Cardiovascular Fitness, The Key To A Strong HeartCardiovascular fitness is probably one the most popular of the 5 Components of Physical Fitness I always hear both men and women say, "I have to work on my cardio". But really, how do you go about improving your cardio? Is it as easy as working out till you drop, jogging up hills, jogging down hills? How do we improve our endurance?
First of all, I just want to define what good conditioning, or "cardio", is. For a boxer it means how well are they able to perform in the boxing ring. For a hockey player, their conditioning revolves around their performance on the ice. But for me and you, our definition will revolve around how well fitness enhances our every day lives. Do You Know How to Improve Your Cardio? Improving your this system requires improving your hearts efficiency, and to achieve this you'll have to train this component regularly with aerobic exercise. I'll tell you this from the start: it's going to be hard to improve your hearts ability to pump more blood by training once a week. One of the best ways to work this component is with slow to moderate consistent aerobic exercise. Have you ever seen boxers or mixed martial artists doing "road work"? You don't see them sprinting at full speed for as long they can, it's actually the opposite, it's a slow to moderate tempo for long periods of time. These are examples of exercises that can be done to increase cardiovascular fitness: • Jogging • Skipping rope • Treadmill • Shadow boxing • Biking • Swimming When performing this kind of training it's important to remember, especially if your a novice, that you don't want to go full throttle. Keep it moderate and steady. You can even use a combination of exercises. If you have a
heart rate monitor keep your heart rate between 120-150 beats per minute for at least 30-45 minutes, 2-3 three times a week. Circuit training is also a great to target this system and it allows you to go from one exercise to next. If you're someone who gets bored easily this might be for you. These are just a few ways to increase your cardiovascular fitness, and there are many, but the concept of longer, moderate intensity is one of the best ways to to train your body to increase blood flow.
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