Did you know that the timing of your cardio workouts largely determines your results? Cardio is an essential part of being healthy. In this episode, I explain exactly how to tell if your cardio is working for or against you, how to calculate your heart rate zones, why cardio is important (and when it’s not), and the three most common mistakes women over 40 make in their cardio.

When you get your cardio right, everything changes! While it is true that any exercise is better than no exercise, and that’s a great way to get back into exercise, once more movement becomes a habit, you will be ready to uplevel your programming so that you feel better, have more energy, and can really see the payoff from your efforts.

Looking fit doesn’t always mean being fit. The three main variables of programming are strength training, cardio, and nutrition. Depending on the variables, all effort is not the same! When it comes to cardio, it can truly make or break your results. Cardio improves your cardiovascular fitness. It's like a leg press for your heart! Cardio isn’t valuable, however, when your heart rate is too high, your workouts are too long, or when you haven’t eaten.

To make sure that you’re doing the best cardio for your body, you need to calculate your heart rate zone. It is commonly thought that your age determines how fast your heart can beat at its maximum, however, my work has shown this is not always the case. A significant study shows that women should use a different formula than men to calculate their heart rate zone: 206 minus 88% of their age. This will give you the low end of your maximal heart rate range. For the high end, calculate 220 minus your age.

Too much cardio or the wrong kind can slow your progress. Instead, you'll want some workouts where your heart rate is around 60 to 70% of the age-predicted maximal heart rate. And then you'll want some workouts each week where your heart rate is between 80 and 85%, maybe 90% of your maximal heart rate. There are benefits that come from steady-state cardio workouts where your heart rate is in the moderate range and you keep it constant for 20, 30, or even 40 or more minutes. Then there are different benefits that come from workouts where your heart rate goes up and down at timed intervals. These types of cardio sessions improve your cardiovascular fitness and capacity as well as VO2 max.

I guarantee that if you apply the information from my podcast to your workouts, you will get results. And if you want even better results, more tailored to your body, please join one of my coaching programs! Remember, your age is NOT keeping you from the body you want!

You can get FREE access to my 4-week Strength Without Stress program right now! This program will help you reduce the systemic inflammation that’s caused by overly intense or lengthy workouts. It’ll help you build and maintain valuable lean muscle without the fatigue from other programs.

To get free access to Strength Without Stress, post a Review wherever you’re listening. Grab a screenshot of your review before you post it and upload at: https://www.hollyperkins.com/review

This is a limited-time offer before it sells for $197–grab it while you can for lifetime access.

Topics covered:

● (03:34) Getting cardio right completely transformed my client’s body composition

● (06:45) Meeting falsely-fit people in my exercise video days!

● (09:30) The variables in your programming each have a result

● (11:02) Cardio will make or break your results

● (14:58) Here’s the best way to calculate your heart rate zone

● (21:26) Biggest cardio mistakes women make and how to rectify them

● (27:44) Exactly how much cardio to aim for each week

Resources Mentioned

● Research on age-predicted maximal heart rate

●    Research on how resistance exercise performance is negatively impacted by prior aerobic exercise

Transcripts can be found on the official blog page for this episode at hollyperkins.com/blog

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Disclaimer: Content and information as part of The Holly Perkins Health Podcast is for general interest, education, and entertainment purposes only. The use of information on this podcast or materials or products linked from this podcast or website is at the user’s own risk. The content of this podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Users should not disregard or delay in obtaining medical advice for any medical or mental health condition they may have and should seek the assistance of their healthcare professionals for any such conditions.