Is Cardio Bad For You?

Cardio (cardiovascular exercise) is any exercise that increases your heart rate. The goal of cardio is to challenge your heart to work harder to become stronger. It is most known for improving heart health and supporting weight loss as it burns more calories than strength training.

“The goal of cardio is to challenge your heart to work harder to become stronger.”

Limiting your training to cardio focused movements means you miss out on your body's other muscular demands. Excessive cardio without strength and endurance training can have negative effects on your body.

Creating a healthy workout plan that incorporates cardiovascular, muscular strength, muscular endurance, and flexibility training is important. The more muscle you have, the more energy your body expends. If you miss out on resistance training, then you will not build muscular strength and your metabolism won’t be as high as it could be. Strength training is necessary for increasing and maintaining bone density, as well as supporting strong tendons and ligaments. Cardio-only workouts will put you at higher risk for joint pain and injury.

“Cardio-only workouts will put you at a higher risk for joint pain and injury.”

Here at NovaPulse, we recommend you do at least two sessions of cardiovascular training every week, while adding in strength training at least two or more days a week. 

Varying your routine with other types of movements will not only keep it interesting but will also help you work towards your goals as you are continuously asking your body to adapt and change. The more muscle you build from resistance training, the more fat you'll burn all day long. Cardio alone does not have the same impact as it would if paired with resistance training.

“Cardio alone does not have the same impact as it would if paired with resistance training.”

Taking time to recover and rest your body is essential for your health and reaching your goals. Since cardio requires a lot of energy usage from your body, you need to break up the constant demands with some strength training or yoga (especially when first staring out with cardio workouts). This adaptation phase is important. Overuse injuries are common in repeated movement, and you may see this if you are dancing or running every day. This is why creating a strong dynamic workout routine filled with cardiovascular, strength, endurance and flexibility training will serve you and your body in the BEST way possible.