If fads are bad . . . what’s good?

The one of the best ways for people add years onto their healthy life expectancy is easy, improvement of cardiovascular fitness.  For an adult under the age of 65, this means following the basic recommendations from ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) and AHA (American Heart Association).  In this post we will only be dealing in detail with the cardio-relevant aspect of these recommendations.  Just for reference, the strength-training aspect calls for 8-10 strength exercises, doing 8-12 repetitions of each exercise twice a week.  Now in dealing with the cardio, the ACSM and AHA give two options. (1) Doing 5 days a week of moderately intense cardio 30 minutes a day or (2) Doing 3 days a wee of vigorously intense cardio 20 minutes a day.  Note: these are just baseline requirements for the average healthy adult to maintain health and reduce the risk for chronic disease.  To lose weight or maintain weight loss, 60-90 minutes of physical activity may be necessary per day.  Now if you were like me when first learning about these suggestions, you are asking yourself, what does it mean to be moderately or vigorously intense while working out?  And what exactly defines an activity as being “cardio”.  Moderate-intensity physical activity means you are putting enough effort in to raise your heart rate, and break a sweat, but you are still able to maintain a conversation.  Vigorously-intensity physical activity, on the other hand, involves a large increase in breathing or heart rate.  Conversation will be difficult or “broken” and this activity will be a challenge to an individual.  As for the second question, “cardio” physical activity requires your heart rate to be elevated for the entire work out.  This eliminates most sports.  Basketball, soccer, and tennis—these are all great ways to stay physically active, but there is no way you are kept in constant motion without breaks for 20-30 minutes at a time.   That being said, as long as you can find away to keep that heart rate up for the allotted time there are many different activities that can fulfill the recommendations for cardio fitness.  Some of the most common modes I have heard of are bicycling, running, swimming, or using an elliptical or stair master.

            I know as well as the next person how hard it can be to change your daily routine to fit in more exercise, but maybe seeing a list of a few of the long term benefits will help to amp you motivation:

•   Increased heart size
• Increased blood volume and capillary density
• Lower heart rate
• Lower blood pressure
• Reduced risk of heart attack or heart disease Decreased risk for stroke
• Improved insulin sensitivity (reduced risk for Type 2 diabetes)
•  Reduced risk of colon cancer
•  Reduced risk of colds and upper respiratory tract infections
• Decreased body fat
• Improved cognitive function
•  Improved ability to manage stress
• Decreased depression
• Decreased anxiety

And these are only some of the benefits!  A life change towards cardiovascular fitness can be rewarding in so many ways, but the key is to continue what you start.  A few tips I have for you are to:

                        -Make a change with a friend. Get a Y membership with your family. Or join a cardio class with a co-worker that meets before work, 3 or more days a week.  There truly is strength in numbers.

                        -Buy a pedometer or heart rate monitor.  These are great devices for measuring progress and staying positive.  I recently started using a Polar heart rate monitor and get a great sense of accomplishment as I work out.  I can motivate myself to say, “Stephanie, alright you’re at 172 bpm, 80% of your max heart rate! Keep it there for another 2 minutes!”  It may sound silly but it really works. 

                        -Take encouragement from the little victories.  Nothing is too small to be proud of.  Making it up the stairs without getting winded, being able to pull your belt just one more hole over, or jogging on the treadmill at just a slightly faster pace—these are all ways in which you can pump up yourself to go another day or week with cardio workouts.           

*Note: If using a typical max heart rate of 215 beats per minute, for a cardio workout, 70% of the max heart rate  (150 bpm) or above should be maintained.

                        -(And finally) Make it fun!  It is one thing to be extrinsically motivated to work out, for your health or appearance.  But there is much to be said for intrinsic motivation.  Enjoying what you’re doing is a surefire way to continue participation long-term.   So mix up your work out routine to prevent boredom.  Do your activities outside in a place you’ve never been in the city or countryside (don’t forget a map if you do!)  Anything you can modify to make the experience more pleasing will be worth the experiment.