CARDIO.

Cardio.

Such a simple word. Yet is the epitome of so much pain.

I can’t make up my mind.

Whether I love it or I hate it.

But I do it anyway.

Let’s just call it a love/hate relationship and cardio has me WHIPPED.

It’s like the icing on the cake after my gruelling weight session.

Ok, so maybe not icing or cake, maybe the lemon juice on my salad?

ANYWAY

You know those days that you just don’t feel like even LOOKING at that section of the room.

Oh boy, I tell ya, the last thing I felt like doing after my “everything goes leg day” was stepping on that BIKE.

BUT, thankfully I don’t let the mind take over in these kinds of situations.

20:00 minutes.

Let’s do this.

Interval 1, DONE & DUSTED
Interval 5, I’m sooo doing this, I don’t know what all my whining was about.
Interval 8, ahhh *throws the towel over the screen*
Keep it up Mel . . just do the movement.
Interval 10, it’s only 30 seconds Mel, it’s only 30 seconds.
Interval 12, f*%^ . . I need distraaaactions . . look at the bit of fluff on the floor, start to read the label on the water bottle, eyes flick quickly back to the screen, bad idea, don’t look at the screen Mel, 28 seconds,29,30.
Interval 14, COME ON MEL, no matter what, nearly theeeeere.
Interval 15, damn that freakin' lactic acid, the timing on the screen couldn’t possibly be right I didn’t have enough time to rest, last interval Mel, last interval, 28 seconds,29,30.

DONE.

FINISHED.

FINI-TO.

Thank GOD for that.

Guess who's feeling on top of the world now?

YES SIR.

You know what gets under my skin. . .

People (this comment being more exclusively aimed at guys) that REFUSE to do cardio because they “don’t want to lose muscle”. That precious, precious muscle that they’ve taken years to get.

Do you even know the effect cardio has on your body when you’re DOING it?

Or are you going off the wise words Joe Black from down the road who has “been around for a while so he knows what he’s talking about”, told you?

Yes muscle proteins ARE broken down and used for energy during aerobic exercise but your body is constantly going back and forth between anabolic (building) and catabolic (breaking down) muscle tissue anyway.

When you fast overnight you lose muscle too, doesn’t mean you should stop sleeping!

Cardio actually assists recovery from your weight sessions. It supports the blood flow and oxygen transport to your muscles.

Losing muscle has more to do with your diet than anything else.

Not eating enough carbs, not eating enough protein, not eating enough PERIOD is your biggest problem.

It takes your body more energy to maintain muscle tissue than it does to maintain fat tissue.

So if you’re not eating enough, your body goes into survival mode, you better believe the first thing it’s going to do is go straight for the muscle tissue.

The result – burning that precious muscle mass of yours.

So eat up CHAMP and quit worrying about to do or not to do!

Just do the damn thing!

Off you go…