Which Cardio Fitness Equipment Is Right For You?Cardio means the heart. When we say cardio fitness equipment we are talking about equipment that trains the cardio-vascular system for increased endurance. These are exercises such as running, walking or Stairmaster. Ok, great. But how do i determine which piece of equipment is right for me. The key is in the answers to two key questions. What are you trying to achieve? And what do you like to do? The answers you give to these two questions will open up a world of possibilities to your choice of cardio equipment.
The main thing that guarantees adherence to a cardio program is some measure of enjoyment. So the activity you like more is just more likely to get done as opposed to doing something you have less affinity for. If you like walking then hat is the cardio you should choose as it is more likely that you will do it. Choosing something that you do not like because it "burns more calories" guarantees more problems sticking to your program in the long run. Next we would have to look at what your goal is. If it is say, to improve your tennis game then that gives you a more definite direction to go in in choosing what cardio to do and how you do it. Again the fact that you enjoy tennis makes it a stronger impetus to do a cardio workout that will improve that activity that you like doing. There is a principle in exercise physiology called the SAID principle. SAID stands for Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand. What this means is that you want to approximate as closely as possible the demands and movements of the activity you are training for in order to make gains in that activity. So if you are training for tennis you would want to choose a piece of cardio equipment and program that would most closely approximate the movements and energy demands of tennis. So in the tennis example using say a slide board (lateral trainer) for shorter duration higher intensity intervals would more closely approximate the lateral demands and the high intensity energy demands of tennis more closely than say running for thirty minutes at a slow pace on the treadmill. So the key is in assessing what you need and what you like. In the perfect scenario these are one in the same. Use your answers to these two questions as well as the SAID principle as a basis for deciding your choice of cardio equipment and you will make far more gains towards your goals. |