Benefits of Cardio-respiratory Fitness

The heart, lungs, and all other components of their separate systems work together during exercise to provide us with the energy we need to sustain our particular activity.  During the process of exercise your heart pumps blood out to the arteries, which act as transport mediums to deliver the nutrients (namely oxygen) to the working muscles and cells.  Individuals that spend a lot of time doing cardiovascular-type training have more efficient hearts that are capable of delivering greater amounts of nourishment to working tissues with less stress placed on their tickers.  In addition to having a greater amount of working capacity, regular aerobic-type training can help prevent certain diseases and disorders  that can impair an individual’s cardiovascular system.  Take a look at the following list of reported benefits to cardiorespiratory fitness and let it warm your heart to know your physical activities are lengthening your life span.

List of Health Benefits

• ·               Reduction in blood pressure

• ·               Increased HDL-cholesterol (the good one)

• ·               Decreased total cholesterol

• ·               Decreased body fat stores

• ·               Increased aerobic work capacity

• ·               Decreased symptoms of anxiety, and depression

• ·               Increased heart function

• ·               Possible reduction in mortality in post myocardial infarction patients

Cardiovascular Exercise Programming

The following guidelines are tools to use when designing an exercise program to train your heart.  As with all modes of exercise it is important to check with your physician before embarking on a new fitness routine.  We strongly encourage you to work at a comfortable pace, never do anything that hurts, and the most important FIT Launch training rule- have fun!  Enjoy your cardio program and keep that heart healthy!!

FREQUENCY:                                           3-5 days per week

·                         For optimum health results and to improve cardiovascular fitness one should exercise aerobically at least 3 days per week with no more than 2 days rest in between sessions.

DURATION:                                               20-90 minutes/session

·                         Less fit individuals may warrant two 10 minutes sessions per day (AM 10 min PM 10 min).  These minutes represent the conditioning period and do not include the essential warm-up and cool-down components.  

INTENSITY:                       55/65-90% of Maximum Heart Rate

·                         In order to achieve significant benefits the cardiovascular activity needs to provide appropriate intensity.  Beginners may need to work at a lower level for a few weeks until they build up enough tolerance to the activity and can work at a higher intensity.

Maximum Heart Rate Formula:

 Step 1.      220-current age= Maximum Heart Rate (MHR)

Step 2.       MHR x 55% or 65 % = Low end percentage (minimum beats per minute)

Step 3.       MHR x 90 % = High end percentage (maximum beats per minute)

·                         If you took your pulse for a full minute during exercise you would count a certain number of beats or pulses.  Those beats represent the above percentages/numbers (steps 2, 3) in your formulas.  If you take your pulse for 10 seconds then you need to divide the above answers in steps 2 and 3 by 6 in order to get the beats per 10 seconds. 

         Any physical activity that uses large muscle groups, is rhythmical in nature, and can be continued continuously for a period of time.

                         Physical activities can include sustained activities with little variability like jogging, walking, or cycling, skill-oriented activities such as choreographed dance exercise, and figure skating, or activities that vary in intensity as in soccer, basketball, and tennis.

Make it a Healthy Day