| Cardiovascular Health
Benefits |
Adaptive Physiologic Responses |
| Reduction in blood
pressure |
Decreased resting heart rate |
| Increased HDL-cholestrol |
Increased heart volume |
| Decreased total cholesterol |
Increased resting and maximum stroke
volume |
| Decreased body fat
stores |
Increase maximum cardiac output |
| Increased aerobic work
capacity |
Increased maximum oxygen consumption |
Decreased clinical
symptoms of anxiety,
and depression |
Increased capillary density and
blood flow active muscles |
| Reduction in glucose-stimulated
insulin secretion |
Increased total blood volume |
| Increased heart function |
Increase maximal ventilation |
| Possible reduction
in mortality in
post myocardial infarction patients |
Increased lung diffusion capacity
Increased mobilization and utilization
of fat. |
, also
known as aerobic training, is sustained
exercise involving the large muscle
groups. This exercise should increase
the heart rate to a designated range
called the target heart range or
exercise heart range. Sometimes you
will see the terms "rate" or "range" used
interchangeably but "range" is
generally a scope of numbers which
encompass the more specific "rate," which
is usually one number.
Some good examples of cardiovascular
fitness activities include, but are not
limited to, brisk walking, biking, running,
Precor®, swimming,
jumping rope, cross country skiing, aerobic
classes etc. It does not matter
if you do your workout indoors or out,
on a machine or not. It doesn't even
matter if you do a variety of different
cardiovascular workouts. This is called
cross training and it is an effective
way to vary your cardiovascular workouts.
The bottom-line goal is to raise your
heart rate to your target range, keep
it there for thirty minutes, and do this
at least three times per week. Start/stop
activities, such as tennis, racquetball,
and basketball, are great supplemental
workout fun, but do not provide enough
sustained time in the target heart range
to be used as your primary means of cardiovascular
fitness.
In order to gain
the benefits of cardiovascular training,
one must do this sustained activity
of the large muscle groups for a minimum
of twenty to thirty minutes at least
three times per week. Although some
research has suggested shorter periods
of five or ten minutes can give the same
benefits as longer sessions, we recommend
thirty minutes of sustained cardiovascular
exercise three times per week as the
best minimum for most people. This minimum
is recommended only after safely building
to this level. Of course, short periods
of sustained exercise are better than
remaining sedentary, but the "lack
of time" reasoning that most people
use for needing shorter workouts is lacking
in substance. Certainly we can all find
thirty minutes several times a week to
invest in our health.
Your target heart range is most accurately
calculated in a laboratory setting but
this is not feasible for the general
public. Using a general formula, you
can calculate your target heart range
using your age, resting heart rate, and
approximate fitness level. It is important
to note that general guidelines based
solely on a person's age and fitness
level are guidelines only. These guidelines
are frequently posted in health clubs
and on fitness equipment.
It is best to
calculate your own target heart range
using your individual resting heart
rate since resting heart rates can
vary significantly even among people
of the same age. Many factors such as
hereditary tendencies, medical conditions,
and even common medications can affect
one's resting heart rate. (Target
heart rate calculator above)
Here are a few key terms you will come
across while on a cardiovascular program.
One very common mistake
is stretching before muscles are warmed-up.
It is important to stretch after your
muscles are warm (after blood has circulated
through them). Never stretch a cold muscle.
First warm up. A warm-up should be done
for at
least 5-10 minutes at a low intensity. Usually, the warm-up is done by doing
the same activity as the cardiovascular workout but at
an intensity of 50-60% of maximum heart rate (max HR). After you've warmed-up
for 5-10 minutes at a relatively low intensity,
your muscles should be warm. To prevent injury and to improve your performance,
you should stretch the primary muscles used
in the warm up before proceeding to the cardiovascular exercise.
The cool down is similar
to the warm-up in that it should last
5-10 minutes and be done at a low intensity
(50-60% of max
HR). After you have completed your cardiovascular exercise and cooled-down
properly, it is now important that you
stretch the primary muscles being used. Warming-up, stretching, and cooling-down
are very important to every exercise session.
They not only help your performance levels and produce better results, they
also drastically decrease your risk of injury.
The first component
of cardiovascular exercise is frequency
of the exercise, which refers to the
number of exercise sessions
per week. To improve both cardiovascular fitness and to decrease body fat or
maintain body fat at optimum levels,
you should exercise (cardiovascularly) at least three days a week. The
American College of Sports Medicine recommends
three to five days a week for most cardiovascular programs. Those of you who
are very out of shape and/or who are
overweight and doing weight-bearing cardiovascular exercise such as an aerobics
class or jogging, might want to have at
least 36 to 48 hours of rest between workouts to prevent an injury and to promote
adequate bone and joint stress recovery.
The second component
of cardiovascular exercise is the duration,
which refers to the time you've spent
exercising. The cardiovascular session,
not including the warm-up and cool-down,
should vary from 20-60 minutes to gain
significant
cardiorespiratory and fat burning-benefits. Each time you do your cardiovascular
exercise, try to do at least 20 minutes or
more. Of course, the longer you go, the more calories and fat you'll "burn" and
the better you'll condition your cardiovascular
system. All beginners, especially those who are out of shape, should take a
very conservative approach and train at relatively
low intensities (50-70% max HR) for 10-25 minutes. As you get in better shape,
you can gradually increase the duration of
time you exercise.
It is important that
you gradually increase the duration before
you increase the intensity. That is,
when beginning a walking
program for example, be more concerned with increasing the number of minutes
of the exercise session before you increase
the intensity, by increasing your speed or by walking hilly terrain.
No
matter which term is used, a range of
goal numbers for the target or exercise
heart rate is usually the best method
of actually monitoring one's heart rate
during activity. It is difficult to maintain
and remain at one specific heart rate
number. A range allows an individual
to readily monitor his/her own target
heart rate while exercising.