Cardio workouts are an integral part of any exercise routine. To get more out of these workouts, various types of cardio have also been developed. However, people think doing more cardio can let them have those fit bodies and more muscles in a quick jiff. But, there is a limit to cardio as well, and crossing that can cost you your health. So, how much cardio is too much? Let’s take a look.
What is a cardio exercise?
People often misunderstand strength training as a cardio exercise but actually cardio exercises are the ones in which people intake, transport, and use oxygen during their workouts. This workout is popular and effective because it workouts your heart, lungs, and muscles simultaneously, which gives both health and fitness benefits. As the transportation of oxygen to muscles is the core principle behind the cardio exercises, that’s why the rate of cardio exercise is measured via maximum heart rate.
Benefits of cardio
Why do you think everyone keeps talking about cardio whenever the topic of fitness is discussed? It’s because of its tempting benefits that can make anyone its follower in a blink of an eye. Cardio can improve the overall fitness of both your body and your mind. Its benefits include:
- A healthy heart
- It increases the oxygen supply to the muscles of the body
- It improves the physical health
- It also improves your mental health
- It boosts the cognitive performance
- It relaxes your mind and body to get the beauty sleep
How to know if you are doing too much cardio?
Cardio promises numerous health and fitness benefits that everyone wants to enjoy. In doing so, they try to push their limits during cardio workouts and do too much cardio, with the motto in mind “No pain, no gain”. But, in this case, they only get more pain and fewer muscle gain-Yes, too much cardio can backfire and can reduce your muscle mass. But that’s not the only sign that tells you that you are doing too much cardio. You can look out for the following red flags to see if you are overdoing your cardio or not:
- Your body is always sore
- Your joints are in pain and screaming for you to stop
- You are taking too many off training days
- You want to give up on the workout routine
- Your sleep pattern is disturbed, or you don’t feel sleepy at night
- You are constantly out of energy
- You keep getting sick again and again
- Your muscle build is getting low
- Your body is not burning fat rather it is storing it again
- Your stress level keeps increasing
If you see any or most of these cues happening in your body after your cardio sessions, you need to take a break. Cutting out completely on cardio is not the solution to it but managing it in a balanced amount is the goal.
What is an ideal amount of cardio workouts?
An ideal amount of cardio varies from person to person based on the factors like age, medical history, and any current or past injuries. But, according to the US health department, a 30-minute cardio session of cardio per day is enough to get the results, which also makes up for the total of 150 minutes of cardio workout sessions for a week. To avoid the symptoms of too much cardio, try merging strength training with cardio exercises, that’ll help in muscle building while keeping a check on cardio exercises as well.
Conclusion
Exercise without cardio isn’t that effective but overdoing cardio can lose its significance and can cause major health issues. Despite doing it too much, try following a smart cardio-which requires you to perform short repeats of workouts and gives enormous benefits.
I look up to fitness as a lifestyle and love to pen down about it. I have 2 years of experience in content writing and I am here to share my research and knowledge on health and fitness.
