Much of what is written about cardio exercise is biased towards one approach or another and is often based on the authors’ preference and back ground.
What is cardiovascular exercise? For exercise to be truly considered cardio, it should consist of steady-state activity which uses large muscle groups in a rhythmical manner and elevates your heart rate to somewhere between 60-90% of your maximum heart rate.
Generally, activities such as jogging, running, power walking, cycling, swimming, group exercise classes, rowing, and using a skipping rope are the mainstay of aerobic activities but ultimately, any activity which significantly elevates the heart rate for an extended period of time can be considered aerobic training.
To be honest, the modality used makes very little difference and you should choose the one you like most/dislike least! How hard? Cardio training is normally performed for an extended period of time so it’s important to choose an exercise intensity that is hard enough to be beneficial but not so hard that it becomes necessary to stop.
To keep an eye on your heart rate while exercise you have a number of options available…you can use a heart rate monitor, you can take your pulse manually at either your wrist of at your neck or, if using gym-based cardio equipment, many machines have built in hand sensors which measure your heart rate although some are more accurate than others.
Luckily there are a couple of other methods we can use to monitor exercise intensity… The Rate of Perceived Exertion Scale The Rate of Perceived Exertion Scale was designed in the 1960s by Gunnar Borg – a Scandinavian exercise expert.
Quite simply, while exercising in your aerobic HRZ you should be able to hold a conversation with regular pauses for breath every couple of sentences.
Combine RPE with the talk test and you should have no problem making sure you are working at the correct intensity to get the maximum benefits from your exercise.
How long? How often? The American College of Sports Medicine recommends 3 bouts of cardio exercise per week for a minimum of 20 minutes per session at between 60-90% of MHR to a) improve fitness and b) reduce mortality.
Different approaches to aerobic training So now you know how to monitor your exercise intensity and how long/how often to exercise, let’s look at the different ways you can choose to perform your aerobic activity… LSD – and no, not the drug! LSD stands for Long Slow Distance training and it the method that most exercisers “Fall into” when they embark on a cardio training programme.
While exercising at LSD pace fat provides the primary source of energy however, fat is so energy dense – 9 kcal per gram – that even extended workouts result in only relatively small amounts being oxidised.
Regardless of pace, running a single mile uses around 100 kcal and 1 pound of excess body fat contains about 3,500 kcal so to lose a pound through slow paced aerobic exercise alone it would be necessary to run 35 miles! Chances are that’s more than most people run in 2 weeks! LSD training is great for developing base level aerobic fitness but when it comes to fat burning/weight management, there are other methods which will be more successful and efficient.
The exerciser may walk, jog, run or sprint for a variety of distances and durations over the course of a workout until the exercise time period has elapsed or a predetermined distance has been covered.
The variations are endless and can be just as easily applied to cycling as they can to running or any other cardio exercise modality.
The intensity of a Fartlek workout can be easily altered to suit an individual’s fitness levels by moderating the amount of high intensity exercise compared to lower intensity work – in other words the less fit the exerciser, the slower jogging and brisk walking will be performed.
FCR is a constant battle to maintain pace – even though the body is probably saying “Slow down!” Because of the large accumulation of lactic acid in the blood, FCR is a supreme fat burner because of EPOC. When lactic acid accumulates in the blood, the aerobic system has to work overtime to clear it out once exercise comes to an end.
Interval training – the clock is your coach! Interval training can be defined as “Periods of higher intensity work interspaced with periods of rest” and is a very useful and flexible training approach which, with modifications, is suitable for everyone from the beginner exerciser to an Olympic champ.
Regardless of the standard of the client, the interval principle is the same – alternate periods of higher intensity exercise with periods of recovery.
Interval training allows significant overload of the cardiorespiratory system which will result in good increases in the both anaerobic and aerobic fitness while also being, according to some experts, the ultimate fat burning workout because of very high degrees of EPOC. Certainly, a hard interval session can result in very high heart rates and elevated body temperature for many hours after exercise has concluded which is a good indicator that the metabolism is very “Revved up” even at rest.
O Choose the exercise modalities you enjoy – running is not compulsory! You can swim, cycle, step, skip, row, walk or whatever suits you best.
Find Athletics in your local area
