Cardio exercise is a physical exercise that involves heart and lung muscles to work effectively. Cardio exercises make heart and lung muscles stronger and improves their performance. Jogging, running, fast walking, cycling, swimming, brick walking, aerobics, dance are examples of cardio exercises.
When we do cardio exercise our body needs more oxygen. To supply the adequate amount of oxygen, our heart and lungs start functioning quickly and our body starts burning calories. Initially, the calories are supplied from carbohydrates. Therefore, if you work out any cardio exercise slowly and for a short period, we really do not burn fats. Once the initial supply of energy from carbohydrates is over, fats start burning to provide energy. Increase in heart rate, respiration and muscle workout is an indication for fat burning. The threshold to reach to the level of fat burning varies among individuals. Some of the cardio equipments are designed to show how much vigorous exercise and heart rate are required to start burning the fats.
Health benefits of cardio exercise
-
Cardio exercises provide number of benefits to health
-
Improves heart performance, blood circulation and prevent from heart diseases
-
Increases lung efficiency and respiration
-
Burns fat and reduces cholesterol levels thereby preventing from heart diseases, diabetes and other health problems
-
Improves bone mass and prevents from bone fractures and osteoporosis
-
Provides muscular coordination and movement
-
Reduces excess blood glucose and prevents from diabetes
-
Maintains good functioning of brain and nervous system
-
Improves metabolism and liver function
-
Improves immune system
Body weight is mainly composed of fat, muscle and bone mass. These three make up the body composition. Body mass can be described as total of percentages of fat mass, muscle mass and bone mass. Every individual vary in these three percentages. Therefore two persons may weigh same even they have different fat and muscle mass.
Body mass (Body composition)
Three main masses of the body make up the body composition or body mass. They are body mass, muscle mass and bone mass. All of them should be in appropriate levels.
Body fat provides an insulator for cold temperatures. When body is not supplied with sufficient energy from other sources, body fat provides the energy. Excess fat makes obese and obesity is the one of the reasons for heart diseases, diabetes and other health problems.
Muscle Mass
Different types of muscles are present in the body; skeletal muscle, smooth muscle and cardiac muscle. Among these three, skeletal muscles that surround the bones make up the muscle mass. Muscular body is attractive than fat body. Body muscles are built by performing weight bearing exercises. We can observe increase in weight even when we do exercise, because even fat mass is decreasing, muscle mass increases. Building muscle mass also increases calories burning; therefore it burns fat and makes you slim and fit.
Bone Mass
Bone Mass is also referred as bone mineral density (BMD). Bone mass is defined as measurement of amount of minerals mainly calcium and phosphorus present in a certain volume of a bone. Less bone mass keeps a person in risk for bone fractures. Less bone mass is observed in osteoporosis patients. Various tests are available for measuring the bone mass. It is important to take calcium containing diet daily and supply adequate amounts of calcium. Regular weight bearing exercises and aerobic exercises also improve bone mass. Calcium supplements are also used when dietary intake of calcium is not adequate.
Burn fat around stomach with Abs exercise
One of the best places for fat to sleep in our body is our abdomen. Excessively stored fats around abdomen shows a moon shaped stomach. Researchers proved that those who have moon shaped abdomen are more prone to heart and other health problems. They also show less physical activity. So, it is important to reduce abdominal fat to avoid health problems. Gender, hormones, age, and genetic background also contribute to the place of fat deposits and shape.
Many people think that performing abs exercise itself reduces the fat around the abdomen. But some reports suggest that just performing abs exercise really won’t reduce the fat around abdomen. Because in order to burn fat, the calorie burning should cross the carbohydrate calorie burning threshold indicated by increased heart rate, respiration and muscular activity. Therefore, in order to reduce the abdominal fat it is also important to perform complete body exercise like aerobics and have healthy diet with low fat foods along with abdominal exercises.Recent research papers also reports that those who are in within the limits of Body Mass Index (BMI) but have large waist are more prone to health problems. In another study it was reported that BMI is inversely related to the deaths in old age people after having their waist in normal shape and range.
Ref: Body Mass index is inversely related to mortality in older people after adjustment for waist circumference, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, Vol 53, Issue 12, Page 2112-2118
-
Start right now: You can start right now by doing a small 5 minute exercise. That will be the beginning
-
Say three words to your self – Yes I Can
-
Keep small goals and start slowly
-
If you have company with you, you will not feel bored
-
Change the type of exercise you like- Because half an hour of any aerobic exercise is good for health
-
Listen to music while doing exercise
Tips to keep fit during away from home
-
Make a note the time you can give for exercise
-
Ask in the hotel you stay if they have gym
-
Ask for jogging trails or you can go out for jogging (find before if that place is good for jogging)
-
Swimming is also a good idea if gym is not available for other exercises
-
Walk for some time within the room if no other alternatives are available
go to top
