Cardio is a Misnomer
When most people say “cardio,” they mean aerobics. Or low-intensity (usually) non-weight workouts. Things like jogging, cycling, spinning, and the like. But I think what they're really trying to do when they do those things is burn calories. Some might say “fat calories.” That's bunk, though. Calories are calories. There is a myth that you can burn “fat” or “carbs” but I think that's misguided. The conventional wisdom is that low-intensity exercise burns fat while high-intensity work burns carbs. While that is scientifically true, it's fundamentally flawed because none of us do enough low-impact work to really make a difference. Yes, you can lose weight with low-intensity training, but a lot of that is water weight. So I've touched on two points here that I'd like to more fully explain in other posts:
- Heart and cardiovascular training
- Fat-burning exercises
These two topics require longer articles to explain, but the general idea is that working the heart (and its associated supporting systems) is exactly the same as working out any other muscle. Really. But it is a unique muscle that requires unique exercise. Burning fat is really just placing your body in a calorie deficit through exercise. But how do you do that? Perhaps you can do both simultaneously? Let's see.
