Before you start wasting hours and hours on those boring treadmills, stationary bikes, and elliptical machines, research whether low-moderate, long-duration cardio is really good for your body, or if it's mostly a waste of time. I hope that after finishing this article, you will recognize that there is a better way to get in great shape and, it doesn't have to involve endless hours on boring cardio machines.
It's common to hear fitness professionals and doctors prescribe low- to moderate-intensity aerobic exercise (cardio) for people trying to prevent heart disease or lose weight. Most often, these recommendations are something along the lines of "do 30-60 minutes of cardio at a steady pace 3-5 times a week and keep your heart rate at a moderate level." Before you succumb to this popular belief and become a "hamster on a wheel" doing endless hours of boring cardio, I'd like you to consider some recent scientific research that suggests that steady-paced endurance cardio work may not be all it's cracked up to be.
First, recognize that our bodies are designed to perform physical activity in bursts of exertion followed by recovery or stop-and-go movement instead of steady-state movement. Recent research suggests that physical variability is one of the most important aspects to consider when training. This tendency can be seen throughout nature, as all animals demonstrate stop-and-go movement instead of steady-state movement. In fact, humans are the only creatures in nature that attempt to perform "endurance" physical activities.
Most competitive sports (except endurance running or cycling) are also based on stop-and-go movement or short bursts of exertion followed by recovery. To examine an example of the different effects of endurance or steady-state training versus stop-and-go training, consider the figure of marathoners versus sprinters. Most sprinters have a build that is very lean, muscular, and stocky looking, while the typically dedicated marathon runner is more often emaciated and sickly looking. Now, who would you rather be like?
Another factor to keep in mind regarding the benefits of physical variability is the intrinsic effect different forms of exercise have on our bodies. Scientists know that excessive steady-state endurance exercise (everyone's different, but sometimes defined as more than 60 minutes sitting most days of the week) increases the body's production of free radicals, can degenerate joints, lowers immune function, causes muscle wasting, and can cause a pro-inflammatory response in the body that can potentially lead to chronic disease. On the other hand, high-variable cycle training is associated with increased body antioxidant production and anti-inflammatory response, more efficient nitric oxide response (which can promote a healthy cardiovascular system), and increased metabolic response. (which can help with weight loss).
In addition, steady-state endurance training only trains the heart in one specific heart rate range and does not train it to respond to various daily stressors. On the other hand, highly variable cycle training teaches the heart to respond to and recover from different demands, making it less likely to fail when you need it to. Think of it this way — Exercise that trains your heart to rise fast and fall fast will allow your heart to better handle daily stress. Stress can cause your blood pressure and heart rate to rise rapidly. Steady-state jogging and other endurance training will not train your heart to handle rapid changes in heart rate or blood pressure.
For example, let's say you run and try to maintain the same pace for a good 45 minutes. As long as you didn't hit any big hills along the way, you probably kept your heart rate around the same the whole time - say 135 bpm. Now let's compare this to a much more efficient workout of alternating wind sprints for 20 minutes with walking for a minute or two between sprints to recover. With this more efficient workout, you're rapidly changing your heart rate up and down on a much larger scale, forcing it to increase to be able to handle the different demands. Your heart rate would likely range from 110 to 115 during recovery walks to 160 bpm or more during sprints. This is not to say that sprints are the only way to utilize this style of training. Any style of training that involves highly variable intensity will give you these improved results.
An important aspect of variable cyclic training that makes it superior to steady-state cardio is the recovery period between bursts of effort. This recovery period is essential for the body to develop a healthy response to the stimulation of exercise. Another benefit of variable cycle training is that it is much more interesting and has a lower drop rate than long boring steady-state cardio programs.
To summarize, some of the potential benefits of variable cycle training compared to steady-state endurance training are: improved cardiovascular health, increased antioxidant protection, improved immune function, reduced risk of joint wear and tear, reduced muscle wasting, increased residual metabolic rate after exercise, and increased capacity of the heart to handle the daily stressors of life. There are many ways you can reap the benefits of variable intensity or stop-and-go physical training.
In addition to the wind sprints mentioned above, most competitive sports such as football, basketball, racquetball, tennis, hockey, etc. naturally consist of highly variable stop-and-go motion. Additionally, weight training naturally involves short bursts of exertion followed by periods of recovery. High-intensity interval training (varying between high- and low-intensity intervals on any cardio equipment) is another training method that uses periods of exertion and recovery. For example, interval training on a treadmill might look like this:
Warm up for 3-4 minutes with brisk walking or light jogging;
Interval 1 - run at 8.0 mph for 1 minute;
Interval 2 - walk at 4.0 mph for 1.5 minutes;
Interval 3 - run at 10.0 mph for 1 minute;
Interval 4 - walking at 4.0 mph for 1.5 minutes;
Repeat these 4 intervals 4 times for a very intense 20-minute workout.
The takeaway from this article is to try to train your body at very variable intensities for most of your workouts to get the most beneficial response in terms of heart health, fat loss, and a strong, lean body.
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