Cardio just happens to be my favourite kind of exercise. I never feel more energised than when I’m dripping in sweat and panting as hard as a dog on a 100-degree day 🥵. Although I love how it makes me feel, I appreciate that for many, the thought of doing a burpee is about as appealing as joining Donald Trump for a soak in a spa (imagine the colour of the water 🤢). Love it or loathe it, here are five reasons why you should absolutely, most definitely work up a sweat:-
1. It improves your mood and can help to lower stress levels. Most of us spend our days running around like headless chickens, trying to juggle 19 different balls and praying the one we inevitably drop isn’t important! Cardiovascular exercise increases your heart rate and releases endorphins, boosting moods. When we feel good, we are more able to deal with stressful situations. The mental strength required to get through a workout can make us better equipped to deal with challenging times outside of those workouts. Constantly reinforcing that post-exercise high with regular workouts will have you feeling confident enough to take on the world in no time.
2. It reduces the risk of many diseases, including heart disease, and can help to reverse type 2 diabetes. Aerobic exercise improves circulation and strengthens the heart, lowering blood pressure. It also helps to reduce cholesterol by eliminating the bad cholesterol and increasing the good. Both high cholesterol and high blood pressure can lead to an increased risk of heart disease.
In addition, it is possible to put type 2 diabetes into remission by losing weight and sustaining the loss. A combination of regular cardio and healthy eating is the best chance of doing both.
3. It’s great at burning fat and calories. The most effective way to lose weight is to work on a calorie deficit. That is, eating fewer calories than your body needs for fuel. A good cardio workout can burn hundreds of calories and around twice as many calories as a resistance (weights) workout of the same duration. Burning more for doing less sounds like a win to me!
4. It helps the immune system. If you’re forever getting coughs, colds, and viruses, then cardio is for you. Regular cardio exercise changes your antibodies and white blood cells (the little guys that fight infection), causing them to move around the body faster, meaning they can detect and fight some illnesses much sooner than they might otherwise have done, reducing your risk of getting sick.
5. It improves your lung capacity (which is great if you’re asthmatic like me). Your lungs have to work harder during cardio exercise in order to supply enough oxygen for your muscles. This strengthens the lungs (and breathing muscles), improving airways' functionality in asthmatics. Non asthmatics also benefit greatly from increased lung capacity with increased oxygen reaching muscles, allowing them to work more efficiently.
Whether it’s a brisk walk, a jog around the park, or a HIIT workout, any kind of exercise that has you breathing heavily and that you do consistently is going to benefit you massively.
So why not start that habit of regular exercise NOW by hitting the link below for a 20-minute cardio and abs workout that will have you working up a sweat in seconds?
https://youtu.be/sKfyaypvnRc
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