cardio training
05/02/2016
Whenever I hear the word ‘Aerobics’ I get a picture of Jane Fonda in leg warmers. I remember studying Sports Science back in 1995 in Sydney and it was a very competitive course to get into. 4000 people applying for 90 places. It was seen as a great thing to do at the time and a super fun and promising career. The only problem was that most people who applied thought they would be kicking a footy around or doing aerobics all day long. The reality was a pretty serious science degree including physics, chemistry, biomechanics, physiology and anatomy. This saw about 40 people out of the original 90 who got in actually make it to graduation. That being said, there was one course we had to do later in the degree, and that was teaching an aerobics class. We all thought this was pretty stupid in light of all the other mind bending stuff they had got us to do to that point, but it was a prerequisite for reasons that remain unknown. Maybe it was comic relief for the lecturers in seeing science nerds jump around like Richard Simmons. Now, I saw myself as aerobically fit, and when I had last done aerobics in the 80’s, it was a million repetitions of the same thing, which any idiot could do if they were persistent and crazy enough to keep pushing… I was that idiot. I decided that I should get myself ready for my compulsory teaching of the class (with or without leg warmers) and do a few […]
09/07/2015
The question most people want answered when they decide to to get fit and healthy is how do I burn up those excess calories as quickly and effectively as possible…? Should I do strength or cardio training? The answer, my exercise loving friends, is BOTH! Wonderful, isn’t it? 🙂 There are many facets to this debate, and the calorie thing should not be the only consideration. Improving general health and fitness is a combination of many things, not being limited to weight control. Don’t forget to think about flexibility, heart health, functional strength to perform daily tasks and postural correction, just to name a few. There is no argument when it comes to the fact that cardiovascular training will burn more calories in a session. However, it is worth keeping in mind that when you are actually lifting weights you are burning more calories, it is the rest time needed in strength training that limits the total calories burned in a session. It is worth noting however that higher total calories burned doesn’t necessarily translate to greater body shape transformation. A well designed strength training routine is likely to have a greater impact on body composition than cardiovascular training on a session for session basis. This is because while it will be burning less total fat content, it is simultaneously increasing lean muscle mass (and this helps out those before and after photos more than you can imagine). The crucial point above is ‘on a session for session basis’ – a drawback with strength training is that your muscles need time to repair themselves. So you need longer […]