Cardiovascular fitness helps to improve your overall stamina and the ability of your heart to pump oxygenated blood.Any improvement of cardiovascular fitness involves strengthening the heart and increasing endurance. The reason your cardiovascular system can be improved is because the heart is a muscle, and like all other muscles in the body if you keep working it, it will adapt to the workload given. Cardiovascular fitness activities and exercises tend to be aerobic in nature, involve the large muscle groups, and last for a long enough period of time to increase the bodies need for oxygen. Like training your muscles, continuously challenging your cardiovascular system with increased levels of aerobic type activities will generally result in gains in cardiovascular fitness and endurance. To get the results you desire.The type of activity, how often (frequency), how hard (intensity) and how long (duration) are going to be very important. As a rule when you increase intensity you decrease duration or if you increase duration you decrease intensity. Research has shown that for achieving health benefits with lower intensity activities, the total amount of activity in minutes is the most important. Some health benefits seem to begin with as little as 60 minutes a week, but research has shown that, a total amount of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity consistently reduces the risk of many chronic diseases and other adverse conditions related to aging. A person who moves beyond 150 minutes towards 300 minutes a week has an even lower risk heart disease and type-2 diabetes, they also gain additional benefits, which include lower risk of colon and breast cancer and the prevention of unhealthy weight gain. (If you cannot do 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity because of chronic conditions, you should be as physically active as your abilities and conditions allow. Check with your doctor). Intensity is important for a person who wants to improve fitness.Cardiovascular fitness activities at a higher intensity provide the same health benefits, plus aid in weight loss and increased fitness. You can get some health benefit from going on a slow long walk; however you will not improve your aerobic capacity, unless your aerobic capacity is very low to start with. Cardiovascular fitness intensity is usually expressed as a percentage of your maximum heart rate or heart rate reserve and is display in heart beats per minute. The most common method of measuring maximum heart rate is by subtracting your age from 220. The higher your heart rate the higher the intensity.Using the heart rate percentage "as a guide" may help you better understand intensity and the benefits you receive. You obtain different cardiovascular fitness benefits and the benefits increase as you progress through different zones. Zones Healthy heart – 50 -60% (mhr) Fat burning – 60 – 70% (mhr) Aerobic – 70 – 80% (mhr) Anaerobic – 80 – 90% (mhr) Red Zone – 90 – 100% (mhr) The zones tend to meld into one another, one zone doesn't finish immediately when a certain heart rate is reached. 40 – 50% of your maximum heart rate. For people who are not in very good shape or those who have not exercised for a while this is a good place to start a cardiovascular fitness program. There are some health and fat burning benefits Healthy Heart Zone - 50%-60% of maximum heart rateVery easy, this is an extremely comfortable place to exercise with little exertion. You get healthier in this zone, but it will not increase your endurance and strength (unless they are low to start with). For someone who has never exercised, or not for a long time. You strengthen your heart and improve muscle, while reducing body fat, cholesterol, blood pressure, and the risk for degenerative disease. If you’re out of shape spend most of your time in this zone. Many people will do a little bit here for a few days or weeks, then move on; or some may need to take a back-step to here at some point, then move forward again. This is also a good zone for warming-up and cooling-down. Your body burns a higher blend of fat calories (85%) than carbohydrate calories for its fuel at this level. Real benefits tend to kick in as you move up from the bottom 50% of your heart rate. Fat Burning Zone - 60%-70% of your maximum heart rateEasy, feels fairly light, and might be considered brisk, but still very comfortable. This is the zone where your body is being trained to increase the rate of fat release from cells to muscles for fuel. It is also used to reach solid health goals. Gives your heart a chance to work at its optimal level (Aerobic Fitness Threshold), from this point forward you are in the aerobic fitness zone. You could be moderately fit, lose a little weight, and be quite healthy if you always exercised here. Aerobic Zone - 70%-80% of your maximum heart rateModerate effort that isn’t really easy, but isn’t really hard. More