Are You Stuck in a Chronic Cardio Cycle?
When you're tied up in a chronic cardio cycle, you're in a constant battle with a body that wants to put on fat.
I don't say that to scare you or place negativity on the word fat.
*and* I also know that diet culture conditioning around the word fat is very strong and can evoke a lot of thoughts, feelings, and images.
But this isn't necessarily about that, it's about chronic cardio and whether it's possible to build up a tolerance to exercise, especially cardio, to where your body isn't responding the way it used to.
Maybe you're finding that you have to do more, and more, and more, just to maintain.
That sounds miserable, unsustainable, and leaves very little time/energy for other things.
I know this from personal experience and the many clients I've worked with who were stuck in a chronic cardio cycle. We can't out smart our physiology. Our metabolism adapts to what we're doing. Which is why I prioritize weight training and add-in small doses of HIIT instead of doing long durations of moderately intense cardio.
This supports my goals, metabolism, hormones, appetite, and keeps my body from adapting to a daily hit of 60+ mins of running on the treadmill.
Last thing I'll add is that overdoing it in the cardio department is a sure fire way to increase your cravings, experience insatiable hunger and an intense desire for sugar.
⭐Here's a condensed version of a few things I talk about with my clients who are struggling with this:⭐
1) This is the most important and takes a lot of time, trust, and practice. Learning to detach your self-worth from your weight. The short and sweet version: Give your scale a time out while you're working on your relationship with exercise and tending to your metabolism, hormones, and nervous system.
2) Rest. Completely rest from any type of cardio for a week (minimum). I promise nothing scary will happen. You might notice a few positive things, and you may also feel uncomfortable or even disoriented with how much extra time you have now that you're not spending hours on the elliptical, stairmaster, or treadmill.
3) Parasympathetic supportive activities like *gentle* yoga, stretching, leisure walking, meditation, and limiting caffeinated beverages. Maybe the most important, prioritize 7-9 hours of sleep/night. Why are these important? Because your body has been working over time, especially hormones like: Cortisol (stress hormone), Adrenaline, and Noradrenaline. Sleep is when the majority of Human Growth Hormone is released, (and weight training), which is helpful for fat loss and building muscle = flexible and efficient metabolism babyyyyy!
4) Start back with weight training only. Weight training = more lean muscle mass = optimize metabolic function. Here's what my current routine looks like:
M: Heavy Glutes/Hamstrings
T: Shoulders/Triceps (5-20 mins of high intense conditioning)
W: Back/Biceps
Th: Rest
F: Quads + Shoulders
Sat: Spin, Sprints, or Full-body workout
Sun: Rest
*I'm NOT rigid with this routine. Things like travel, schedule, injury, sickness, etc. will impact this, and that's totally okay. It's a rough outline that I like to follow when everything aligns. When it doesn't, it's no big deal, I adapt.
5) Your appetite will eventually regulate itself. But you may notice for the first little bit you're still VERY hungry and thinking about food a lot. This happens for 2 reasons: 1) you're still under eating/restricting. 2) your body still thinks you're going to get back on the treadmill tomorrow so it's gearing up. You may gain some weight during the initial stages of this, but you might need to in order to get you out of this chronic cardio cycle.
If you want to reteach your body how to function then stay the course.If you're tired of feeling like you *have to* run X amount of miles or minutes in order to "earn your food" or maintain your weight, then I'd encourage you to experiment with less cardio, more leisure activities, and focus on weight training.
Speaking of working-out, here’s a sample workout just for you!
💪WORKOUT with ME!💪 This week's workout is upper body focused. You'll see some Push/Pull, arms, shoulders, and a SHORT but effective dose of HIIT.
If you're enjoying these workouts, please tag me on IG! @aliciamayconnors
xx
Alicia