Many things in life revolve around routines for most of us, with a little bit of leeway accorded for those exigencies and little surprises. These habits, or routines, keep us in our comfort zones, creating ruts from which most hardly step out. Now, routine is not a bad thing all the time. Many things, including the circadian rhythm, work best when kept in a regular routine. Same goes for workouts – the regularity and consistency aspects to be specific.
However, there is a catch when it comes to working out without variation – the rut can lead to a plateau. If you’re one of those who meticulously track the fitness gains over the course of a training programme, say a cardio routine, you would definitely notice hitting a point when progress becomes painfully miniscule. The decline in gains could be because you are, inadvertently, cardio coasting.
When people end up repeating the same set of exercises each time they work out, it leads to coasting, mostly observed in cardio. Coasting can happen while lifting too. However, very rarely since the nature of resistance exercises ensures progress through increase in the load, the nature of the workout demands. In cardio workouts, deliberate attempts need to be made to ensure change in load.
What is cardio coasting?
When you do not vary the exercises in a cardio programme, it is said to be cardio coasting. This typically happens with lack of attention to detail and factors while getting into a workout programme.
“Cardio workout plans should be made by measuring an individual’s current cardiac capacity and their performance,” says Prakash Jay, a fitness consultant and holistic wellness coach from Bangalore.
However, people who do not get a well-structured fitness routine, continue doing exercises that they know and are comfortable with, which might result in cardio coasting.
Examples of cardio coasting include doing walking, running, swimming, cycling, etc. for a specific period, at a particular speed, and then continuing to do this on an everyday basis.
“Over a period, as you get efficient in doing the cardio exercises, the activation of muscles differs from when you initially began because of muscle memory, thus the number of calories burnt slows down. The different hormones in the body also reset,” says Gautham Sangappa, director of Proton Fitness Academy, Bangalore.
“Because of these factors, the body adapts and gets used to the exercises,” adds Sangappa. “To get the maximum benefits from cardiorespiratory exercises, you must increase the intensity or the duration, or change the mode of exercise so that it becomes a little harder and challenging.”
Positives and negatives of cardio coasting
The body gets used to the exercise of activity and stays in the comfort zone if you are cardio coasting. After a while, the initial benefits that the exercise provided starts declining.
“Cardio coasting will prevent you from getting the best of the cardio workout. Overtime the routine becomes boring and with lack of motivation, there can be an increased dropout rate from fitness. You may also hit a plateau,” says Sangappa.
It does have a bright side though. “In cardio coasting the risks of injuries is less, because you will be relaxed and in your comfort zone,” says Jay. “But there will not be any fitness gains, because as the body gets adapted to it, extra calories may not be burnt which hinder your improvement in fitness,” adds Jay.
How to avoid cardio coasting?
The key to tackling cardio coasting lies in variations and challenging yourself by regularly pushing the limits.
“Planning the workouts based on the FITT principle – frequency, intensity, time, and type is crucial to avoid cardio coasting. Correct assessment of the exercises outcomes and tracking the improvement by maintaining workout logs is also needed,” says Jay.
Variations can be added by varying frequency, intensity, time, and type of the exercise.
“For example, if you are walking at five kilometres per hour, then you can increase the pace to do brisk walking sometimes,” says Sangappa. “Instead of just exercising for 30 minutes, the duration can be extended by five minutes the following week. The frequency or the number of sessions per week can be increased. You can also opt to change the modality of the exercise and try other cardio exercises for instance cycling, walking or even hiking. This helps break the monotony and reduce boredom.”
While incorporating these variations in your fitness routine can be fun and challenging, it is important to not go overboard with them to avoid a strenuous workout that results in injuries.
Takeaways
- Cardio coasting happens when the same cardio exercise is repeated in the same pattern for a specific period.
- Doing the same exercise routine repeatedly decreases the benefits that one can derive from it, increases boredom and monotony and the possibility of dropping out of fitness.
- Cardio coasting can be avoided by getting a proper workout routine, built using the FITT principle, maintaining improvement tracking logs, and adding variations in the exercise routine.
