MISS Cardio (Moderate-Intensity Steady-State) Intro Guide

Cardio is an excellent way to stay in shape and keep your body healthy. Regularly getting your heart pumping keeps you in shape and reduces the chance of heart disease. Cardiovascular exercises also increase your metabolism, relieve stress, strengthen your immune system, and improve the quality of your sleep.

You need cardio. Everyone knows it!

But what if you’re stuck in your home gym and wondering how to do cardio that isn’t gonna make you cough up a lung –  M.I.S.S might be exactly what you’re looking for.

M.I.S.S stands for moderate-intensity steady-state cardio. This is perhaps the most common form of exercise for beginners, especially while trying to lose weight. 

It’s a challenging style of cardiovascular exercise done at a manageable pace and is longer in duration than HIIT. This includes exercising at a consistent pace and intensity throughout the session. On the perceived effort scale, that would be about levels 4 to 5 out of 10. The goal is to get to a point where the exercise intensity is in a relatively stable heart rate and oxygen consumption.

Examples of M.I.S.S include jogging, walking, jumping ropes, jumping jacks, and burpees. If you prefer going to the gym, then you’ll have access to many options in the form of stationary bikes, elliptical trainers, treadmills, rowing machines, climbers, stair masters, and more.

Muscle-building and hypertrophy are not necessarily hindered by M.I.S.S cardio. Cardio and strength exercises have different effects on different people. Most people don’t need to be concerned about cardio compromising muscle growth. If your goal is weight or fat loss, then you may not need to worry much about endurance adaptations.

Great for Beginners

This type of exercise requires little skill and has a low risk of injury making it basic enough for nearly any fitness level. Before advancing to high-intensity exercises, most beginners would perform better if they developed their fundamental fitness with steady-state cardio.

Effective for Weight Loss

M.I.S.S burns more calories than low-intensity cardio. It burns around 100 calories every ten minutes, which, if done for 30-minutes a day, five days a week, will quickly build up and help you lose weight.

Long Recovery Time

An easy, steady-state cardiovascular exercise in between intense training days might allow for more complete recovery and improved training success if the effort is maintained moderately.

Fitness plateau

Your exercises, including cardio, must be progressive in order to become more fit and lose weight. Nutrition is essential for a variety of reasons, including health and performance.

Time-consuming

For M.I.S.S cardio to be effective, you need to clock up around 150 minutes per week. M.I.S.S requires a significant time investment to enjoy the benefits of steady-state cardio.

Risk of overuse injuries

Due to the repetitive nature of M.I.S.S cardio, recovery may become an issue. Too much steady-state cardio can lead to overtraining and injuries. One way around this is to modify your exercises and use different variations.

Regardless of which form of training program you do, you need cardio as part of your workouts. Keep them simple and make sure the exercise is safe for you to do. Just start somewhere and make it a goal to do something every day. A couple of cardio workouts per week will have a significant impact on how you look, feel, and perform.