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Wouldn't you describe cardio as continuous, repetitive strain with no recovery? I would've assumed writing is more of an endurance type of strain, but perhaps t

by asib 6y ago

Wouldn't you describe cardio as continuous, repetitive strain with no recovery? I would've assumed writing is more of an endurance type of strain, but perhaps the strain due to writing occurs at an intensity that is analogous to lifting weights.

klodolph 6y ago
The type of muscles in your heart are quite different from the types of muscle in your hands. The muscles you use to move around are called skeletal muscles. One of the ways they get stronger is through a process where you exercise and use them, and this causes damage to the muscles (microtears), and the body responds to these microtears by rebuilding the muscles stronger. This is why you need a recovery period when strength training... the strength training is actually damaging your body, and your body becomes stronger after recovery. It's also why you don't want to overtrain. Too much training and you get too much damage to your body, and you won't be stronger afterwards. With enough overtraining, damaged muscles will die off, releasing cell contents into your bloodstream and causing rhabdomyolysis, which is quite serious, but fairly rare.
- thaumasiotes 6y ago
  > The type of muscles in your heart are quite different from the types of muscle in your hands. > The muscles you use to move around are called skeletal muscles. To be more explicit, you have three types of muscle cells: skeletal muscle, smooth muscle, and cardiac muscle. Guess what that last type is used for. The heart's workload is unlike anything else, and it is made of special-purpose materials dedicated solely to its unique role.
- asib 6y ago
  I think you've misunderstood my question. > The type of muscles in your heart are quite different from the types of muscle in your hands. Yes, but cardio doesn't solely use cardiac muscle. What I was trying to get at was that when doing cardio, you are using the muscles in your legs and/or upper body, albeit at a lower intensity than when strength training. GP seemed to be implying that because writing is a continuous, repetitive strain, that it is a purely degradative action. But my point was that cardio can be described in the same way and has clear benefits for muscle health. Therefore, my question was really whether the problem is the fact that writing is done for long periods with little recovery or more to do with people holding their pens in a weird way, or something. Put more generally, an issue of form.
  - klodolph 6y ago
    I’m not sure if you were asking a question or if you’re trying to lead the discussion in a particular direction. Cardio doesn’t solely use cardio muscle, true, but your cardiovascular system is what you are targeting with the exercise and it does not need a recovery period, unlike other parts of your body you would exercise. You can do intense cardio every single day, or at least nearly every day, because the cardiovascular system works differently from your skeletal muscles. You should not do an intense deadlift session every day, because your skeletal muscles need time to heal. So I would in general not try to draw many comparisons between cardiovascular exercise and other types of exercise.
dmurray 6y ago
Cardio mainly exercises your lungs and heart, which is built differently from most of your muscles (it's designed for constant use). Also if you eat too much, it's good for burning up excess calories. It has mixed benefits for the rest of your body. You'll improve your muscle tone a bit through running or cycling or swimming, but repetitive strain injuries are also a risk. For most people, the benefits of cardio far outweigh the downsides, but on balance it's not necessarily good for your joints and ligaments.
woofie11 6y ago
The other answers nailed it -- different types of muscles -- but even so, if you do cardio every day for 8 hours a day, your body may still break down. If you do it for 16 hours a day, your body WILL break down. Hard labor is continuous cardio. Hard labor isn't healthy. Athletes have specific training regiments with up times and recovery times. If I go on a 60 mile bike ride, I need at least a few days downtime to recover. If I'm biking 20-30 miles, I'll do that at most every other day. And if I lift weights, I'll alternate upper body and lower body days. And if I'm doing basic calisthenics and stretching, I can do that every day. (Not that I do any of those anymore, at my age)

by asib 6y ago

klodolph 6y ago

The type of muscles in your heart are quite different from the types of muscle in your hands. The muscles you use to move around are called skeletal muscles. One of the ways they get stronger is through a process where you exercise and use them, and this causes damage to the muscles (microtears), and the body responds to these microtears by rebuilding the muscles stronger. This is why you need a recovery period when strength training... the strength training is actually damaging your body, and your body becomes stronger after recovery. It's also why you don't want to overtrain. Too much training and you get too much damage to your body, and you won't be stronger afterwards. With enough overtraining, damaged muscles will die off, releasing cell contents into your bloodstream and causing rhabdomyolysis, which is quite serious, but fairly rare.

thaumasiotes 6y ago
> The type of muscles in your heart are quite different from the types of muscle in your hands. > The muscles you use to move around are called skeletal muscles. To be more explicit, you have three types of muscle cells: skeletal muscle, smooth muscle, and cardiac muscle. Guess what that last type is used for. The heart's workload is unlike anything else, and it is made of special-purpose materials dedicated solely to its unique role.
asib 6y ago
I think you've misunderstood my question. > The type of muscles in your heart are quite different from the types of muscle in your hands. Yes, but cardio doesn't solely use cardiac muscle. What I was trying to get at was that when doing cardio, you are using the muscles in your legs and/or upper body, albeit at a lower intensity than when strength training. GP seemed to be implying that because writing is a continuous, repetitive strain, that it is a purely degradative action. But my point was that cardio can be described in the same way and has clear benefits for muscle health. Therefore, my question was really whether the problem is the fact that writing is done for long periods with little recovery or more to do with people holding their pens in a weird way, or something. Put more generally, an issue of form.
- klodolph 6y ago
  I’m not sure if you were asking a question or if you’re trying to lead the discussion in a particular direction. Cardio doesn’t solely use cardio muscle, true, but your cardiovascular system is what you are targeting with the exercise and it does not need a recovery period, unlike other parts of your body you would exercise. You can do intense cardio every single day, or at least nearly every day, because the cardiovascular system works differently from your skeletal muscles. You should not do an intense deadlift session every day, because your skeletal muscles need time to heal. So I would in general not try to draw many comparisons between cardiovascular exercise and other types of exercise.

dmurray 6y ago

Cardio mainly exercises your lungs and heart, which is built differently from most of your muscles (it's designed for constant use). Also if you eat too much, it's good for burning up excess calories. It has mixed benefits for the rest of your body. You'll improve your muscle tone a bit through running or cycling or swimming, but repetitive strain injuries are also a risk. For most people, the benefits of cardio far outweigh the downsides, but on balance it's not necessarily good for your joints and ligaments.

woofie11 6y ago

The other answers nailed it -- different types of muscles -- but even so, if you do cardio every day for 8 hours a day, your body may still break down. If you do it for 16 hours a day, your body WILL break down. Hard labor is continuous cardio. Hard labor isn't healthy. Athletes have specific training regiments with up times and recovery times. If I go on a 60 mile bike ride, I need at least a few days downtime to recover. If I'm biking 20-30 miles, I'll do that at most every other day. And if I lift weights, I'll alternate upper body and lower body days. And if I'm doing basic calisthenics and stretching, I can do that every day. (Not that I do any of those anymore, at my age)