If you practice an endurance sport, you must adapt your training accordingly. The emphasis is on endurance and regenerative capacity, because running a marathon and sprinting place very different demands.
Find out now which sports work your cardio, what happens to your body when you do endurance and which diet is recommended for cardio.
Doing cardio requires optimal intake
Engaging in cardio exercise demands proper fueling to ensure optimal performance and results. Your body needs sufficient intake of nutrients to support the energy demands of cardiovascular activities. Consuming a balanced diet rich in carbohydrates, proteins, and healthy fats provides the necessary fuel for your workouts.
Additionally, staying hydrated is crucial for maintaining endurance and preventing fatigue during cardio sessions.
By prioritizing your nutrition, you can maximize the benefits of your cardio workouts and achieve your weight loss goals more effectively.
A suitable cardio workout
When it comes to endurance sports, most people think directly of jogging or cycling, but the list of cardio sports is much longer. You can work on your cardio without running a marathon if you prefer swimming or dancing. The most important thing is that you do a sport that you enjoy and that stimulates your cardiovascular endurance . Have you ever tried “jumping fitness” (training on a trampoline) or pounding (cardio training with drum sticks)? There is no best cardio exercise, so don’t hesitate to try new sports to find the one you enjoy the most. With suitable online sessions, you can even work on your cardio with equipment-free exercises at home.
Another advantage of endurance sports: they promote blood circulation.
Cardio program for beginners
If you are just starting out, it is advisable not to overwork your body. We advise cardio beginners to run with two-minute intervals: walk for two minutes, run for two minutes and gradually increase the time between each run to build endurance. Instead of the kilometers covered, it is the time intervals during which breathing, heart and muscles are used that play a decisive role . To give your body time to regenerate, don’t run every day, but take breaks. Instead of setting the goal of “improving your endurance in 2 weeks”, prefer to gradually increase your level over a longer period of time. Here is an example of a cardio program:
- Train three times the first week and run 2 x 8 minutes
- The second week, do 3 x 6 intervals
- The third week, do 3 x 4 intervals, etc.
Do you prefer to do cardio sessions at home? This is possible with a treadmill and other cardio machines. We promise that your efforts will bear fruit and that you will succeed in improving your cardio-respiratory endurance!
How to improve your cardio?
There are several cardio training methods to increase your endurance:
The method continues
- Effort: continuous, low to moderate intensity, without interruption
- Heart rate: relatively constant
- Duration: 45 minutes to several hours
The interval method
- Effort: short and intense, alternating with (incomplete) recovery phases
- Heart rate: alternating high and medium
- Duration: 60 seconds to 10 minutes
The repetition method
- Duration: very intense and short phases alternating with (complete) recovery phases
- Heart rate: alternating high and medium
- Duration: 20 seconds to 8 minutes
What all methods for increasing your cardio have in common is that you need to be moving for at least 20 minutes, sweating and getting your heart rate up. But you should know that the best way to improve your basic endurance is to train regularly ! Schedule cardio training dates into your calendar to motivate yourself. To progress, you can take speed , time and resistance as a reference (for example with an elliptical bike) and gradually increase. Start, don’t set unrealistic goals and speed up from time to time or increase the duration. By applying this method during your cardio exercises, you will gradually get closer to your goals. Walk as much as possible, take the stairs instead of the elevator, and take long walks if you feel like it.
How much cardio per week?
Although it’s important to exercise every day, doing cardio every day can be counterproductive . No need to overdo it, give yourself rest days and do yoga and light exercises on non-cardio days. A (long) session of cardiovascular exercise without strength training not only puts stress on your joints and ligaments, but also increases your cortisol levels. The latter can hinder the elimination of fat, which may explain why you are not losing weight despite dieting.
You will find more information on this subject in the article “ Why am I not losing weight? »
The advantages of practicing additional strength sports : you strengthen your muscles, tendons, ligaments and joints and you burn fat more effectively, because muscles also consume energy when they are at rest.
Do cardio before or after weight training?
It depends on your goal. If the focus is on endurance , the muscles must be able to perform at full capacity for intensive workouts . If the muscles are already tired, your technique will be poor and you risk injury. This is why it makes more sense to do endurance before strength training. Even better: don’t do cardio and weight training on the same day so that neither execution technique nor performance is affected.
