You may have heard the terms “aerobic exercise” or “cardio” thrown around your fitness community. These are common words used to express what fitness professionals call, "cardiovascular exercise". Cardiovascular exercise is unique from other types of training in that it requires oxygen during your workout and in fact, the word aerobic means “with oxygen”. This is to say that anaerobic activities such as weightlifting, shot putting, and sprinting short distances require much faster and quicker sources for the energy needed to complete the movements. The word anaerobic starts with the prefix "an-“which means “without”, in this case referring to oxygen.
Aerobic exercises use oxygen as a means of breaking down glucose which creates the energy you need to run, jog, bike, or any other activity that lasts more than a few minutes. This will be the type of exercise discussed here.
One benefit to frequent cardiovascular exercise is to reduce the risk for many diseases such as coronary heart disease (CHD). When doing cardio work you involve large muscles because almost all cardiovascular exercise requires use of your legs. This use of larger muscles creates a large need for oxygen supply and requires your heart beat faster to meet oxygen demands.
This is because oxygen is transported through the blood so the harder you are working out, the faster your heart rate will need to be. Once you have performed cardio exercise over a longer period of time, you will find your heart won’t have to work nearly as hard because your body has adapted to this routine. This is because your body has become far more efficient at utilizing oxygen as well as pumping a larger volume of blood per beat so it won’t need to work as hard with the same exercise routine.
As an example, consider a man who begins to exercise running around his block a few times a week. He feels his heart beating really hard and gets out of breath easily. A couple of months later he finds that his heart doesn’t beat nearly as hard and can breathe clearly the whole run. His body has ‘learned’ how to make the most out of each breath he takes in.
When you perform cardiovascular exercise your blood vessels have a less likely chance of getting plaque built up on them. When you eat a lot of junk food without exercise for a long time your odds of getting plaque to build up inside your vascular system throughout your body will increase.
This is why cardiovascular exercise is recommended because it "cleans out your pipes" and less can get stuck in the sides of these vessels. If enough plaque builds up in these tubes throughout your body and it dislodges itself from its location you will now have this free floating mass in your blood system which can occlude or block important pathways. This can lead to heart attack or stroke which is essentially a heart attack of the brain. Obviously you wouldn’t want either of these to happen as they are very deadly and very unpredictable.
The best course of action is to take up cardiovascular exercise. Even if you start out small it can lead to big, important changes down the road. If you are completely unaccustomed to exercise I recommend you begin by walking around your neighborhood block. It is easy to do because all you have to do is walk outside your door. Another reason to mention walking is because its absolutely free! No monthly payments at the gym and no self-consciousness thoughts popping in your head because you are securely in your own territory and going at your own pace.
When performing cardiovascular exercise it is important to understand injuries that most commonly occur. Follow these simple steps and you can avoid a prolonged world of hurt. When running on a concrete or other hard surface your anterior leg muscles such, as tibialis anterior, can get hurt. This is from constant “slapping” of the toes on this hard surface over and over. This leads to aching and a lot of icing for you.
I recommend getting high quality shoes such as Asics. They may be a little bit more expensive than payless shoe store, but you will thank me later when your exercise is pain free. They are wonderfully comfortable and last forever. I have personally used a pair of Asics shoes for a while now and show no sign of wear and tear. They also are pretty stylish too as a bonus and are pretty affordable. I have a selection of shoes on this site that are all great for running. Check out my store for awesome prices on these shoes if you get a chance.
Indoor cardio is also very possible with today’s advances in technology. I have seen some pretty fancy elliptical, bikes, and treadmills that reduce the risk of injury with sleek designs and easy to use as well. I like to work out both outdoors and indoors but one huge benefit of doing cardio indoors is the television! I can jump on a treadmill and as long as there is something descent on the TV I can run for a long while. My point is that these indoor cardio rooms will now most likely have televisions in them which can be great distractions if you struggle doing cardio for over 10 minutes. If you have such a place available give it a try.
I will end this article with the benefits of cardiovascular exercise. There are many and can be explained in a simple manner. If there is one thing you take from this article, let it be the benefits of exercise because this should be your inspiration to get moving! (not JUST to look good although that in itself is a nice perk)
First and foremost I already mentioned the fact that it can decrease the risk for disease, so I won’t bore you with that. Cardiovascular exercise can burn calories faster than other forms of exercise! This is great if you’re trying to lose weight and get in shape for that summer beach trip. This because you are using far more muscles and at a constant rate for an extended period of time in contrast to heavy lifting activities.
Cardiovascular exercise can raise your metabolic rate so you are burning calories even when you’re not working out. Now if this doesn’t inspire you to do some cardio work I don’t know what will. Do cardiovascular exercise 3-4 days a week and relax the other half. It doesn’t get any better than that. Once you improve you can move up to 5 days, then 6, and so on. You will be raising that metabolic rate through the roof!
I hope this brief introduction to cardiovascular exercise was informative and thought provoking. If you want to learn more on cardiovascular exercise, I have plenty of articles in within the Training Guide.
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