Cardio – a practical guide
By Boko Suzuki
Photography by Kacey Cole
Cardio exercise: something we all know we should do but few of us do for three reasons: A) we hate it B) there’s so much information about what type of cardio is best – slow, steady state or high intensity interval training – that it’s difficult to decide what’s best and C) we hate it. We really, really hate it. So what to do? Read on, intrepid reader!
I’m going to address B) first because that will shed light on the problem of A) and C). So which is better, slow, steady state cardio or high intensity interval training? The answer is YES.
Assuming that your doctor has given you the green light to do cardio exercise (and by the way, some form of cardio exercise is appropriate for EVERYONE but your doctor may recommend certain types over others for your specific health condition), here are the pros of slow, steady state:
· If we define slow, steady state cardio as any activity such as walking, running, biking or swimming that we can sustain continuously for 10-20 minutes or longer, it can be a great way to burn calories. Even if we assume that high intensity cardio will burn calories at a higher rate, the total time spent doing slow, steady state will usually result in a greater net calorie burn.
· It has a great stimulus to fatigue ratio, i.e. it will burn calories but not tire you so much that you can’t do more the next day.
· Many forms of slow, steady state cardio can be done with little to no special equipment and with a relatively low skill component.
Here are the pros of high intensity interval training:
· If we define high intensity interval training (H.I.I.T.) as short bursts of 10 seconds to a minute at anywhere from 80% to max effort punctuated with rest periods, it can be a very time efficient way to burn calories and build endurance.
· Even if the calories burned in a H.I.I.T. session is modest, there is some evidence that there is a post exercise calorie burn.
· H.I.I.T. sessions tend to involve high speed, athletic movements so they are great for sport specific training.
So which is better? Personally, I do a bit of both and I find them both beneficial. I like jump rope, martial arts and kettlebell training for H.I.I.T. and biking, swimming and running for steady state. But here’s the key point:
THE BEST CARDIO IS THE CARDIO THAT YOU ENJOY. BECAUSE IF YOU DON’T DO IT, YOU WON’T BENEFIT FROM IT.
So try different things, including sports like pickleball, frisbee or beach volleyball, to find what you actually look forward to doing. If it’s a chore like sweating on the treadmill at the gym, that may not be for you.
In fact, the anthropologist Herman Pontzer has found that human beings tend to compensate for large energy expenditures by conserving energy in other activities. In other words, if we knock ourselves out at the gym, we tend to spend more time in front of the TV. But my personal observation is that if I expend energy doing something I enjoy like going for a long bike ride, I feel excited and energized and less likely to be sloth like.
Here’s a fun concept: N.E.A.T. (Non exercise activity thermogenesis). It’s a fancy way of saying any activity outside of traditional exercise that burns calories, e.g. walking, doing yard work, playing with your dog. The best part is that N.E.A.T. has a great stimulus to fatigue ratio without the physical and mental cost of “working out.”
So find the activity that gives you enjoyment, even if it doesn’t look like traditional cardio. Gardening? Dog agility competitions? Live action role playing sword fights? Go for it.
Stay tuned for future articles where I’ll dig more deeply into nutrition and other fitness topics and remember: how you age is a choice.