Cardio programming is an essential part of a complete workout program. Often, people overuse cardio as a weight loss tool. While cardio workouts do burn fat, they can also break down muscle if inappropriately programmed.

Cardiovascular fitness can take on many forms. The cardiovascular fitness necessary to complete a marathon is completely different from that necessary to complete a “Tough Mudder” race.

Examples of different cardiovascular training:
– Low intensity steady state (typically accessed when performing a brisk walk or light jog)
– Medium intensity cardio (typically accessed when performing a hard jog)
– High Intensity cardio also known as conditioning (typically accessed when performing sprints, jumps, etc.)

Cardio training is important to participate in endurance events, to improve cardiovascular fitness, and to achieve leanness and fat loss. Understanding your anaerobic threshold, or the point where your body begins to burn purely carbs as fuel, as opposed to using fat as the main fuel source, is helpful. Your training should be set up to accomplish your goals, whether your goals are making a personal record in a triathlon or marathon, or just getting leaner.

At Reb-L Fit you can take advantage of your cardiovascular fitness through a variety of paths. You can meet with a coach to discuss your fitness goals to decide what level of cardio programming is right for you. If you are interested in an endurance event, such as a 5k, a triathlon, a half marathon or an ironman event, then you should know your heart rate training ranges. Your Reb-L Fit coach can test you to establish those ranges, and help you decide how to improve on them.

If your goals are to increase leanness, overall fitness, or simply to lose fat, your cardio training should be part of a balanced training regimen. I can give you guidance for your heart rate based cardio training, as well as which Reb-L programs will help you best. One of my secrets is using weight training. Weight training does increase cardiovascular fitness. Weight lifting forces the heart and lungs to work hard to deliver fuel and oxygen to working muscles. Your cardio fitness can also be significantly improved by participating in our workouts. I use weights to drive the heart rate up and increase the body’s overall cardio fitness. Workouts use free weights to drive the heart rate up in a full body workout. I program metabolic conditioning and free weights into our body area training to drive cardio fitness while increasing muscular endurance.

Testing and consultations are available to help you decide the best cardio programming for you. Let’s meet to plan out your ideal program, and the best program schedule to reach your goals.