The Year of The Monster Is Coming

A few things come to mind when you mention the word cardio. Some people cringe, some people salivate like a dog with a plate of food, and some people just avoid the subject. No matter how you look at it though cardio stirs some sort of reaction in anyone that has even just thought about working out. For most people cardio is like parts of a car engine. They know it helps things work but don’t really understand how or why. In this three part article we will look at what cardio is, some types of cardio, and ways to improve your cardio training. 

Cardio simply put is the nickname for cardiovascular training. Cardio refers to types of exercise that involves or improves oxygen uptake by the body. It also means you are involved in an activity that raises your heart rate to a level that you are working within your maximum heart rate. Your maximum heart rate is the maximum number of times your heart can beat in a minute. Maximum heart rates are great tools to figure out training intensities, because they can be individually determined. By knowing your maximum heart rate you can determine what is called your target heart rate zone. Your target heart rate zone guides your workout by keeping your intensity levels between upper and lower heart rate limits. Once you know these intensity levels you can use them to alter your cardiovascular training to better suit your exercise goals. You can use these various levels to: 

• Maintain a healthy heart 

• Lose weight/ burn fat 

• Increase endurance 

• Maintain fitness 

• Maintain or improve athletic conditioning 

*Find your target heart rate (click here) 

Why is cardio training important? Cardio training is important for a number of reasons: 

• It makes your heart stronger so you do not have to work as hard to pump blood 

• It increases lung capacity 

• It helps reduce the risk of heart attack, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes 

• It reduces stress 

• It helps put oxygen in your muscles 

• It helps remove toxins from the body 

• It boost metabolism 

• It can help you control bodyweight and reduce fat

Along with these benefits cardio has a host of other benefits also. Just remember like everything else, too much of a good thing can also be bad. Now that we understand cardio a little better, what type of things can we do to have a good cardio work out? In the next part we will look at types of cardio and their benefits.

Part 2 coming soon!!!!

For more helpful articles like this one, check out Taylorednutrition.tripod.com. 

For anyone involved in this lifestyle we live, you know this life can be hard! Eating right, training, and the focus needed sometimes is almost overwhelming. To make things even harder throw in outside distractions like work, unsupportive friends and family, and the general rigors of everyday life. What happens though, when we become our own worst enemies? What if the main thing holding us back from our fitness goals was our own very selves? A lot of times our fitness failures do not come from any outside force but from right within our own being. Could you be self sabotaging yourself and not even know it? Maybe it’s not always what you’re doing but how you’re looking at things?
 

·        If you want to be successful you have to take action
 

“A successful person can take two nickels and come out with a million dollars. An unsuccessful person just complains about having two nickels.”
The main difference between someone who is successful and someone who wants to be successful is a successful person always finds a way to get things done. If you want to be successful you have to be pro active. Weather it be your training, diet, or preparing for a competition or event, you can’t just sit around hoping for things to happen. You must make them happen. A person that really wants something does not put limits on what they can and can’t do, although at times they may have limits they find ways around that.
 

·        Thinking about how bad something could be is never going to motivate you to do it
 

“The anticipation of death is worst than death itself”
Sitting around thinking about how bad something is going to be is always worst than it really is. Dwelling on negatives creates two things anxiety and fear. Anxiety and fear are only good for making you not perform as well or keeping you from performing period. Countless times I have conversations with people and they say “Man I want to compete but just thinking about it scares me to death!” that statement is usually followed by “I’d be awful!”  “I’d screw up!” and or “I just couldn’t do it!”  Once fear comes into place it is almost always followed by negative thoughts. If you want to try something than you should go for it, nothing is ever as bad as you imagined. Besides you may just be better than you though. As the saying goes “You never know till you tried.”
 

·        For every part you enjoy there will always be some parts that are not so fun
 

“For every three pieces of chicken you eat you will always have to eat some vegetables to have a full belly!”
My grandmother used to say this to me all the time. Ironically enough I actually like vegetables now but I get the meaning of her statement. Simply put no matter how much you enjoy what you do there are going to be times when you don’t enjoy everything. Getting to the next level involves gutting it out and doing it rather than saying “I just skip it this time but NEXT TIME I’ll make up for it!” All this ends up doing is creating a vicious cycle and putting you further away from your goals. This is like the kid in school who keeps putting off his two week project till the day before its do. He doesn’t do as well because he overwhelmed himself with too much to do in too little time. Instead he should have just done a little at a time over the two weeks till it was done.
 

·        Let failure be a motivator not a detractor
 

“Why do we fall? So we can learn to get back up!”
Every now and then, you are going to have failures in life. How you deal with the failure will always be proportional to your success. Ronnie Coleman is a prime example of this. If you have never at least heard of Ronnie Coleman than your definitely on the wrong website. For years Ronnie had trouble breaking the top 10 at the Mr. Olympia. He never let himself get down. He just kept training and working harder towards his goals. Thru his persistence and determination Ronnie went on to become arguably the greatest Mr. Olympia of all time, winning the title 8 times.
 

·        Stop making excuses and get it done
 

“Back in my day we walked uphill both ways with no shoes on!”
I think everyone has heard one of the anecdotes from their grandfather. Whether it is just bravado or grandpa still trying to assert his alpha status, the message is clear. He is saying “When I was your age we didn’t make excuses for s*** we just got it done. If you want success towards your fitness goals stop finding ways why you can’t do stuff. Ever notice on a job interview one of the hardest questions is “Why would you be good for this job?” People always stumble for reasons why they CAN do something but if you ask ten random people ten things they CAN’T do, so how quick you can get answers.
 

·        If you surround yourself with negativity you will end up being negative.
 

“You are the company you keep!”
Everyone has a “Negative Nelly” in their lives. The person that makes you feel like whatever happens is going to be bad. If you have someone like this in your life, get rid of them. If you can’t get rid of them then limit your exposure to them. Negative people do not bring much positive to your life. They always see the cants, could nots, should nots, and would nevers.  If you want to move forward you have to start looking at the “Yes I cans”, “I have to trys”, and “Yes I wills”. There is always more to drink when the glass is half full.

Mental approach has a lot to do with helping you achieve your fitness goals. How you think can be the difference between being mediocre and excelling to the next level. If you start thinking of yourself as a person who achieves things then you will start achieving positive things. We can be our worst enemies but we can also learn to be our best allies.

You can find more helpful articles like this one at Taylorednutrition.tripod.com.