Setting the Record Straight on Cardio
I recently asked a client about his weekend, and he responded with a confession of sorts: “Fine. I ran three miles, but I know you don’t believe in cardio.”
I’m not actually against cardio. In fact, I enjoy cycling. Still, I understand why people have this impression, based on my media interviews and the InForm Fitness philosophy.
Rather than being anti-cardio, I prefer to think of myself as cardio agnostic. Current scientific evidence doesn’t prove that cardiovascular exercise is necessary; neither does it prove that cardiovascular exercise is not necessary. Given that situation – and the fact that long-term cardio can injure the body – I advocate cardio in moderation.
When cardio exercise becomes the foundation of a fitness routine, the risks outweigh the benefits. In this month’s Client Spotlight, avid runners Hence and Marie Orme share their story of the aches, pains and stiffness caused by too much of what they thought was a good thing.
Consider one of the principal precepts of physicians: Primum non nocere. “First, do no harm.” If an exercise hurts your body, then the activity causes you harm. Painful legacies of the 1980s aerobics fad include bad backs, burned-out knees, and aching joints and serve as appropriate reminders.
