The advantages to cardio exercises have long been proven by science and experience as an essential tool for staying lean, fit, strong and mentally alert. Because cardio workouts help you burn fat, it lets your muscles appear more defined and less flabby. That however is just a warm up of the advantages to cardio exercises. Read on for more information about the importance of cardio exercises.

Cardiovascular exercise royalty has gone deep into the veins of men. Certain diseases and heart ailments can be prevented by doing cardio three times a week. Many studies and researches that have been conducted testify to the prevention of heart diseases by taking up the cardio regimen. The deposition of fats in the arteries or atherosclerosis can be prevented by having cardio workouts that help “melt” away the fats in the body. It also helps lower the blood pressure among hypertensive people and a significant loss and lowering of blood pressure was proven among these men. The risks of developing stroke and diabetes were also found to be lessened among men and women who do cardio exercises several times a week. For sure these advantages to cardio workout will keep you inspired.The athletes from different sports are living monuments of the advantages to cardio exercises. Without the cardio exercise, their performance will decline and their rivals will surely leave them far behind if they tire too soon and wear out immediately. Running, jogging and jumping rope are also beneficial exercises. It strengthens the legs and the over all body coordination which is an important factor for exceptional performance in sports like boxing, judo, mixed martial arts, triathlon, marathon, swimming and other active sports that we play and watch.

As a weight loss regimen the advantages to cardio exercises are also evident. Two to three times a week of cardio helps you sweat the fat off your belly and trims your body to a better looking abs.

For your own cardio workout, you can skip rope, jog, take a brisk walk and do swimming for a minimum of forty five minute to an hour a week with rest days in between.

Follow these guidelines for a more effective workout:

- Hydrate often and drink enough fluids after exercise.

- Eat foods high in protein to help you recover during your rest days.

- Maintain proper form by keeping your torso straight and contract your abs while taking each step.

Now it’s time for you to reap the benefits and advantages to cardio exercises!

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Treadmill vs. Elliptical. Find out which is better for you.

Parker has been struggling his weight for some time. He enjoy writing about health and fitness matters.

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By Brandon Richey

First of all, cardio goes way beyond the act of running. As a strength and fitness professional it has been my experience that most people associate cardio with always having to be aerobic. This is where people are missing out on what REAL cardio is all about! You see cardio is also anaerobic which means without oxygen. This type of cardio is consistent with short burst of intense exertion which elevate your heart rate in a hurry and cause an oxygen deficit that isn’t usually made up until the bout of exercise is finished. Check out the following method of cardio for your heart pumping convenience below.

How To Do Cardio Without Running!

So if you are going to engage in cardiovascular activity without ever running or jogging then one way around this is to cater your strength training routine to become part of your cardiovascular workout. So what does this mean? Well, you can group several strength training exercises together in the form of supersets or circuits to significantly raise your level of perceived exertion in order to achieve a very good cardiovascular workout. By doing this you limit your rest time by constantly moving from one exercise to the next without rest. This will give you a tremendous strength training workout while also giving you a hard hitting cardio workout at the same time. This isn’t easy, but REAL cardio isn’t!

Another way to get the most out of your cardio routine without ever having to pound the pavement for mile after mile is by executing intervals into your strength training workouts. So what does this mean? Well intervals of different running substituted cardio exercises such as jumping jacks, jump rope, and cycling can all be done in intermittent bouts between your strength training exercises to keep your heart rate elevated throughout your workout. This sure beats the monotony of having to go out and run for miles and miles with nothing to show for it other than aching joints and the potential loss of muscle mass. There is nothing wrong with running, but like anything else it should be done in moderation and the intensity and volume should always be varied.

If you haven’t already started to implement these mentioned strategies into your own cardio exercises then you are missing out. Cardio workouts don’t have to be boring. Take the time to learn more by accessing more of my articles on the subject for free. Remember that most anyone can train hard, but only the best train smart my friend!

To learn more about Kettlebells, Fitness, and achieving Total Mind-Blowing Strength come and visit me at http://www.efandps.com
To be one of my members and to receive more tips on INSANE BODY CONSTRUCTION please visit me at: http://www.efandps.com/www.efandps.com/Brandons_Members_Newsletter.html I’m Brandon Richey the Strength and Conditioning Pro!

