How often do you do cardio?
While the majority of our content emphasizes the importance of resistance training, you should not neglect doing cardio.
Not only can cardio exercise be extremely beneficial for your heart, but your brain, disease-prevention systems, and joints can all get healthier through cardio, as well.
So when should you try to work in cardio throughout your day?
Here are a few things to consider:
– Morning: Doing cardio in the morning can prime your brain to grow and function better the rest of the day. Exercise is the “primer” for brain growth, while challenging your brain is the driver of brain growth. So by priming your brain early, you can take advantage of it the entire rest of the day. Also, you get your cardio done with, so you don’t risk getting too busy later and not doing it.
– Midday: Doing cardio in the middle of the day can serve as a nice reset to your day, almost like taking a midday nap. You can approach the second part of your day feeling more focused, energized, and creative and see your afternoon productivity increase.
– Evening: Doing cardio in the evening before your last meal can be a great way to destress from the day. It can give you an opportunity to process what happened during the workday and help you be more present at night.
– Night: Going for a light after-dinner walk is a wonderful way to help your body metabolize the food you ate and can help to relax your body and mind. While we do not recommend doing more than a light walk–going more intense can actually disrupt sleep and digestion–if you did not get any cardio in the rest of the day, after dinner can be a great time to get up and move a little bit.
Keep these thoughts in mind the next time you are planning a cardio workout for yourself. And, if you’d like some ideas of what you can do for your workouts, we recommend checking out the “Nothing But Cardio” program as well as the “Core & Cardio” program within the Exercise For Life Membership.
You can get full access to these programs for free for the next 30 days when you click here to activate your free 30-day trial.
In strength and health,
Julie & Charlie
P.S. What is your favorite way and time of day to do cardio? Drop a comment below to let us know!
