Welcome to the 1st pillar of whole body fitness: cardiovascular fitness, or cardio for short.
This is part of a mini-series, so if you haven’t read the introduction, I recommend you start there first.
Let’s start with a definition. Cardiovascular fitness is “the ability of the heart, blood cells and lungs to supply oxygen-rich blood to the working muscle tissues and the ability of the muscles to use oxygen to produce energy for movement.”
Wow, that’s catchy and fills me with motivation to start jogging.
My real life translation is that it’s about making your heart, lungs and muscles more efficient at doing their job.
Anything you do to get your heart rate up and make you breathe harder helps in improving your cardio fitness.
Why is cardio fitness important?
There are many benefits of improving your cardio fitness.
- Lower risk of coronary heart disease
- Reduced risk of stroke
- Lower risk of type 2 diabetes
- Helps to lower blood pressure
- Reduced risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer’s
- Better sleep
- Improved cognition, including memory, attention and processing speed
- Easier to control weight
- Fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety
- Better quality of life and sense of overall well-being
How much do I need to do to maintain cardiovascular health?
The American Heart Association’s recommendation is a MINIMUM:
- 150 minutes per week of moderate aerobic activity, OR
- 75 minutes per week of vigorous aerobic activity
It can also be a combination of the 2, and ideally spread throughout the week.
I want to stress that these are MINIMUM recommendations. I would always suggest that people aim for more than this.
What do “moderate” and “vigorous” activity mean?
Moderate Intensity
Moderate intensity activity is probably less intense than you might anticipate. You need to do an activity that makes your heart beat faster and makes you breathe harder than normal, but you should still be able to talk.
Some ideas for moderate activity are:
- Brisk walking
- Moderate cycling
- Gardening
- Aqua-aerobics
- Moderate swimming
Vigorous Intensity
Vigorous intensity activity requires you to push yourself harder. You should get hot and sweaty and won’t be able to talk much.
Some ideas for vigorous activity are:
- Running
- Uphill hiking
- Aerobic classes (e.g. dance fitness classes, step aerobics, boxing aerobics)
- Fast swimming
- Fast cycling
- Squash
- Football
Squeezing cardio training into a busy schedule
If you are a busy person (and who isn’t nowadays), then you might be thinking “oh great, yet another think to try to squeeze into my already hectic life”.
Below are my top ways to fit your cardio training into your busy schedule. See which would work best for you.
Real life tip: you don’t have to do long periods of cardio training, it can be short bursts through the day, so even if you only have 15 minutes available, do SOMETHING to get your heart rate up.
Time of day
- Early morning activity – before work or before the family have woken up. Tough at the start, but once you have finished you will feel FANTASTIC
- Lunchtime activity – a great way to clear your head at work and come back more refreshed for the afternoon
- Evening activity – makes winding down from the day much easier
Activity
- HIIT – high intensity interval training. Short, very intense workouts
- Walk faster – if you are walking somewhere, speed up a bit to increase your heart rate
- Group fitness – some people find they work harder in a group, so you’ll get a more intense workout
- Team sports – playing with a team or just with 2 people (like squash or tennis) make activity part of your social life
- Short bursts – if you only have a spare 10 or 15 minutes still use the opportunity to get your heart rate up – put your favourite songs on and dance around the house, jump around, run after the kids, walk up and down your stairs a few times – it all counts!
- Walking with the buggy – if you have young children, going for a fast walk with the buggy can definitely get your heart pumping
Let’s get technical
Noticing how much you can still talk during activity (“the talk test”) is a simple and effective way to gauge the intensity.
However, if you want something a bit more technical, read on.
If you’re not bothered and are happy to use the talk test as your intensity measure, then feel free to skip this section.
Calculating your intensity training zone
Understanding some of the terminology
Heart rate (HR) is the number of times your heart beats each minute.
Beats per minute (bpm) is the measure used for your heart rate.