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No matter who you are in the world, your body needs aerobic exercise. A healthy body and high quality way of life needs it. It has a number of pros and will help you feel greater in all areas of your life. So how can you benefit from aerobic exercise?

Anaerobic exercise is not like aerobic in that it is often shorter in length and greater in intensity. With anaerobics the body gets tired faster and muscles are created more actively. A variety of sports are categorized as anaerobic activities: soccer, downhill skiing, weight lifting, basketball, and football. Running or sprinting is another one. Anaerobic exercise will boost the possibility of the body being sore.

To imagine that often we don’t do aerobic exercise is crazy because of it’s number of perks. It helps control and reduces body fat, increases our total endurance, gives us more energy, assists in our resilience to exhaustion, increases our muscles, and raises our lean body mass. It also helps us mentally by improving mood, lowering anxiety, reducing depression, reducing tension, and having us sleep good at night. Who can’t benefit a little from all that?These are pros that people would all use.

An aerobics class could be a good beginning for people who want to reap the rewards of aerobic exercise and aren’t positive how to start. Both high and low intensity work outs are available in an aerobics class. The teacher should  show class members how to perform these moves either way. The amount of intensity is how high you bring your limbs up during the work out routine. Athletes must perform at the level of intensity pertaining to their level of fitness and the regularity of their work outs sessions.

The goal while working out aerobically is to reach your target heart rate and remain at that for the whole period you are exercising that group of muscles. This exercises the heart more effectively and makes the body expend a greater amount of calories. The aerobic curve is something some people will often reach. This is when you start exercising and elevate your intensity level to the peak then decrease gradually. It is better to maintain that continuous level as your heart rate rises. The lungs and heart endure longer and work more effectively when they are conditioned. People who do aerobic exercise on a steady basis will have to exercise harder to achieve their target heart rate as their stamina increases. People who are only beginning will get to their target heart rate quickly until their body gets used to the exercise.

More effective implementation of the lungs by escalating the oxygen carried to them as well as the heart using that oxygen more effectively are a few of the pros of aerobic exercise. The definition of aerobic means with oxygen, or with air.  Exercise that is lower in intensity and longer in time is aerobic. With aerobic sessions, an athlete implements the same big muscle group in a continuous motion from between fifteen and thirty. The goal of the aerobic exerciser is to maintain a maximum heart rate of approximately sixty to eighty %. A few aerobic sessions are: light running, cycling, walking, or treading water. These activities should be able to be done without a person breathing hard. You are possibly anaerobically working out if you are not able to carry on a brief
conversation.

While in an aerobic exercise session, the body transports more blood and oxygen to the muscle groups. It is not smart to stop suddenly from an aerobic session. This leads to dizziness and muscle spasms. It is usually a great idea to have a cooling off session after a relatively intense aerobic work out. Running in place for a moment or two is a good idea if anybody gets too exhausted during a work out session.

This type exercise is absolutely obligatory for cardiovascular fitness even though it may be a bit difficult at first. A healthy body takes regular aerobic sessions and is an ongoing process. Three times a week is generally how frequently a person should exercise if they are already in fairly good cardiovascular shape. Those who are trying to lose weight and raise their level of fitness should work out four to five times a week.

Boxing

The boxing stance is the posture a boxer takes before and after every action depending on whether you are left or right handed. We’ll be dealing with the most common; right-handed. For left-handed people, just reverse the instructions.

Stand with your feet shoulder width apart, with your left foot in front of your right foot. Your right heel should be slightly raised with your left foot flat on the floor and toes pointing ahead.

Bend your knees a little and balance your weight comfortably and evenly.
Place your elbows close to your body with your left fist held at head height and in a position that corresponds to your left foot.

The right fist should be at head height also and guarding the chin, with both elbows protecting your body and both fists protecting your chin.

This is your defensive and offensive position after throwing punches, so please practice this before going any further.  When moving forward in this boxing stance the left foot moves forward first and then the right follows.

When moving back, the right moves back and then the left follows.  When moving sideward to the right, the right foot moves first followed by the left.  When moving sideward to the left, the left foot moves first followed by the right.

Practice this moving forward, back and sideward in the boxer’s stance until it is done smoothly and quickly. Remember to keep your guard up and elbows tucked in to your sides.