intense but not exhausting, improves breathing and blood circulation a great zone to strengthen muscles and general fitness. In this zone the number and size of your blood vessels actually increase, you step up your lung capacity and respiratory rate and your heart increases in size and strength. This is the best zone for endurance training and weight loss, more calories are burned, but only 50% from fat and the other 50% from carbohydrates. Anaerobic Zone - 80%-90% of your maximum heart rateHard, this goes beyond the zones for simple everyday health benefits or basic weight loss, although you’ll get both of these at higher levels here. When you reach this zone you feel very tired, almost exhausted, your breathing becomes heavy and, obviously, your heart rate goes up. At this level your heart can not pump enough blood and oxygen to supply the exercising muscles fully so they respond by contracting anaerobically. The anaerobic threshold designates an intensity of exercise beyond which our bodies are unable to effectively remove the lactic acid from the working muscles. The benefit is that your muscles become more efficient in dealing with the lactic acid load, and thus you can increase your endurance and performance. A higher lactate tolerance means better endurance and the better you will be able to fight off fatigue. Workouts in this zone should be for short periods of time and only on two or three days a week. Red Zone - 90%-100% of your maximum heart rateVery Hard You should train in this zone only if you are in very good shape and a physician has cleared you to do so. You are at a high risk of injury at this level. Stay away from this zone unless you are a competitive athlete. Don't overdo it.Gradually increase your level of intensity, duration and frequency, take it slow and easy at first building endurance and strength, do not overdo it, too much exercise can give you sore muscles and increase the risk of injury. Like training your muscles, continuously challenging your cardiovascular system will improve your cardiovascular fitness. Depending on the cardiovascular fitness activities or exercises, it may also improve muscular fitness and endurance. Guidelines for doing cardiovascular fitness activities.Get your heart and breathing rate up. A good place to start is at a rate at which you are breathing faster than normal, but are able to carry on a conversation without having to gasp for air in mid-sentence. Do activities that involve the large leg muscles. Because of their size and position in the body, the heart needs to work harder to increase the blood flow to them as they are moving. Find something you enjoy doing that keeps your heart rate elevated for a continuous time period. Some of the daily physical activities you do are not intense enough, although you are moving; these activities do not increase your heart rate and will not improve your cardiovascular fitness. The best activities are the ones that you enjoy. If you don't enjoy it, there's a great chance that you won't even do it, and if you do, you'll probably slack off. You can accumulate 30 minutes in 10 or 15 minute sessions. The activity should be low enough in intensity that you can perform it continuously for at least 10 minutes without excessive fatigue, yet high enough in intensity that it brings your heart rate up. Beginners, when starting a cardiovascular fitness program, aim at the lowest part of your target zone during the first few weeks. Moderate-intensity activities, when performed daily, can have long-term health benefits. If you're physically active for longer periods or at greater intensity, you're likely to benefit more. Moderate Intensity vs. Vigorous Intensity. How to distinguish between the two.Moderate activity ranges from 40-60% of someone’s max heart rate. Moderate-intensity activity causes a slightly increased rate of breathing, and it feels “light” to “somewhat hard”. Individuals doing this type of activity can easily carry on a conversation. Vigorous activity elevates heart rate above 60% of your max heart rate. These activities result in increased rates of breathing and sweating and feel “somewhat hard” to “very hard.” Between 65 - 80% of maximum heart rate is most effective in improving the cardiovascular fitness. This range is approximately 50 - 85% of heart rate maximum “reserve”. (Karvonen formula) As your level of cardiovascular fitness increases and you're able to exercise more into this zone, your body's ability to transport oxygen from the lungs to muscle cells and to dispose of the carbon dioxide increases. This zone is also optimal for increasing muscle strength. Last but not least, it is in this zone that you can burn fat calories. Even small increases in your muscle strength and endurance will make a big difference in your abilities and maintaining your independencece as you get older. Next: Muscle fitness
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