Fitness For You

The Disadvantages of Cardiovascular Exercise

It is pretty much widely know that exercise is essential for weight loss and muscle gain, since more calories must be burned than consumed in a day to lose weight. Also, the muscles must be worked in order to gain mass, yet there are many misconceptions and myths about the best way to lose weight and gain muscle mass at the same time. There is, however, a wrong way to try and achieve this goal, and that is by participating in only cardiovascular exercise.

Cardiovascular exercise has a reputation for being the best way to lose weight, but this reputation is entirely undeserved. It can take as much as ten hours (!) every week to lose weight and this weight loss is minimal; about a pound. You will also experience a plateau of weight loss if you are doing the same exercises all the time - so you can keep working out very hard while getting nowhere!

As mentioned, cardiovascular exercise takes up a load of your free time. For some people this is an inconvenience, but for many other people this is just flat out impossible. Not everyone can pick up and trek to the gym for 15 hours a week. Plus with cardiovascular exercise, it takes time for your body to warm up and even get into calorie burning mode.

While cardiovascular exercises will certainly lead to improvements in your heart and lungs, your bones and joints may be paying the price. For example, the consistent and constant pounding that your knees and shins take while running or jogging can severely damage those body parts. Not only is this bad for your long term health, but it can make it harder to workout in the short term as well.

In order for cardio to be beneficial, it needs to be done on a daily basis. That does mean seven days a week for at least an hour at a time, which can leave the body feeling tired, sore, and unable to perform the next day. This is essential since the body is used to the high intensity workouts, and can actually lead to weight gain if not practiced on an every day basis.

When doing cardio exercises, one must be working out in the fat burning zone in order to get results. Although calories are burned with almost any type of exercise, it is nearly impossible to burn excess fat when exercising at a low intensity. The fat burning zone is usually at a very fast pace and the heart rate must be high, which can be difficult for those just starting to exercise to accomplish.

Cardio exercises also do not do well for those trying to gain muscle. Most cardio exercises only work out the lower half of your body - the legs and abdomen. Cardio exercises like running and bicycling simply do not work out the upper body, meaning additional exercises are needed to work out these muscle groups.

It is possible to get all of the benefits that cardio has to offer without doing it, such as the ability to workout the lungs and the heart without having to run. It is also possible to exercise without causing joint and bone pain, and without having to do it for an hour every single day of the week. Turbulence training offers all of the benefits of cardiovascular exercise, while getting rid of the disadvantages at the same time.

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