Keep your head at eye level with your upper body leaning forward slightly.   In boxing it is important that punches are thrown quickly and then bought back quickly to assume a defensive posture.

Punching

A left jab has many uses, it can be used for both offensive and
Defensive actions. From the set stance the left arm is pushed quickly and forcefully forward, the weight is shifted to the front foot. The fist moves in a straight line and straight back again for defence.

At the moment of impact the back of the hand and the lower arm are in a straight line. Keep the right fist in the defensive position and elbow tucked into the body during the movement.

The straight right is also known as the punching hand and can be thrown with considerable force. The arm moves straightforward from the chin, the body weight is shifted to the front foot with the ball of the foot of the back leg pushing into the floor for more power.

The back of the hand is straight and pointing up at the moment of impact. The arm is then immediately pulled back for protection after the hit.

The left hook to the head and body is an effective punch for closer range work. From the set stance turn your left shoulder quickly and move your elbow up to shoulder height. The fist moves in a circular motion to the target, with the elbow bent.

Rotate your hip and body whilst pressing your front left down keeping the back of your fist pointing up and in a straight line with the lower arm. The left hook to the body is similar to the above but increases the rotation of the body

The right uppercut is also carried out at close range. Drop the lower part of your punching arm until the lower and upper arm is at right angles to each other. The back of your hand should be pointing away from you, now thrust your arm forward and upward to your target.

Shift your body weight to your front leg and rotate your hip and shoulder on the same side. Remember to keep your left fist guarding your chin during the entire movement. Now practice all your punches until they are done quickly and smoothly.

To develop speed and endurance, try punching straight left and right combinations into the heavy bag. The duration of the exercise period is the same as the rest period i.e. 10 seconds exercise, 10 seconds rest, 20 seconds exercise, 20 seconds rest, and so on. Move up higher as your condition improves.

Do you want a healthy heart that mean a healthy life? You have to do this exercise. Whenever you’re busy, unable to get up early in the morning or have no time for gym just follow this 20 minute home exercise to stay healthy and fit.

1) Jog : in one place for 3 minutes

2) Jumping jacks: 25 repeats
When landing, bend your knees slightly to reduce the impact on knee joints.

3) Crunches : 15 repeats
Lie flat on your back with your knees bent. Place your hands behind your head with elbows pointing outwards. Support your neck with your hands. Keep your neck in a straight line with your spine. Flex your waist to raise the upper torso from the mat. Lower yourself until the back of your shoulders touches the mat.
Muscle worked: rectus abdominis

4) Hip Bridges : 10 repeats
Lie on your back. With your hands at a 90 degree angle to the floor, lift your body off the floor to form a straight line, a sort of a bridge, from the shoulders to the knee. The position should resemble a table … your hands and legs as the legs of the table and your upper body to your knees as the surface. Hold this position for two seconds. Squeeze your gluteus (butt muscles) and then lower yourself.
Muscle worked: Lower back, hamstrings and gluteus.

5) Step – up’s : 1 minute
You will need a stepper for this.
Muscle worked: hamstrings, gluteus, quards.

6) Reverse crunches: 15 repeats
Lie on your back with your hands on your sides. Keep you knees bent. Bring your knees towards your head, till your hips come slightly off the floor. Hold this position for a second, and then lower your knees.
Muscle worked: lower abs and obliques.

7) Mountain climbers : 1 minute
Get your hands and knees and raise your knees like a starting block sprinter. Run in that position, supporting your upper body with the palms of your hands. Keep your back straight.
Muscle worked: triceps, deltoid muscle, gluteus, quards, hamstrings, calves.

Push – ups : 15 repeats
Muscle worked: triceps, deltoids, pectorals.

9) Squat thrusts: 1 minute
Stand straight. Now, drop to a crouch position. Immediately thrust your legs out straight behind on your toes, in push up position, now jump to pull legs  back to the chest, in crouching position , then  stand up straight,
Muscle worked: arms, legs, chest, and lower back.

Cool down by walking around, till your heart rate starts getting back to normal, stretch.

A minutes rest is needed in between exercise. Proper form is important. Do not hold breath. Sip water during the workout. This workout targets the whole body, improves cardiovascular efficiency and tones and strengthens the body.

