IMPROVING CARDIOVASCULAR ENDURANCE

  IMPROVING CARDIOVASCULAR ENDURANCE

Before we dive into the details of cardiovascular (or  cardiorespiratory) endurance, let's remind ourselves what it actually means. As mentioned before, cardiovascular endurance is the ability of the heart and lungs to absorb, transport and utilize oxygen over an extended period of physical exertion.

Having said that, it is also important to remind ourselves that cardiovascular endurance is basically a type of muscular endurance, since thhe heart itself is a muscle. However, it is redundant to mention that its stamina and ability to "last" longer does not depend on whether or not it lifts weights (!). So what should one do to improve their ability to perform an exercise for a longer period of time and help their heart be able to send larger amounts of blood (and therefore oxygen) to the body?

All of the above questions are going to be answered soon. For now, be patient though, because we have to clarify some things concerning the function of the heart and its relation to exercise.

Resting heart rate: The first thing we have to make clear is how many pulses (or beats) per minute your heart performs when you are resting. That is, not having performed any type of exercise for the last hour (more or less), not being in a stressful condition (which can affect your heart rate), and preferably sitting when you measure it. A healthy, untrained (or just beginning to exercise) person, has a resting heart rate of 70-75 bpm (beats per minute). When ascending the ladder of exercise, the RHR begins to decrease, and can even reach 35 bpm (!) when referring to elite athletes, such as sprinters, swimmers or cyclists. When it comes to the Average Joe, however, you should try to drop your RHR to about 65 bpm. How can you you do that? Just keep reading..!

Exactly like your muscles, the heart can improve its function when forced to work in high frequencies, so that it becomes familiar with such situations. So, when you workout, you keep your heart rate up, and when you repeat that process, your heart gradually familiarizes with the condition of working heavily. Therefore, both your RHR and your ability to withstand difficult aerobic conditions improves. As for some workouts that achieve that result, we are going to analyze them one by one, along with the more detailed science behind cardiovascular endurance in future posts.

So stick around, and stay tuned for the fourth component of fitness, flexibility, before we jump into the workouts and the details of how you are going to be an all-around fitness person.