Our health is the most valuable intangible asset we possess. Staying healthy throughout life is key to a more fulfilling, productive and happy existence.
Heart disease tops most lists as the number one health problem in the world. Thus, maintaining your heart health is crucial for your longevity and success and for the health of our society as a whole.
One way of keeping your heart healthy is providing it with enough aerobic training, or with so called cardio workouts, to keep it fit and in good shape. Cardio fitness trains your heart by giving it an extra load of work in supplying your body with oxygen.
Cardio fitness may include any type of physical exercises which trains your cardiovascular system, such as walking, jogging or swimming. When you work out your heart begins to beat faster, your pulse quickens and you start breathing deeper. Repeated exercise gives the heart extra training to stay healthy.
There are three key things responsible for the success and effectiveness of any cardio fitness routine. Those are: duration, intensity and frequency. So, before beginning a cardio exercise routine you should determine your workout goals and schedule. Remember, you should consult with your physician or medical advisor before beginning any training program or fitness regiment.
Let us start with the duration. Usually, one cardio fitness session may last 20 to 40 minutes. The duration greatly depends on your physical condition, your training goals and on the type and intensity of exercises you are doing.
If you are a beginner and only start with a light cardio session then your workouts may last no longer than 10 minutes. Determining the time of these sessions you should take into the consideration your present physical shape.
Avoid overloading your body and overstraining your heart during your exercise routines. Overstraining your heart will do you no good and may cause significant harm to your health and permanent damage to your heart and body. You may experience some discomfort in your muscles and joints as a normal process while your body acclimates to the new cardio fitness activities. However, if you feel any pain then postpone your next exercise session until after you have healed or consulted your doctor to ensure you have not pulled a ligament, tendon, or muscle.
Next, How Intense Are you?. For determining the intensity of your cardio fitness you should know your Maximum Heart Rate (Max HR). You determine it by subtracting your age from 220. For the beginners the HR during the exercises should not exceed 55% of the Max HR.
However, if you are in a good shape and have some experience in working out the intensity of your cardio fitness may come up to 65-85 percents of your Max HR.
Finally, What’s the frequency?. For attaining the best training results to improve your heart health, you should do cardio workouts on a regular basis. Three or four sessions a week is the optimal training frequency. You may also do your cardio daily while changing the type of activity you choose for your workouts. Remember that you must keep at it. No excericise program will be easy to keep up with, and you must make an concentrated effort to stick with the program.
Keeping in mind the three keys of cardio training you will help you heart stay healthy and attain excellent results through your workouts. Your can improve both the quality and prolong your life by keeping your heart healthy with regular exercise.