To accomplish a good cardio-vascular workout all you really need is a good pair of running shoes. Most cardio exercise needs little or no third party apparatus to help you accomplish your routine. Running, dancing, walking can all be done with no equipment (well, if dancing, then maybe some music would help). Other forms of cardio are step, circuit training, bike riding, swimming, aerobics and more…

With most exercise you should always remember to warm up first and cool down afterwards. This means gently stretching and moving your muscles to start off with. Suddenly moving into full exercise without building up first will cause problems such as stiffness and cramps. Ease yourself into it. Then after exercise, the cool down is basically gently moving the muscles and joints to stretch and relax, as your body returns to its normal pace.

Running:
Make sure you have a good pair of running shoes. The technology put into these shoes nowadays is highly researched and designed to reduce shock to the feet, ankles, legs and back. So don’t skimp on these – you get what you pay for.

Before you start your run, be sure to warm up first. Start with a brisk walk ensuring you move your arms vigorously gradually breaking into a slow jog. It is better to run at a speed to which you can still converse. If you find yourself losing breath, slow your pace down until you’ve recovered. If you are a novice runner try running and walking, until you can hold your run for 15 minutes.

Now increase the length and time of your run by a couple of minutes every other time you hit the road or treadmill, until you can run for 30 minutes without stopping. Try to increase your run time by 10% each week, remember not to over do it and don’t forget to warm down at the end of each by slowing down gradually. When your run is complete stretch your legs for 30 seconds per muscle, hamstring, calf and thigh.

Cycling:
Cycling is one of the best ways to get a good cardio-vascular workout.

First of all, if you are riding on the roads safety is paramount, always use the appropriate safety equipment when road riding. You can stay fit by riding a bike to work, most people work within a five mile radius of there place of work, which is a perfect distance for a bike ride.

Exercise bikes can be used in a variety of ways, general riding for specified length of time, this is like going for a bike ride with out the dangers of road riding and the weather. Warm up riding you can use an exercise bike for warming up the legs before a leg workout. Also exercise bike classes, these classes are taken by an instructor, who will put you through various levels of pace, quite like a circuit training exercise with a bike.

You may find it surprising to find that riding a bike five miles 3 times per week will improve your heart rate, your posture, skin and weight control. Some even say that riding and running are great ways of relieving stress.

Swimming:
One of the best ways to firm up and trim your body down. Due to the resistance the water has on the body swimming involves all the major muscle groups this allows the body to burn up to 20% more calories than swimming through air. Swimming a few lengths per day will keep you fit and give you an excellent workout. Swimming also has less impact on the joints than say, running.

If you wish to take your swim a little further try picking up the pace of your swim, you can work up to a great aerobic exercise and give your body an excellent workout.

Start off by swimming 1-2 lengths at a time resting between sets if necessary, after you have swam ten lengths call it a day. The next day repeat the process until you can swim five lengths without a break. Progress to ten lengths in by adding an extra length each time you return.

You can put together your own cardio raining routing in the gym, if you have a problem with this then the staff on hand will write one for you and show you how to achieve your goal. Try to make your cardio last between an hour and an hour and a half. A good start point for cardio is always a run.

This cardio workout will work for a person of medium fitness, however adjust the times and pace according to your fitness levels.

1. Run at a light pace for 20 minutes, start off at a walking pace and gradually move to a run, this helps you get warmed up and the blood pumping.

2. Rowing machine- set the rowing machine for a countdown time of 15 minutes or keep a check on your watch or the clock. Start off with a slow rowing motion to get the pace up, maintain this steady pace throughout the full 13 minutes and use the 2 minutes to slow the pace down.

3. Move immediately on to exercise bike take a stead paced ride for 12 minutes with a sprint finish for the remaining 3 minutes.

4. After the exercise bike move directly on to the step climber for a period of 15 minutes climbing on a light level to get the legs going. Try to move at a swift pace for the full 15 minutes as this is the last of the leg work you will be doing.

5. When you have completed the step climber, move onto the abs bench for some crunches. 4 sets of crunches to failure is your target for this exercise. Try twisting your body and touching your left knee with your right elbow and vice versa.

