Is cardio good or bad?

Carolyn · Is cardio good or bad?

Recently I read 2 books that turned me off to cardio exercising.

1. The Doctor's Heart Cure
http://www.cholesterol-and-health.com/Doctors-Heart-Cure.html

"Dr. Sears makes a compelling argument that long-term endurance exercise is the wrong approach to achieve a healthy heart."

I read something in this book that said that you will lose fat during long cardio workouts but then when you stop, your body stores fat up for the next exercise session.

2. The Schwarzbein Principle, The Program: Losing Weight the Healthy Way by Diana Schwarzbein

"Schwarzbein opts for resistance training and stretching, claiming that "overdoing" cardiovascular or stimulating exercises will damage the heart and metabolism... " from Amazon.com

Also, the book Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar and Survival by T.S. Wiley doesn't recommend long intense exercising especially running (Your body thinks you are running from a lion chasing you and thus is very stress producing, or something like that.)

An acupuncturist told me that people who do yoga are healthier than those who do cardio.

does cardio fit in with Paleo-type or carnivore-type eating?

I don't do any cardio anymore. I do Pilates and strength/resistance training. Much less boring plus it engages your mind AND your body.

Dean

I LOVE walking! So, even if I did not get my heart rate real high, I would still want to walk... especially outdoors. I can't imagine that moving your muscles around and getting your circulation of blood and lymph, etc. flowing is not going to be healthy for you. I too have questioned the stress caused by "intense" cardio. I never really looked at cardio as a way to lose weight anyway. I think it can help. But the real solution is in what you eat.

jl53563

jl53563

The heart is a muscle. I think stregthening any muscle is good.

Heather

I walk or run almost daily and consider most any exercise good.

Dean

Perhaps it is as simple as this. Don't overtrain. Build up your exercise intensity gradually...no matter whether it is cardio or resistance or some other form of exercise. If you get used to doing a certain level of exercise, it really won't be overtaxing your body, and therefore will not be harmful. Perhaps the only harm is when we truly overdue things. I have read this many places, and heard it from coaches and doctors throughout my life.

I agree with Heather and Jeff. Any exercise (if not overdone) is going to be good for a person. It is a simple fact that we in the modern world are WAY too sedentary!

ReddyMcMeaty

I've heard a lot about that too, extreme long distance cardio training enlarges the heart and actually is not a beneficial condition. I don't think it's anything to worry about unless one is a serial marathoner or a cross country skiier or something. I'd say the only danger the average person is, in regards to slow cardio, is doing it to the complete exclusion of strength training and keeping their flabby physique only smaller, rather than building a well rounded musculature. Women who don't want to "get bulky" come to mind.

Free

I think that the best combination of exercise, is bodyweight/strength conditioning along with gentle cardio, such as walking and hiking.

Personally, I have always found running, to be rather tough, overall, on all my body systems, especially my joints.

I think sprints are good, but are more a part of the first category. Most of the really healthy older people I see, take regular long walks.

mrfreddy

I can't make up my mind on this issue. I've been doing Slow Burn, and they advise against cardio. Their position, is go out and have an active life, play tennis, golf, go on on walks, etc. but dont do "aerobics"

their reasoning is that

1) you can't strengthen your heart - the improvements you see from doing cardo are simply improvements to the muscle strength and to your muscles' ability to convert fat and sugar to energy.

2) likewise, you can't make your lungs stronger, it's the muscles that are getting stronger.

3) training your muscles to failure strengthens the muscles far better than aerobics - since you are using all of the muscle fibers - slow and fast twitch. Aerobics typically only works the slow.

4) aerobics delivers a beating to your body

5) you dont really burn that many calories. In an hour of aerobics, I might burn 350 calories. But you gotta subtract the 100 or so I would have burned anyway if I had stayed in bed. So for an hour, I only burn off 250 calories. And I end up hungrier and eat that much more anyway. Voila, no weight losss!

all that said, I'm an endorphin junky, and I think our bodies are designed to run, and that there are lots of beneifical biochemical responses to running beyond mere calories burned and strength improvements that make it worth while. So I'm still a'runnin....