Cardio…What Everyone Should Know?

Cardio…What Everyone Should Know?

We get to the fitness center and hop on a treadmill or an elliptical and take off for 30 minutes…but do we really know what we are doing? Is 30 minutes enough to burn calories and fat? Just how many times a week should we be investing in our cardio workouts

Cardio short for cardiovascular training and knowing your target heart rate will help guide your workouts by keeping your intensity levels between upper and lower heart rate limits. Once you know these intensity levels you can use them to alter your cardio work out and better suit your exercise goals.

You may want to:

Increase endurance

Lose weight/ burn fat

Maintain fitness

Maintain or improve athletic conditioning

So how do we find out our target heart rate?

This online calculator will determine it for you: http://www.active.com/fitness/calculators/heartrate.htm

So you have determined your target heart rate now what? Now you have the ability to decide what you want to do with your cardio workout. Heart rate zones are a good starting point for developing cardio training programs and are simple to use.

There are three training zones to focus on:

Zone 1, often referred to as the recovery zone, uses a lower heart rate (65-75% of heart rate max) and is great for recovery from a hard workout or creating a strong aerobic base.

Zone 2 uses a moderate to high heart rate which helps to raise your anaerobic threshold (AT) (the point at which your energy sources move from utilizing a higher percentage of fat to utilizing a higher percentage of glucose). This zone is important as it increases your aerobic base making your heart more efficient and helps you burn more calories during and after exercise.

Zone 3 is your peak heart rate zone and helps to increase your anaerobic threshold (AT) as well as increases the caloric burn during and after exercise. This peak heart rate should not be trained in consistently as sustaining a peak heart rate can lead to overtraining and adverse effects on your results.

Now that you have a simple understanding of how your target heart rate works you can begin to create a cardio program that works for you.

The frequency of your workouts will depend on your fitness level and your schedule. Beginners should start with about 3 non-consecutive days of cardio and work their way up to more frequent sessions.

The general guidelines are:

· To maintain current fitness level: 2-4 days a week (at least 20 minutes)

· To lose weight: 4 or more days a week (at least 30 minutes)

· To train for a triathlon: A whole lot.

Remember to mix it up and have fun!

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