6. The last exercise in this quick cardio workout is the leg raise apparatus. Bring your knees up to your chest for 3-4 sets for as many reps as possible (failure)

After the completion of this cardio workout, remember to do a full warm down by stretching the muscles. The full workout should take you around 1 hour 20 minutes.

Cardio exercise machine workouts are great and fun for burning excess body fat and building good cardiovascular health. These exercises not only help to burn body fat fast it will also strengthen your heart and lungs and thus reducing your chances of getting high blood pressure, stroke and heart diseases. Regular cardio exercises can also reduce bad cholesterol and raise the level of good cholesterol.

However, are you getting the most out of your cardio machine workouts? Are you using the cardio workout machines efficiently to gain maximum benefits of the exercises?

Well, you probably are not if you are an average gym user without any personal trainers to guide you because you will probably commit common cardio machine mistakes when exercising.

We shall now examine the more popular cardio workout machines and the common mistakes people commit when using these machines for their workouts.

Common mistakes when using cardio workout machines are :-

• Step up stair climber – This is perhaps the most common mistake for not getting the most out of the step up stair climber machine. Almost invariably, everyone when exercising with this machine will rest their arms on the railing. By doing so, the railing now becomes sort of like a crutch as it will now support some of your body weight making the exercise less intensive.

• Treadmill – The treadmill is perhaps the most popular cardio workout machine in the gym. A careful observation will show that many treadmill users run with too much up and downs. This mistake will wear out the person’s ankle and knee joints over time. The correct method is to take long, smooth and purposeful strides during the exercise.

• Stationery Bike – When exercising on the stationery bike, do adjust the height of the seat to a comfortable level. I really don’t understand why many stationery bike users adjust their seats to be either too high or too low. I mean, why be uncomfortable when exercising when you can be comfortable.

When the seat is too low, it adds strain to your knees and spine. When too high, your will butt will rock from side to side. So besides not getting the best from your cardio workout on the stationery bike because your body weight will be involved when you peddle, you will also look weird. It is such a silly workout mistake right?

Another common mistake is that I often see stationery bikers reading a book when exercising. That means that they exercise at a very low intensity level. Hey, how can low intensity cardio exercises work your heart and lung effectively?

• Elliptical Trainer – This is also another bewildering common cardio workout mistake. You use the elliptical trainer to tone your body and to exercise for your cardiovascular fitness right? Then why is it I often see people who use the elliptical trainer exercising at a high speed? So what is the mistake? The mistake is that they have set the resistant level too low.

You see, if you do not puff, pant and breakout in sweat, you are not getting the best out of your cardio exercises. Is it any wonder then that people are not losing weight and not improving on their cardiovascular health even when they are doing their cardio exercises regularly?

Now that you know how to avoid these common cardio machine exercise workout mistakes, you can now head for the gym and get the best out of these exercises. In a very short time, you will see your body toning up nicely, improvement on your cardio health being felt and visibly losing excess body fat.

Everybody has confused at some point which cardio exercise is more effective.  To commit it in simple terms, both low and high intensity exercises will help you to burn up body fat.  The question here is which is the best to burn up more body fat.

When scientists first discovered that during  intensive exercises, your body burns glycogen, which is a form of stored carbohydrates that are stored in your liver and muscles for energy.  During low intensity exercises, your body will burn a lot of fat.

If your wondering whether or not it works, the answer is no because there are so many obese people still around.  Even though they are working out with low intensity routines, it still makes you  wonder how it can be.

The scientists were right when they said the human body burns more body fat during low intensity exercises like walking or swimming.  During a  high intensity exercise such as running, the body will burn a lot more calories.  Even if some of the calories burnt are from glycogen, there are still many fat calories burned as well.

To put the icing on the cake, when your store of glycogen gets low, the carbohydrates from your food you eat will later get converted into  glycogen to fill up the store and won’t be converted to body fat when they are left unused for energy.

High intensity cardio exercise will juice up your metabolism even after you have completed your workout.  What this means, is that your body will continue to burn body fat hours after you have left the gym.  This effect is nearly non existent in low intensity cardio or aerobic workout.

Accumulatively, your body will burn up more and more calories during and after you have finished a high intensity cardio exercise that it will with low intensity.

