“How much cardio do you do?”
Ummmmm…none?
And I have a few good reasons.
#1. It bores me.
#2. It’s not necessary for my current fitness goals.
#3. It bores me.
LOL.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not “anti-cardio” by any means. For me, cardio supplements my goals. And at the moment, my goals are more aesthetic (to look hot in my wedding dress!) and to be strong and mobile and have functional fitness. Gotta be able to dance the night away, walk a ton during my honeymoon and keep up with these kiddos I teach all day long!
“You mean, you don’t even run?”
Nope.
Not any more.
I’m not training for a race, so I don’t need to run.
If I want to do it for my own pleasure, that’s a different story…
When I was doing my marathon and Ironman training, of course all my training revolved around those three sports, which is primarily cardio based. I spent two days lifting weights. That’s it. I trained each sport 3 times a week, so that’s 9 workouts right there, plus the 2 lifting days. 11 workouts! A week. Now I barely do 4. So that was PLENTY.
And I was LEAN. Boy oh boy.
(after my last race in 2010…had a bit of an accident)
Now I’ve got a little more mass on me.
(with the baby girl of some tri friends taken this last summer in Paris…)
Another reason I don’t do cardio is that I don’t want my body to adapt to the cardio. Why? Because I want to use it as a secret weapon later on. Muah-ha-ha-ha… 😉
Your body adapts to any exercise rather quickly and once it does, benefits begin to plateau. If you jump on the treadmill 3 days a week for 30 minutes for weeks and weeks and weeks, you can be sure your body has adapted to it. If you’re going to do cardio, at least mix it up. Try different machines, different speeds, different intervals. The key is to keep your body guessing.
I understand that cardiovascular fitness is super important too (for the heart and lungs especially), but I think there is often a misconception that in order to look “toned” and lose a lot of weight, one must do cardio. And only cardio. Yes it helps, but from my personal experience, I think the easiest way to get that look is to grow your muscles and reduce body fat. Lifting weights with a proper exercise and nutrition program will make your muscles bigger (not bulky) which will increase your metabolism more than cardio. You’ll end up burning more calories day to day and reduce body fat so you can see those beautiful muscles you are working hard to build.
And a final reason I don’t do cardio…I want to be in and out. 45 mins tops. If I add cardio…UGH. And I will. One day. When I need it. But for now, I am going to bask in my itty bitty 35-45 min workouts.
So hit those weights! Weights over cardio is what I say!
Today’s back workout:
Pump that iron.
Or do cardio.
Do what makes you happy.