How to Achieve Cardiovascular Fitness

A recent 2009 study by Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) concluded that America does not have the aggressive, coordinated nationally and state strategies needed to address the obesity crisis, and threatens to make the epidemic worse. 49 states have obesity levels over 20%. The national goal for all states to reduce the proportion of adults who are obese to 15% or lower by 2010 was not met.

As individuals we have to take it upon ourselves to get in the best shapes of our lives. A critical component when getting in shape and living a healthier lifestyle is cardiovascular fitness. Cardiovascular fitness, also known as cardio respiratory endurance, will strengthen your heart muscle and muscles involved in breathing, such as lungs. This type of fitness assists the body’s capability to get oxygen and blood to the muscles efficiently so that prolonged physical work can be maintained. The more oxygen you can use the more physically fit you are.

Having a good cardiovascular fitness routine can help you:

-lower blood pressure
-decrease total cholesterol
-decrease body fat due to using fat as energy
-decrease stress reactions and anxiety
-decrease resting heart rate
-and more benefits as well

Cardiovascular fitness is one of the most important factors in any fitness program. Work the large muscles of your body, get your heart rate moving fast and continue going for a minimum of 30 minutes.

Physical activity is not an option:

"According to the latest joint American Heart Association/American College of Sports Medicine guidelines on physical activity, all healthy adults ages 18-65 should be getting at least 30 minutes of moderate intensity activity five days of the week. However, there are additional guidelines for those 65 and older, or for those 50-64 with chronic conditions or physical functional limitations (e.g., arthritis) that affect movement ability or physical fitness." This is from the American Heart Association website.

Achieving cardio fitness is not hard. The hardest part is staying motivated and committed to yourself to exercise 3-5 times a week for the rest of your life. If you find you have trouble staying motivated get an accountability partner. This is where someone with like-minded fitness goals can make a good workout buddy. A workout buddy holds you accountable to your goals and helps the enjoyment factor when you push each other. If you can’t find a workout buddy you can get a local or virtual Health Coach.

Here are some key ways to achieve cardiovascular fitness:

1. As mentioned above you must commit. You cannot achieve your fitness goals if you don’t commit.

2. Get your heart rate going fast during exercise and try to maintain that for 20-30 minutes. Your Heart Rate Zone is the range of heart beats per minute at which you should work out at in order to best achieve cardiovascular fitness.

3. Do it 3-5 days a week and always challenge yourself to reach your potential. 30-90 minutes at a time is ideal.

What are ways you can do achieve this?

-You can do it from the comfort of your own home with videos.
-Start playing a sport like racquetball. Racquetball is well known to burn 600 calories an hour and helps you tone your muscles and it’s fairly easy to learn.
-There are many different exercises you can do like swimming, biking, jumping rope, running, walk/run, stair climbing, aerobics and so much more.

Don’t let starting stop you. Get to it.

If you are ready to take action contact Manny at http://www.beachbodycoach.com/coachmanny.

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