Why do cardio training?

This is a question that often pops up in any coversation where cardio training is being discussed. Clearly many people, if not all, hate cardio training. They might feel tht it is too much work, or it seems pointless to them. All different people have their own opinion when it comes to cardiovascular training. If you would ask a powerlifter 'how much time, in a week in your training routine, would you say that you spend doing cardio?' It would not be a shock to hear them say none to very little.
Many weightlifters seemed to have convinced themselves that if they are trying to get biggger and stronger, that they have to dismiss cardio training because it will make them smaller and weak. This is not the case, weight training in general is a form of cardio in a sense. Especially if you take fewer breaks and shorten the time between sets.
It is recommended by experts that the average person should do between a half an hour to a full hour daily of cardiovascular training. It is an important form of training for a person's over all health. Some benefits of training cardio frequently is the reduction of risk for heart disease, it helps to keep the heart strong, lowers cholesterol levels and burns excess calories among many other things. Cardiovascular training may not be the most exciting thing to do, but making the sacriffice now to do cardio, can help you down the road.

Are You Overtrainig?

Many people who lift weights are always working towards getting better. This fixed idea of what they want to be drives them. Many goals among weight lifters are fairly commom. Some goals, for example are, " I want to be the strongest person I know', or 'I want to have a great physique', or a truely commom dellusional statement of 'I want to be bigger than Arnold Shwarzenegger in his prime'. These people may work very hard in the gym to accomplish their goals. They might eat well, train relentlessly, and work hard, but still do not see the results they want and expect. When this happens many lifters convince themselves that they are not working hard enough and start training twice as hard. Remember, more is not always better.

So here's the question, 'are you over training?' Look at your weight lifting routine. How many days a week do you work out? How much time do you give between working out the same body parts? In a single workout session, how many exercises are you doing for a speciphic muscle group? According to experts, it is said that you should not workout the same muscle group anywhere from 24 to 48 hours. For example, if you workout your chest and triceps today, you can't do chest and triceps tomarrow. Your muscles need time to grow. When you are lifting weights you are not making the muscle stronger, your tearing the muscle fibers. When you rest after that workout,that is when the muscle reformes and gets stronger. The recommended exercises per muscle group workout is 3 to 8 depending on the person.

No one persone can tell you if you are overtraining or not, they can only tell you their oppinion. You have to be the one to tell yourself whether you are over training or not. If you are suspicious that you might be, than you probably are. Some simptoms of over training to look for is excessive amout of fatigue, muscle spasm, feeling weaker, little to no muscle gain, and being frequently tired. Remember, it is truely a golden rule, 'more is not always better.' If your routine is suspect, than change some things around (day's, routines, exercises, days off), get plenty of rest, and I am sure you'll start to see more results.