Why You Need Cardio and Resistance Training in Your Exercise Routine
August 23, 2021
Categories: Healthy Living
There are a multitude of other benefits that each type of exercise can offer and it’s important to incorporate both into your exercise routine.
When you exercise, do you find yourself gravitating towards more cardiovascular exercises, strength training or a mix of the two? Cardiovascular exercise is most looked at as a tool for heart health or fat loss, whereas strength training is typically looked at as a tool for building muscle. While these outcomes can be a result of each individual type of exercise, there are a multitude of other benefits that each type of exercise can offer and it’s important to incorporate both into your exercise routine. Let’s dive into each of them!
Cardiovascular Exercise
The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) defines cardiovascular exercises as those that are rhythmic, continuous, and performed with large muscles of the body. These exercises include such activities as walking, jogging, cycling, swimming, hiking, stair-climbing, rope-jumping, cross-country skiing, skating, rowing, and dancing.
Guidelines - ACSM and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend that all healthy adults 18-65 years old should participate in moderate intensity aerobic physical activity for a minimum of 30 minutes five days per week, or vigorous intensity aerobic activity for a minimum of 20 minutes three days per week. Continuous sessions or multiple shorter sessions of at least 10 minutes are both acceptable to accumulate the desired amount of daily exercise.
Cardiovascular exercise has some great benefits that can include, but are not limited to:
- Strengthening your heart
- Reducing your risk of cardiovascular disease, including heart attack and stroke
- Assisting in weight loss/ weight control
- Naturally boosting energy levels
- Improving mental health
- Assisting the immune system
- Even helping you sleep better
Arguably the most sought-after benefit of regular cardiovascular exercise is the ability to improve your cardiovascular health. Through regular cardiovascular exercise you can strengthen your heart and help it pump more efficiently. That can lead to lower blood pressure and reduced risk of complications related to hypertension. Cardio can also assist with cholesterol levels by slowly lowering your LDL (or “bad”) cholesterol over time and raising your HDL (or “good”) cholesterol to keep your arteries clear!
Resistance Training
Resistance training is defined as a form of physical activity that is designed to improve muscular fitness by exercising a muscle group against external resistance. These activities can be accomplished using your own body weight, free weights, resistance training machines, or even random weighted objects in your home! Example exercises could include squats, lunges, presses, curls, rows, and so much more.
Guidelines - The ACSM recommends that a strength training program should be performed a minimum of two non-consecutive days each week, with one set of 8-12 repetitions for healthy adults or 10-15 repetitions for older and frail individuals. 8 to 10 exercises should be performed each session targeting major muscle groups. Frequency guidelines change based on level of fitness; for example, novice individuals are recommended 2-3 days per week, intermediate individuals are recommended 3 days per week and advanced individuals are recommended 4-6 days per week.
Resistance training can also offer valuable benefits that can include, but are not limited to:
- Improving muscular strength, endurance, and power
- Strengthening bone, muscle and connective tissue growth and durability
- Assisting with communication between your brain and muscles
- Even aiding in glucose regulation
As we age, it is important to continue resistance training to slow the atrophy, or breakdown, of muscle that comes with aging.
Conclusion
An exercise program that includes both cardiovascular and resistance training will offer invaluable benefits that neither type of exercise would otherwise offer by itself. You are also able to add some variety to your exercise program, by alternating days of cardiovascular exercise with days of resistance training or even splitting workouts into one portion of each.
St. Mary’s Wellness Center, located in Athens Ga., is a fully equipped gym with a compassionate, highly knowledgeable staff to assist you with your exercise endeavors. Exercise prescriptions are offered to all members, free of charge, to orient you to our equipment and answer any questions you may have. Personal training is also offered, for a small fee, if you like to have a member of the team by your side, guiding you through workouts or working with you to meet specific goals!
Our cardiovascular equipment includes treadmills, bikes, ellipticals, stair steppers, rowers and NuSteps. Our resistance training equipment includes 20 easy-to-use LifeFitness machines that utilize different muscle groups, two loaded dumbbell racks, cable machines, free weight benches and squat racks. The Wellness Center also offers group fitness classes that offer a variety of cardiovascular and resistance training style routines.
We also offer a Wellness Center at St. Mary’s Sacred Heart Hospital in Lavonia, convenient to those who live or work in the greater Franklin County area.
About the Author: William McLaughlin
Ever since my first weight training class in high school, I have had a deep dedication to working out to be the best version of myself. I am extremely thankful to have been able to attend Georgia College and obtain my Bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology to not only improve upon my own knowledge in the health and wellness realm, but also use that knowledge to help others. My health- and wellness- related work experience includes 1-on-1 personal training, dietary supplement sales, leading a Phase 3 cardiopulmonary program, participating in two Phase 2 cardiopulmonary internships and most recently, gym management. I have enjoyed every bit of my journey and I strive to give individuals the information/tools they need to improve their health and wellness.
Oh, and one final thought…Have fun!
