Cardiovascular Training (BLITZ)
Lesson Three: Cardiovascular Training (BLITZ)
Cardiovascular training gets a bad rap because it is often overused. It is very important for your fitness, circulation, fat mobilization and health markers such as blood pressure, lung capacity and resting heart rate. However there are quite a few forms of cardio.
HIIT
High Intensity Interval Training is the most “bang for your buck” form of Cardiovascular training. Studies on HIIT training have evidence for increased fat burn (post workout), stimulation of metabolic rate and improved explosive power. Blitz sessions use principles of HIIT training to gain these benefits, as they are short sessions (20-30 mins max) and have the most metabolic benefit.
LOW INTENSITY CARDIO
Low-intensity cardio includes walking, light cycling, light swimming or anything that you are only working at 40-50% of your maximum heart rate (220 minus your age). This cardio is great for baseline fitness, circulation, hormone regulation and recovery. I recommend at least 30 mins of low-intensity cardio a day (which can include daily activity). Just make sure what you are doing is actually low intensity and not moderate intensity which can have an alternate effect if overdone.
If you don't have time to add in a 30-minute walk, daily activity all adds up. Increasing your steps per day will gain the same benefit. Try wearing a pedometer to track and get up to 10000 steps. This means taking the stairs instead of the lift, parking further away, or getting up from your desk to move around.
MODERATE INTENSITY CARDIO
Moderate intensity cardio involves steady-state output at over 60% of your max heart rate. This kind of cardio can be useful for fitness, endurance and heart health but overusing it can burn you out, cause your body to become too efficient at burning calories and increase cortisol which is your stress hormone which when at high levels has many negative effects from weight gain and exhaustion to low immunity. If you are training for a sport, this kind of cardio is necessary, but I believe for everyday health it is better to do HIIT and Low Intensity.
BLITZ SESSIONS
In the Powherful Program, we focus on HIIT cardio. Daily activity and walking are fantastic as well, but the primary focus is getting in your allocated number of HIIT sessions. Blitz sessions use cardiovascular exercises in timed intervals of work and rest and last no longer than 30 minutes. Effort during the intervals should be over 80% of maximum effort to reap the benefits of high-intensity interval training and not turn it into a moderate intensity session. We have seen the best results from adding in HIIT cardio, it's more fun, more sustainable to get your sessions done, has a high fat burning effect and releases endorphins! You will find the Blitz sessions in the Program.