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Cardio Training

Many novice fitness enthusiasts spend a lot of their time in the gym on cardio training. Cardio training, also known as cardiovascular training, focuses on improving overall endurance and falls under endurance training, unlike weight training.

Benefits of Cardio Training

Cardio training helps:

• Your body to sustain an effort for a longer duration, improving your overall fitness.
• Your body to utilize your fat reserves as fuel.

Therefore, cardio training with aerobic exercises is an effective method to lose weight, specifically fat.

To effectively burn fat, the intensity of your cardio training should not be too high. Exercising too intensely burns more calories, but the percentage of those calories coming from fat is lower compared to low-intensity training.

Heart Rate Monitoring

To determine the intensity of your training, heart rate monitoring is essential. You can monitor your heart rate using a heart rate monitor. The company Polar from Finland is the market leader in this regard. They even manufacture heart rate monitors that you can use during cycling workouts, taking into account the resistance on the bike and the altitude at which you are training!

What is the Best Heart Rate for Training?

There are many opinions about the correct ‘zone’ (the range between the lowest and highest heart rates) for fat burning during training, but on average, it’s safe to aim for a range between 55% and 75% of your maximum heart rate.

The heart rate monitor relies on a simple calculation: the maximum heart rate method.

With this method, you train at a percentage of your maximum heart rate, which is calculated by subtracting your age from 220. This is called the Age Predicted Maximal Heart Rate, as it is based on your age. Due to the somewhat inaccurate method of calculation, you should consider a difference of about 10 to 15 beats per minute (up or down).

For example, using the maximum heart rate method, a 30-year-old individual would have a maximum heart rate of 220 – 30 = 190 beats per minute. The fat-burning zone would then lie between 104 (55%) and 142 (75%) beats per minute.

A much more accurate method is the Karvonen Method. This method is more precise because it takes your fitness level – in the form of your resting heart rate – into account in the calculation:

1. Determine your resting heart rate (RHR): this is your heart rate at rest (best determined in the morning before getting out of bed).
2. Calculate your maximum heart rate (MHR): 220 – your age.
3. Calculate your heart rate reserve (HRR): Maximum Heart Rate – Resting Heart Rate.
4. Calculate the low and high ends of your zone: (HRR x percentage) + RHR.

You can calculate the full equation in two ways:

• ((220 – age) – resting heart rate) x target percentage) + resting heart rate = target heart rate
• MHR – RHR = (HRR x percentage) + RHR = target heart rate

Example:
The aforementioned 30-year-old individual has a resting heart rate of 60 beats per minute and wants to train between 55% and 75%. The calculation is as follows:

1. Resting heart rate or RHR is 60.
2. Maximum heart rate or MHR is 220 – 30 = 190.
3. Heart rate reserve or HRR: 190 – 60 = 130.
4. The low end of the training zone is: (130 x .55) + 60 = 131.5 = 131 (rounded down for safety).
5. The high end of your training zone is: (130 x .75) + 60 = 157.5 = 157.

You can input this zone into your heart rate monitor, and it will alert you if you go above or below the zone (the Polar beeps if you go above or below your zone).

Training Frequency

To get the most out of your cardio training and turn your body into an efficient fat-burning machine, you should start with cardio three to four times a week for half an hour each session. You can gradually increase this (five minutes per session per week) to 45 minutes per session. You can later increase the frequency to five to six times a week.

When is the Best Time for Cardio Training?

The best time for fat burning – because most people do cardio training for that purpose – is before breakfast! Your body is then best able to tap into your fat for energy because most carbohydrates have been consumed overnight. To obtain energy to complete the workout, the body will need to access your fat reserves.

Now, this may not be suitable for everyone, so I’ll provide an alternative: do your cardio training immediately after your weight training. Your body will have depleted its carbohydrates to some extent through weight training and will thus need to switch to fat more quickly. Don’t eat or drink a sports drink immediately after your weight training session, as replenishing your carbohydrates will reduce the effectiveness. Also, don’t do your cardio training before your weight training session, as your body won’t have enough energy left to complete the weight training effectively.

Variation

Your body is always seeking a state of comfort. This means that your body adapts to the load it receives. Your body will then become more efficient with its energy, which is good but not ideal if you want to progress further. Therefore, you must ensure that your body cannot adapt by changing the load regularly.

In the case of cardio, this means not always using the same equipment like the bike or treadmill but regularly choosing a different load.

In most gyms and fitness rooms, you have a choice of many machines, such as a treadmill (also consider different inclines and programs), bicycles, cross-trainers, and rowing machines. Use all of these (not in one session!). This also prevents boredom, which can happen quickly with cardio.