Cardiovascular training is often thought of as an effective method of weight management. However, I often hear from people: “I do a lot of cardio and have been gaining weight, not losing weight!”

Confusing problem, right? After all, you would think that with the amount of cardio you do you would be wasting a lot of calories making you lose weight.

What adds to this belief is that the latest craze in fitness is promoting high intensity exercise, be it weight training or cardio training.

I’m going to suggest that you’re doing it wrong! For a number of reasons that I will comment on. First of all, it is important to understand that as humans we can be active for long periods of time without needing to stop, unlike other mammals as they need to stop to release some heat from their body. We do that, in other ways, allowing us to continually move.

In longer efforts, such as events lasting two hours or more, ninety-nine percent of the effort comes from the aerobic system. Of our three energy systems, this one often seems to fall short in terms of respect.

Quick overview of energy systems:

1. The first 5-10 seconds are powered by the ATP / CP system
2. After that time, the body begins to switch to a system that produces lactate (the accumulation of which causes it to burn the day after exercise).
3. Finally, in periods of 2 minutes and more there is a change to the aerobic system that allows us to maintain a prolonged effort.

Fat is the main ingredient that powers the aerobic system and is the reason why the body is covered in it. This system is used regularly throughout the day, in fact right now as you read this you are doing it to some extent. The stronger your aerobic system, the better able it is to use fat for fuel instead of sugar (simple carbohydrates).

When your aerobic system is weak, you need more of your energy supply to come from sugar (as this is the fuel of choice for the second system mentioned above). But when sugar is ingested there is an increase in insulin production, which prevents further breakdown of fat for energy. This leads you to need more sugar, further reducing your ability to burn fat.

If you are one of those who has gained weight with increased cardio, you will most likely eat more to deal with the loss of energy.

The side effects of aerobic weakness are:

• Fatigue – Mid-day fatigue that leads you to eat more sugary foods.
• Increased body fat: Increased carbohydrates in your diet (sugary types) to handle the energy your body needs.
• Inflammation: frequent musculoskeletal or nerve-related injuries
• Hormonal imbalance: seen when there are higher levels of cortisol, the stress hormone. This further indicates cravings for sugary foods and high levels of body fat.
• Physical injuries: the body requires oxygen for tissues, muscles, nerves, ligaments, tendons, etc. Oxygen is delivered through the blood vessels. With age comes the loss of the vascular system and the supply of oxygen to the tissues that require it. Aerobic exercise improves and, in some cases, helps build more blood vessels to facilitate the transport of oxygen to the tissues that need it.

The last one on this list is where I do a long preaching. Often with patients I ask them to implement this little aerobic workout that I will mention below, and it is enough to get them out of pain (even if some of the key dysfunctions leading to their injury are not addressed).

So how do you know if you are doing aerobic exercise? Easy. Follow the guidance of Dr. Maffetone. He has studied this for many years and has worked with many great athletes of our time. His guidelines on proper aerobic training are as follows:

1. Subtract your age from 180

2. Modify this number by selecting the one that best suits your health and fitness profile from the following categories:

• If you have or are recovering from a serious illness (heart disease, operation or hospitalization, etc.) or are taking medication regularly. Subtract an additional 10.
• If you are injured, have regressed in training or competition, have more than two colds or flu attacks per year, have allergies or asthma, or if you have been inconsistent or are just getting back to training. Subtract an additional 5.
• If you have been training consistently (at least four times a week) for up to two years without any of the problems mentioned above. Keep number 180 – age.
• If you have been training for more than two years without any of the problems listed above and have progressed in the competition without injury. Add 5.

I promise you, very few people reading this will have gotten less than 2 sick during the last 12 months, and almost everyone who will read this once they put on a heart rate monitor will be surprised at how slow you may need to go for maintain heart rate. recommended range.

My recommendation is to stick to the formula. 30-40 minutes each workout, 3-4 times a week, and for 6 months, not only will you notice a significant change in your body composition (which will last, you might add, unlike the weight lost with dieting), You will also notice that you are less sick, less injured, have higher energy levels. Then you can go back to whatever high intensity training you’ve been doing before and be amazed at how much better you are.

I do this work with most of my patients and all of my elite athletes.