Why you shouldn't neglect low-intensity cardio

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

When we get carried away with high-intensity interval training, we often neglect standard cardio workouts. Why we should at least occasionally include this type of exercise in our schedule, experts from the global network of elite sports clubs Equinox will tell.

High-intensity interval training significantly improves your athletic performance, even if you halve your training time. This is exactly what a Danish study showed that tracked a 7-week preparation for a 5K race, which required intervals.

As a result, there is a craze for short but very effective sets of exercises, as it saves a lot of time and gives the desired result. And their opposite - low-intensity cardio - was forgotten and tucked away in a closet on the top shelf. But is it so deserved? After all, each type of physical activity has its own advantages.

Adam Duthie, a Level 4 Trainer on the Equinox System, believes that if someone tells you that standard cardio is not doing well, he’s just trying to sell you his book. Yes, such training will not help you quickly gain muscle mass or increase strength, but it will help you to pump other, equally important qualities.

Benefits of low-intensity cardio

1. You increase your blood flow. Endurance work stimulates the left ventricle of the heart, which pumps blood to the rest of the body to increase its power. That is, more oxygen will flow to the important internal organs and tissues involved in training. This will have a positive effect not only on sports results, but also on the general condition of the body.

2. The efficiency of oxygen assimilation is increased. It's not even about increasing the amount of oxygen that enters our body, but the fact that it is better absorbed by tissues. This is due to the fact that this type of training increases the density of capillaries, which are the channels for blood supply to internal organs and tissues. That is, in this way we expand our oxygen delivery network.

3. Muscle recovery is accelerated. High-intensity cardio will boost your metabolism and, as a result, increase the amount of lactic acid molecules that cause muscle soreness and fatigue. Low-intensity cardio, in contrast, helps muscles repair by increasing blood flow to damaged tissues, which simultaneously carries oxygen and flushes out these byproducts.

Working "at low revs" allows you to cleanse the body faster than if you took a break from training for 1-2 days. Recovery jogging or regular low-to-medium intensity cardio workouts can help relieve the muscle soreness.

4. These exercises prepare you for the next intense workout. High-intensity cardio training requires adenosine triphosphate (ATP) molecules, which muscles need to contract. It is your source of energy, and each interval session depletes it. Low intensity cardio works to replenish the building blocks and enzymes needed to generate more powerful muscle response. This means you can take on new heights in your next interval workout if you take the time to do recovery exercises instead of complete rest.

How to integrate low-intensity cardio into your workout schedule without wasting time

You don't have to spend a lot of time doing this kind of recovery workout. When approached wisely, short sessions can be practiced daily: a 20-minute jog, bike ride, or even brisk walking will be enough to kick-start the recovery processes.

To get the most out of it, it is worth planning macrocycles, that is, longer, low-intensity cardio workouts. The weekly exercise schedule for the average amateur athlete might look like this:

• Monday, Wednesday, Friday - high-intensity workouts;
• Thursday, Saturday - low-intensity recovery cardio.

Try to follow this schedule for 4-6 weeks, and be sure to keep a diary so you can compare the results before and after the new schedule is introduced.