You can inject high intensity exercises into your cardio workout by introducing some interval training. You can walk for 5 minutes or so, then break into some jogging for another 5 minutes or so.  Then, walk briskly again until you have caught your breath and then sprint for a minute before you walk again.  From this point, simply alternate your running and walking for the  next 15 minutes until you are finished.

One of the best things about cardio is the more you do it, the more energy you’ll have.  Cardio will help you to burn fat, although its more useful for keeping your energy levels high.

If you’ve never tried cardio before, you should give it a shot.  If you like to exercise, you’ll find cardio the best way to boost your energy and keep in top shape.  If you are just starting out, you’ll want to go slow and keep your cardio  exercise in track – as it is very easy to over exert yourself.

Among the highest risk factors are male sex, age over 35, cigarette smoking, high blood pressure, high levels of certain blood fats, and a family history of cardiovascular disorders.

Other researchers have added to this list another risk factor: the compulsive, hard-driving, highly anxious personality. The greater the number of severity, the greater the person’s overall risk.

These threats to the heart can be divided into two main categories: those beyond individual control, such as age, sex, and heredity, and those that can be controlled, avoided, or even eliminated. Among those in the second category are what cardiologists call “the triple threat.” These are the high blood pressure, cigarette smoking, and high cholesterol levels in the blood.

If you smoke a pack of cigarettes a day, your risk of having a heart attack is twice that of a nonsmoker. If you smoke, have hypertension, and eat a diet high in fats without any exercise at all, your risk is five times greater than normal.

The Healthy Heart

If these risk factors endanger the heart’s health, what enhances its well-being and improves its odds of working long and well?

Obviously, quitting cigarettes and eating a low-fat diet will help. The next best thing you can do for your heart’s sake is to give it what it needs: regular exercise or a complete cardio interval training.

The heart is a muscle, or, more accurately, a group or “package” of muscles, similar in many ways to the muscles of the arms and legs. And just as exercise strengthens and improves limb muscles, it enhances the health of the heart muscles as well.

Since World War II, several large-scale statistical studies have evaluated the relationship between physical activity and cardiovascular disease. One well-known survey compared 31,000 drivers and conductors of some bus companies. The more sedentary drivers had a significantly higher rate of heart disease than the conductors, who walked around the buses and climbed stairs to the upper level.

The why and how behind these statistics were bet explained by classic experiments with dogs whose coronary arteries were surgically narrowed to resemble those of humans with arteriosclerosis. Dogs who were exercised were had much better blood flow than those kept inactive.

The exercise seemed to stimulate the development of new connections between the impaired and the nearly normal blood vessels, so exercised dogs had a better blood supply to all the muscle tissue of the heart. The human heart reacts in the same way to provide blood to the portion that was damaged by the heart attack.

To enable the damaged heart muscle to heal, the heart relies on new small blood vessels for what is called collateral circulation. These new branches on the arterial tress can develop long before a heart attack – and can prevent a heart attack if the new network takes on enough of the function of the narrowed vessels.

With all these facts, it is now boiled down to a single question: What should be done in order to prevent such dilemmas?

Some studies showed that moderate exercise several times a week is more effective in building up these auxiliary pathways than extremely vigorous exercise done twice often.

The general rule is that exercise helps reduce the risk of harm to the heart. Some researches further attested the link between exercise and healthy heart based from the findings that the non-exercisers had a 49% greater risk of heart attack than the other people included in the study. The study attributed a third of that risk to sedentary lifestyle alone.

Hence, with employing the cardio interval training, you can absolutely expect positive results not only on areas that concerns your cardiovascular system but on the overall status of your health as well.

This particular activity that is definitely good for the heart is a cycle of “repeated segments” that is of intense nature. In this process, there is an interchange periods of recuperation. It can both be comprehensive activity and moderate motion.

Consequently, the benefits of merely engaging into this kind of activity can bring you more results that you have ever expected. These are:

1. The threats of heart attack are lessened, if not eliminated

2. Enhanced heart task

3. Increase metabolism, increase the chance of burning calories, therefore, assist you in losing weight

4. Improves lung capacity

5. Helps lessen or eliminate the cases of stress

Indeed, cardio interval training is the modern way of creating a healthy, happy heart and body.

The more energy spent per time unit, the greater the intensity of the exercise, the greater the effect on cardiorespiratory fitness. So, the most important factor for improving cardiorespiratory fitness (cardio or CR) is the intensity of the exercise.  Changes in CR fitness are directly related to how “hard” an aerobic exercise is performed.

