Steady state cardio vs. interval training.

I am biased; I do not like steady state cardio. Not because it is difficult, but it is boring and ultimately does not have the afterburn effect that you get from interval training.

Steady state cardio is exactly what it sounds like. You are doing some type of cardio activity at your pace, tempo, or speed. However you want to define it does not change what it is. It stays relatively the same the whole time.

Steady state cardio is not without it’s benefits. It can help to recover the muscle from high intensity exercise and give the body time relax from that stress.

But oftentimes what I see is people making steady state cardio the mainstay of their workout regime and then struggling to figure out why they cannot seem to lose weight. Steady state cardio does not burn fat in a very effective way and as a result most people don’t see huge results from it.

You know what I am talking about. The person who goes to the gym, hops on an elliptical machine and is on it for an hour. Never increasing their speed just at a constant movement. And you see them day in and day out in the gym, never achieving the physical change they desire.

Now there could be other factors, like diet, heart related, or medical related issues but the majority of people have no results because they are doing something that ultimately will not garner much result.

Compare this to interval training where the heart rate gets spiked and then you come down and then spike it again and do that over a period of time. This actually is a more effective fat burning mechanism then just steady state cardio.

To put it into a word picture, someone doing steady state cardio would run 5 miles at the same pace vs. someone who runs 5 miles but they find a location where every 1/4 mile they hit an incline and sprint up it. They are going to spike their heart rate then bring the heart rate down for a 1/4 mile.

That person going up and down hills is getting a more effective training session.

I am saying this all to say if you are trying to lose weight and burn fat don’t make steady state cardio your go to solution. Switch to interval training and you will get a much more effective workout that will actually help you improve your cardiovascular system as well as your physical health.

And as always exercise is not the whole solution. You have to eat right. Results are not made in the gym results actually come from how you eat and your sleep. I could go on but when you exercise you are tearing down the muscle it is in the recovery time that the body is changing. So diet and recovery are just as important if not more important than the exercise itself.

And lastly and I cannot emphasize this too much. Warm up your body before you train and cool down after.

When you are young you won’t see the effects of no stretching as much but as you age it will play a more significant factor.

At minimum you should be warming up for 10-15 mins before exercise and cool down 10-15 mins after exercise. This will do wonders to help prevent injury and keep your body flexible as you get older.

-Chad

More from Chad: https://mentalgrenade.com/chad-hiser-on-tcc/

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