Cardiovascular Training is essentially training specific to the heart and lungs and their ability to supply blood, oxygen and nutrients to your bodies other systems. Cardiovascular training specifically improves cardiac output and oxygen carrying capacity. It has been proven to assist with medical conditions such as hypertension and hypercholesterolaemia amongst many, many others. But what this article is about is the benefits of cardiovascular training compared to resistance training.

Resistance Training is any form of movement against resistance (not necessarily weights in a gym). For example water can provide adequate resistance for some people and exercises - hence the use of aquatherapy in many rehabilitation programs. Resistance training is most typically utilized to increase strength however resistance training has been show to have many health benefits such as increasing bone mineral density and increasing skeletal muscle. Perhaps the most significant benefit of these is to slow the bone mineral and muscle losses which are inevitable with ageing. Resistance training has also been show to have strong benefits for cardiovascular fitness. This is dependent on the type of resistance training utilized.

The most important factor to remember is that both types of training are beneficial and both types of training can provide the same benefits in many areas. For example cardiovascular training does provide some strength benefits and resistance training does provide some cardiovascular benefits.

When comparing these two broad forms of training the best option will depend on the individual. For example if you have some risk factors of heart disease or stroke, cardiovascular training will be the most beneficial to assist in alleviating these risk factors and improving your heart function. However, if you are at risk of bone disease or have a musculoskeletal imbalance then strength training will be the most likely remedy.

A healthy lifestyle and training program should incorporate aspects of both cardiovascular and resistance training to achieve the best overall results.

Here is a short summary of where your focus should be to achieve some common health and exercise goals

It begins to become very clear why your gym has you complete questionnaires and your personal trainer takes a full personal medical and family history before developing and implementing an exercise program. I invite you to take the opportunity to call in to your local fitness facility to discuss your individual needs and to enjoy the benefits of a personalized program.

Australian Cosmetic Surgery Magazine