You have to know how hard is “hard” to determine if an aerobic exercise like running is producing a CR training effect or if it’s just burning a few calories. The heart rate during work or exercise is an excellent indicator of how much effort you are exerting. Only by keeping track of your heart rate during a workout can you be sure that the intensity is enough to improve your CR fitness level. In other words, your ability to monitor your heart rate is the single most important key to success in CR training.
Training Heart Rate (THR) = Desired Intensity of the Workout

THR is the heart rate at which you need to exercise to get a training effect. The U.S. Army fitness gurus have given us two methods to determine THR. The first method, percent maximum heart rate (%MHR) is simpler to use, while the second method, percent heart rate reserve (%HRR) is more accurate.

%MHR Method

With this method the THR is figured using the estimated maximal heart rate. You can estimate your maximum heart rate (MHR) by subtracting your age from 220. Thus, a 20 year old would have an estimated maximum heart rate (MHR) of 200 beats per minute (220 – 20 = 200).

A person who is in poor shape should exercise at 70 percent of his MHR; if he is in relatively good shape, at 80 percent MHR; and, if he is in excellent shape, at 90 percent MHR.

Examples:

A 20 year old in good physical condition would have a THR of 160 beats per minute (BPM). 220 – 20 = 200 * .80 = 160 BPM.

A 30 year old in good physical condition would have a THR of 152 beats per minute (BPM). 220 – 30 = 190 * .80 = 152 BPM.

A 40 year old in poor physical condition would have a THR of 126 beats per minute (BPM). 220 – 40 = 180 * .70 = 126 BPM.

%HRR Method

A more accurate way to calculate THR is the %HRR method. The range from 60 to 90 %HRR is the THR range in which people should exercise to improve their CR fitness levels. If you know your general level of CR fitness, you can determine which percentage of HRR is a good starting point for you.

For example, a person in excellent physical condition could start at 85 percent of his HRR; if he is in reasonably good shape, at 70 percent HRR; and, if he is in poor shape, at 60 percent HRR.

Most CR workouts should be conducted with the heart rate between 70 to 75 percent HRR to attain, or maintain, an adequate level of fitness. A person who has reached a high level of fitness may derive more benefit from working at a higher percentage of HRR, particularly if he cannot find more than 20 minutes for CR exercise.

Exercising at any lower percentage of HRR than 60 does not give the heart, muscles, and lungs an adequate training stimulus. Exercising at more than 90 percent can be dangerous. Before anyone begins aerobic training, he should know his THR (the heart rate at which he needs to exercise to get a training effect).

The example below shows how to figure the THR by using the resting heart rate (RHR) and age to estimate heart rate reserve (HRR). A 20 year old in reasonably good physical shape is the example.

STEP 1: Determine the MHR by subtracting your age from 220. i.e. MHR = 220 – 20 = 200.

STEP 2: Determine the resting heart rate (RHR) in beats per minute (BPM) by counting the resting pulse for 30 seconds, and multiply the count by two. A shorter period can be used, but a 30 second count is more accurate. This count should be taken while you are completely relaxed and rested. For this example we use a RHR of 69 BPM.

STEP 3: Determine the heart rate reserve (HRR) by subtracting the RHR from the estimate MHR. i.e. HRR = 200 – 69 = 131 BPM

STEP 4: Calculate THR by (1) multiplying HRR by the relative fitness level as a percentage and (2) adding the result to the HRR.  For example, our 20 year old in good physical condition will exercise at 70% HRR.

(1)  .70 * 131 = 91.7
(2)   91.7 + 69 = 160.7

In summary, a reasonably fit 20-year-old with a resting heart rate (RHR) of 69 BPM has a training heart rate (THR) goal of 161 BPM.

During aerobic exercise, the body will usually have reached a “Steady State” after five minutes of exercise, and the heart rate will have leveled off. At this time and, immediately after exercising, is when you should monitor your heart rate to see if you are within your desired THR range.

If your pulse rate is below the THR, you must exercise harder to increase your pulse to the THR. If your pulse is above the THR, you should reduce the intensity to reduce the pulse rate to the THR goal.