate in other physical activities.
3. Reduced Chance of Injury
Strength training teaches solid muscles, tendons, and ligaments to keep your joints stable and prevent injuries. Cardiovascular exercise improves the range of motion and health of the joints via repetitive motion. With a combination of both, you can reduce your risk of injury due to overuse or muscle imbalances.
4. Improves Mental Health
Both exercises lead to better mental health but through slightly different mechanisms. For one, cardiovascular exercise releases endorphins, thus relieving stress and improving mood. Secondly, strength training allows the improvement of self-esteem and body image, considering that visible improvements in one’s physique and strength usually result from proper weight training. Exercise programs integrating both workouts lend to a world of balance in mental and emotional well-being.
5. Improvement of Athletic Performance
If you are an athlete or just an average joe with hobbies related to sports, combining cardio with strength training is certainly a good answer. Cardio can make you an aerobically fit person, and strength training may lead you to gush with power and agility. Together, they will form the very basis for optimum athletic performance in a multitude of activities as varied as running, weightlifting, and team sports.
How to Incorporate Both in Your Workout Plan.
Combination of cardio and strength training offers the luxury to rest either workout to give your body a chance to stay in balance between strength training and cardiovascular workouts. Here are various ways you can include both methods into your weekly schedule.
1. Alternate Days
One of the simplest ways to incorporate both types of workouts is to alternate between cardio and strength training on different days. An example would be doing cardio on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, while focusing on strength training on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. This allows you to give your muscles time to recover between strength training sessions while still reaping the benefits of regular cardiovascular exercise.
2. Combine Cardio and Strength
Combined workouts allow one to maximize workout time by including both exercises in one session. Incorporating a circuit workout, for example, entails doing strength exercises in conjunction with bursts of cardio. It can be done in a quick succession like doing for 5 minutes anything of your strong cardio exercise (jumping jacks, etc.). Follow that rule of thumb with some strength training moves (like squats or push-ups).
3. Cardio After Lifting
You can always do it the other way around – prioritize lifting weights by doing cardio after you’re done. This way, you can use most of your energy for lifting and building strength without compromising your performance. Then, finish off with some steady-state cardio or intervals.
4. HIIT
HIIT is one of the best ways to mix cardio and strength training in one workout. That means, with this, you perform short bursts of high-intensity cardio and follow up with short strength-based movements. You can work both the cardiovascular system and muscles simultaneously. HIIT is great for improving endurance, fat burning, and strength – all in the shortest period of time.
Conclusion
Combining cardio with strength training comes with several benefits, from better fitness and weight loss to mental wellness. Whether alternating between the two or blending them into the same one-hour workout, both cardio and strength training are equally important contributors in making up a balanced routine. Balanced fitness leads to better overall health, better performance, and better long-term outcome in your fitness quest!
So, why worry about either-or when both can be practically integrated? Start mixing aerobic and anaerobic in your training now for life-changing results.