Your heart rate is one indicator of heart health and of cardio fitness. Basically, if your heart rate is lower it generally means that it is more efficient at doing its job, so doesn’t need to beat as often.
Maximum Heart Rate
In order to calculate your training zone, first of all you need to calculate your maximum heart rate.
The gold standard is to do a treadmill stress test in a lab, but most of us don’t happen to have one of those in the back garden.
Luckily there is an industry standard simple calculation for this.
Max heart rate = 220 – your age
Unfortunately this number is not totally accurate, so if you are super-fit or super-unfit, then it will probably need some tweaking. But it’s at least a starting point.
Below is a table showing some examples.
Training zones based on your max heart rate
Moderate intensity activity is around 55-70% of your max heart rate.
Vigorous intensity activity is around 70-85% of your max heart rate.
As an example, if you are aged 30:
Max HR based on the calculation = 190 bpm (beats per minute)
Moderate intensity = 55 – 70% = 105 – 133 bpm.
Vigorous intensity = 70 – 85% = 133 – 162 bpm.
| Age | Max HR (in bpm) | Moderate Intensity 55- 70% of Max HR (in bpm) | Vigorous Intensity 70 – 85% of Max HR (in bpm) |
| 20 | 200 | 110 – 140 | 140 – 170 |
| 25 | 195 | 107 – 137 | 137 – 166 |
| 30 | 190 | 105 – 133 | 133 – 162 |
| 35 | 185 | 102 – 130 | 130 – 157 |
| 40 | 180 | 99 – 126 | 126 – 153 |
| 45 | 175 | 96 – 123 | 123 – 149 |
| 50 | 170 | 94 – 119 | 119 – 145 |
| 55 | 165 | 91 – 116 | 116 – 140 |
| 60 | 160 | 88 – 112 | 112 – 136 |
| 65 | 155 | 85 – 109 | 109 – 132 |
| 70 | 150 | 83 – 105 | 105 – 128 |
| 75 | 145 | 80 – 102 | 102 – 123 |
How to measure your heart rate
If you have an activity watch (for example a FitBit, Garmin, Withings, Polar), they tend to inbuilt heart rate monitors, so you can just take a look at the screen any you are done!
Alternatively, you can take your pulse manually. If you don’t know how to do it, this short video explains how.
Planning your cardio training
There are a few key points to consider when planning your cardio training.
At the end of this mini-series I will share a template to help you with your overall training plan, considering all 5 pillars of fitness.
Pick an activity you enjoy
As with any type of training, the best thing to do is to find an activity or activities that you enjoy, so that you are more likely to stick to it.
….any yes, sex can also count towards your cardio if it gets your heart pumping!
Pick an intensity that you can manage
If you haven’t exercise for years, you might want to start with more moderate intensity activity and gradually build up to the vigorous intensity training.
Be realistic
I love group fitness and would be happy joining a class or 2 most days. But it’s not realistic. I don’t have that amount of spare time to get to the gym and don’t have the childcare available.
It’s important to be realistic when you put your plan together, so that you don’t get frustrated.
Consider finding a workout buddy
Maybe you have a friend, colleague or family member who would also like to get fit? Why not workout together, so that you can motivate each other to always turn up and have more fun as you exercise?
Conclusion
When we talk about fitness, most people immediately think “cardio”. In reality though, this is just one aspect of overall body fitness.
Maintaining a good level of cardiovascular fitness is essential for overall health and there are a long list of benefits associated with it, from a reduced risk of coronary heart disease to improved sleep quality.
Cardio fitness doesn’t need to mean hours sweating it out on the treadmill. It can be as simple as going for a 30 minute brisk walk 5 times a week, depending on your starting fitness level.
Splitting your cardio across the day is another option that people often overlook, so if you can’t fit in a long session of activity, just dancing round your kitchen for 15 minutes all counts towards keeping a healthy heart and lungs.
What do you like to do to get your heart rate up?