How to go from hating cardio to loving it
I’ve had interesting conversations about cardio recently. My relationship with cardio has been up-and-down over the years so I understand the trepidation. However, now that I’m training cardio more consistently and enjoying it far more, I thought I’d share some tips with you that helped me and people I’ve worked with recently to “get into it”:
1. Start Slow 🐌
Cardio is surprisingly beneficial at low intensities, but it’s so easy to overdo it without doing anything wrong, your heart rate is sensitive to exercise so learning to control intensity is a must. Heart rate zones are a good indication of intensity. There are 5 zones in total, sticking in zones 2 and 3 is what you want to aim for, they won’t result in you feeling unfit, which is often what puts a lot of us off. Zones 4 and 5 can wait, they are sweaty and hard work, leave those until you’ve got a few easier sessions under your belt and you actually WANT to up the intensity. Heart rate zones change depending on your age and fitness levels. (Check out the chart to find yours) If you have a wearable tracker or heart rate monitor the chart will give you an idea of where to start. If not, use your breathing as a guide, zone 2 and you should be able to breathe through your nose and talk without gasping. Zone 3 you’ll begin mouth breathing but will still be able to talk fairly comfortably without stopping to gasp for more air.
2. Less is more
The more modest your initial target, the quicker you will feel motivated to do more. Tomorrow if you do 1-2 minutes of gentle cardio and that was it, you’d be surprised how soon you’d be feeling the urge to take on more. By contrast, if tomorrow you tried to do 20 minutes and accidentally slipped into zone 4/5, you’d hate it, feel awful and probably not go back to it for a while. 30 minutes of brisk walking 3 times a week has been shown to bring a whole host of health benefits, so putting pressure on yourself to be a runner, or be super fit is missing the point. For your health and the enjoyment of doing cardio, keep making small duration cardio sessions achievable at a low intensity and I challenge you not to want to better yourself within no time! That’s far more rewarding than overwhelming yourself with cardio that is too intense, and too long and then giving up because it’s too difficult.
3. Mix It Up
If boredom is your issue or your knees don’t like running or you hate spin classes, I bring good news, they all work when it comes to cardio. Your heart and lungs don’t know the difference between running and swimming. Yes there are differences and yes they come with additional challenges, but if you can follow steps 1 and 2, you can find a way for most activities that elevate your heart rate and do the job when it comes to your cardio health and fitness. Low-impact options like swimming, cycling or rowing, are easier to control heart rate and gentler on joints than running, resistance circuits or HIIT.
4. Get outdoors
I've found making cardio a journey to be far more motivating. Doing it indoors on a stationary machine or jumping up and down on the spot repeatedly in the gym seems to be a recipe for a mid-cardio existential crisis. Being outdoors requires your attention, this distracts your thoughts, gives you focus, detracts from the physical effort and makes the activity about achieving the act of completing the journey. Walking home from the park, jogging to the local coffee shop, or cycling to sightsee, with these activities, you’re doing cardio without even really thinking about it. Also, get outdoors in all weathers, you won’t melt when it rains, but it will be satisfying when you arrive home!
5. Gather data
Knowing distances, heart rates, timings and speeds all help to give context and objectivity. You don’t have to do anything with them, you don’t have to set a PB, and you don’t need to beat your time each session, that’s actually a surefire way to give up. Marathon runners, train for years to shave seconds off races that last for hours so don’t focus on the numbers. Going from doing 0 sessions per week to 1 or 2 sessions per week for a whole year will give you infinitely more enjoyment, progress and pride than thrashing around in pain fighting with willpower for a few weeks and giving up. Objective performance data will become very handy once you begin to fall in love with cardio. Eventually, you'll find yourself wanting to use it to fuel your competitive spirit, ironically the same competitive spirit that initially prevents you from pacing yourself and ultimately keeps you away from the enjoyment factor.
There are plenty of aspects to optimal cardio training techniques I haven't covered here so of course, if you have any questions regarding cardio please fire them to me in the comments section. However, this post is aimed at the lessons I’ve learnt whilst going through the process of getting to where I am now with cardio for enjoyment and for my health 💪
Remember, every step forward, no matter how small, is progress. So lace up those trainers, head out and start making strides toward a healthier, happier you! 💪