Effective
cardiovascular training is a crucial factor in for many fitness related
goals including athletic goals, weight loss & general health. In
this article I would like to add to your knowledge and understanding of
cardio training so you can design a program that leads you to your
goals.
When
I was just starting out in fitness, I was certain that I could achieve
all my goals by running an hour (or more) everyday. I figured the more
cardio I did (no matter what the type), it would make me a better
volleyball player, lose the weight I wanted to, and be in great shape
since I had so much endurance. I was wrong! While I did develop a lot of
endurance, I still struggled to be as fast as I wanted during
volleyball matches, reacted a little slower than I hoped, and had
trouble staying at the weight I wanted. In other words, I was in good
health and decent shape but the results I was after stayed just out of
my reach.
It
wasn’t until I learned to apply the simple tips I’m about to describe
that I finally the results I wanted. In order to get the most benefit
from cardio training, I recommend making continual adjustments and
tweaks to three variables:
* Duration: Length of time spent for each individual cardio session
* Intensity: Level of difficulty achieved during each cardio session
* Variance: Varying the type of cardio performed each session
Remember,
the purpose of each training session is to stimulate the systems of the
body with a certain type of load (weights, cardio, etc.) elicit an
adaptive response from each session. A cardio training plan that
continually adjusts each of the three variables places a new stimulus on
your muscles, tissues and cardiovascular system and challenges the body
differently each time you workout.
A
simple example is that of marathon training. A standard training
schedule for beginners starts with 3-5 miles or so at week one and
gradually increase distance runs (load) each week. The body adapts to
each distance you run and each week you have the ability to sustain
more.
Adaptive response to exercise:
The bodies response to the demand placed upon it during an exercise session
Duration
Obviously
the length of your cardio training sessions has an impact on total
calories burned, cardiovascular endurance, and cardiovascular health.
While basic recommendations from ACSM and AHA are to do moderately
intense cardio 30 minutes a day, five days a week or do vigorously
intense cardio 20 minutes a day, 3 days a week, for healthy adults under
the age of 65, it’s also important that your cardio training correlates
with your personal fitness goals whether they be weight control, fat
loss, or performance oriented.
For
example, if your goal is weight loss you may want to increase your
cardio from 20 minutes 3 times a week to 30 minutes 5 times a week, this
would allow you to burn more total calories each week. Or, if your
goal is to become a better basketball player, you may want to train for
speed 2 times per week and train for endurance 2 times per week.
As
I said before, you should also consider intensity and variance when
designing an effective cardio training plan. In my next post, I will
detail three different types of intensity training that you can
incorporate into your plan, I’ll describe what I mean by the word
variance and how you can use it to get better and more individualized
fitness results, and I will give you an example of how I helped one
client go from struggling to walk uphill three minutes on a treadmill to
finishing her first marathon.
The
points I’ve listed here are the basic principles I use when designing
training programs for my clients. By using the combined information
from this and next weeks post not only will you get better results, your
routine will become more fun and interesting.
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