The role of diet
Are you wondering what type of nutrition is suitable for endurance and whether you should consume carbohydrates before training? A balanced diet is also important for endurance athletes. Whole, unprocessed foods, for example in the form of complex carbohydrates such as potatoes, legumes or brown rice, are particularly suitable for stocking up on energy.
In the context of sports performance, carbohydrates play an essential role. According to studies, performance improves after pre-workout carbohydrate intake for long workouts , but not for shorter workouts. The higher the intensity of your cardio exercises, the more carbohydrates you should consume . “Stimulants” like caffeine and creatine can also improve performance in an appropriate athletic environment.
When it comes to athletes’ nutrition, remember that increased performance also leads to increased calorie and nutrient requirements. Most of the time, you automatically feel hungrier during a more intense cardio workout. You also shouldn’t forget to hydrate when you do sports, especially when it’s hot. Water should always be the first choice. Since sweating causes a loss of electrolytes , it is important to consume them.
What to eat before sport?
When it comes to pre-workout nutrition, the rule is: stock up on carbs – preferably easy-to-digest carbs like rice cakes or sweet potatoes. For longer sessions, a banana or small serving of oatmeal 30 to 60 minutes before training can be helpful.
What meal after sport?
Nutrition after sport: after very intensive training, emptied glycogen stores can be replenished. The ideal is to consume 30 to 60 grams of carbohydrates per hour, or 0.7 grams per kilogram of body weight. Attention ! It’s not just carbohydrates that are important. The ideal is to combine them with proteins.
Although you should prioritize easy-to-digest carbohydrates in your workout, you can opt for complex carbohydrates in your daily life. If your workout is not very intense or if you want to lose weight, you should not consume too many carbohydrates.
How does my body provide energy for endurance
Your body responds differently to different cardio exercises.
A low training speed (endurance training with a heart rate between 130 and 140) ensures a good supply of oxygen to our body. The body primarily metabolizes fats and carbohydrates to generate energy.
At faster training speeds (heart rate around 160) and higher training performance, the oxygen requirement and cardiac output increase. Since there is no longer enough oxygen available for energy production, the body switches directly to burning carbohydrates .
If the cardio training is even more advanced (for example during an intermediate or final sprint with a heart rate around 170), energy is produced without oxygen, mainly from glucose , a simple sugar.
A byproduct of glucose breakdown is lactate (lactic acid), which builds up in muscles and leads to muscle fatigue and decreased coordination. Depending on the training level, athletes can train for 2 to 60 minutes providing anaerobic energy (bordering on lack of oxygen) until complete exhaustion.
Please note: anaerobic energy production also takes place at the very beginning of physical activity. It is the one that can provide energy the fastest. Adapting heart and lung performance from anaerobic to aerobic energy production takes about three minutes. Only then is sufficient blood, and therefore oxygen, transported through the body to provide energy.
Checklist: improve your cardio quickly
How to improve your cardio, strengthen your heart and improve your breathing quickly? Unfortunately, there is no miracle cure that will allow you to quickly improve your fitness overnight, but there are a few things you can consider:
- Find the sport that suits you : don’t hesitate to experiment
- Take your time and be patient.
- Set realistic goals based on the length of your workout
- Don’t forget recovery days (at least 2 per week)
- No sport when you are sick!
- Make sure you eat a balanced diet : proteins, fats, carbohydrates
- Stay hydrated , especially if you sweat a lot
- Implement an endurance training program
- Accompany yourself with someone to be even more motivated.
- Add supplements to your diet for endurance sports (e.g. electrolytes and minerals like magnesium
- Alternate between endurance and strength exercises
PubMed (2016): « New strategies in sport nutrition to increase exercise performance », consulté le 01.01.2023.PubMed (2020): « What Should I Eat before Exercise? Pre-Exercise Nutrition and the Response to Endurance Exercise: Current Prospective and Future Directions », consulté le 07.01.2023.TK – The Technicians (2021): « Jogging for beginners: the great beginner’s guide » , consulté le January 2nd, 2023.
