5 cardio workout myths you need to stop believing
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Cardio workouts often get a bad rap. Some people think they’re boring, too time-consuming, or even ineffective for achieving serious fitness goals. These common misconceptions discourage many from incorporating cardio into their routine, but they’re far from the truth. This article debunks 5 popular myths about cardio exercises, shedding light on how these workouts can be fun, efficient, and essential for your overall health. Whether you’re aiming for weight loss, improved endurance, or better heart health, read this breakdown of why cardio is a must in any fitness plan!
1. You don’t need cardio
At gyms, cardio machines are often overlooked or only used for warm-ups. But there’s more to training your cardiovascular system than simply preparing it for intense exercise – no one likes being out of breath after taking a flight of stairs. In general, cardio training is essential to overall fitness and well-being.
When doing cardio exercises, you train your heart, lungs and blood flow to boost your endurance and stamina. This helps prevent serious health conditions like coronary heart disease, deep vein thrombosis and peripheral arterial disease. Yes, commuting to the office by bicycle counts as cardio but also fun sports like dancing, swimming and hiking improve your cardiovascular fitness.
2. You only need cardio
The health benefits of cardio workouts are great, yet not enough to protect your body against all kinds of distress and disease. For example, exercises that apply stress on your bones like weight lifting or basketball increase your bone density, improving your resilience against fractures and osteoporosis.
Just be careful when suffering from joint issues or weight-related restrictions when performing high-impact sports. In general, adding resistance workouts and mobility training is recommended.
3. Effective cardio training is long
One of the biggest misconceptions about cardio exercises is that they are too long and take forever to be effective. However, you can already book progress by doing a HIIT cardio workout for 20 minutes. Of course, training for a shorter amount of time mainly trains your anaerobic system (burning fat) and power as opposed to your aerobic system (energy deriving from oxygen) and endurance, but after all, you’re still fitter and stronger than you were before!
4. Running is the best cardio workout
Running is having a revival with jogging groups and marathon events popping up all over the globe. It’s a no-equipment cardio workout that you can perform anywhere, anytime. However, just because running is the most visible cardio sport, it doesn’t mean that it’s the best for you. On the contrary, this sport has a relatively high risk for injuries that then increase the risk of arthritis.
It's common knowledge that everyone with bad knees or back issues should avoid running. A solution is low-impact exercises that are full-body cardio workouts like swimming. Not up for leaving the house? Great at-home cardio workouts are (indoor) rowing and (stationary) cycling.
5. Cardio workouts are boring
Using an elliptical or treadmill may only be boring if you don’t know how to spice up your exercise. Finding your rhythm gets surprisingly easy when listening to the best workout songs while building a routine is fun with guided training apps. As you’re checking the App Store or Play Store, you’ll notice how each sport has its own apps, giving you a broad choice from social exercising to record-breaking training.
Some apps even offer an all-in-one solution with the extra of rewarding you for your training. For example, with the indoor rowing app EXR, you can row with your friends online, join events, or follow week-by-week training plans, rewarding you for keeping up a weekly streak and making you look forward to your next training.
Boost your cardio with virtual rowing now!
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