“It’s So Easy, It’s Not Doing Anything”
Finding the right cardio intensity for beginners comes up all the time, especially with people who have not exercised recently or have not exercised for a long time.
They start running, riding the Airdyne bike, using the Arc Trainer or elliptical, or doing some other form of cardiovascular exercise. They immediately go so hard that they cannot sustain it for even five minutes.
Their thighs hurt. They become extremely out of breath. Everything starts burning. The experience becomes so uncomfortable that they have to stop.
I tell them, “You’re going too hard. Slow down.”
Then, when they slow down to the intensity I want, they literally say to me:
“Oh, it’s so easy. It’s not doing anything.”
Or:
“If I go this slowly, it’s useless.”
That is the central problem.
They believe that if cardiovascular exercise does not feel extremely hard, it is not accomplishing anything. That belief needs to go because it keeps people from making progress.
Going Too Hard Is What Makes It Useless
If you exercise so intensely that you have to stop almost immediately, the workout is not more productive simply because it was harder.
It physically hurts too much. It is too taxing. You do not like how it feels when you cannot breathe. The discomfort becomes overwhelming, and you stop.
If you are new to exercise and every cardiovascular workout feels like that, you are probably going to quit. You are not going to continue doing something that consistently feels terrible.
Aside from the fact that this level of intensity is not appropriate at that point, it also creates a terrible psychological experience. It makes consistency extremely unlikely.
That is no good.
“It’s So Easy, It’s Not Doing Anything”
This is what clients actually say to me when I lower the intensity:
“It’s so easy, it’s not doing anything.”
But not only is it doing something—it may be perfect.
The easier intensity may be the most appropriate level of cardiovascular exercise for that person at that particular time.
It is appropriate because it matches what their body is currently prepared to do. They have not been exercising, so expecting themselves to immediately sustain a high level of effort makes no sense.
At the easier pace, the intense burning, overwhelming breathlessness, and excessive discomfort are no longer present. The likelihood that the person will continue exercising becomes much greater.
There are also still plenty of positive adaptations available from performing cardiovascular activity at that lower intensity.
You do not need to push yourself to an extreme to achieve positive or desired results.
The contrast is important:
The client thinks, “This is so easy that it’s useless.”
The reality is, “This is so easy because it is exactly what is appropriate for me right now.”
It is not useless. It is perfect for that point in time.
Cardio Intensity for Beginners: Build a Base First
As someone becomes more advanced, it may become necessary to work harder to produce additional improvements. Even then, someone may still be able to work at a lower intensity and maintain many of the results they have already achieved.
But that is not where a newer exerciser is starting.
At the beginning, the easier work is appropriate. The first goal is to establish a baseline, repeatability, and consistency. We also want to establish a base of conditioning.
In other words, we want some duration. We want some time.
If someone can only perform five minutes of cardiovascular exercise because the intensity is too high, there is only so much benefit they can get from that session.
If lowering the intensity allows that person to perform 15, 20, 25, or 30 minutes, there is much more opportunity for benefit.
That does not mean shorter periods of cardiovascular exercise provide no benefit. They do. But if we are trying to produce more thorough health and conditioning improvements, we ultimately want to establish longer durations.
Doing that requires a much lower intensity—not repeatedly pushing so hard that you have to stop.
The Take-Home Message
When you slow down and think, “It’s so easy, it’s not doing anything,” recognize that the opposite may be true.
It is easy because it is perfect and appropriate for where you are right now.
It is the exact place from which you should begin—and begin improving.