Cardiovascular training is a necessary component of any exercise programme. The benefits you receive from cardiovascular training include: increased heart efficiency, increased blood circulation, reduced cholesterol, reduced blood pressure and reduced stress levels. At BodyTech, we recommend that you keep your cardiovascular training sessions to 20 - 30 minutes, 3-5 times a week and exercise at a high intensity (you should barely be able to read a magazine, if at all). To make your cardio training session high intensity, you should be working at 75-95% of your maximum heart rate. Maximum Heart Rate = approx 220 - your age.
Contrary to what most people believe when speaking about cardio training, more is not always better. In the Eighties there was an aerobics craze, which in part was due to people trying to exercise in the ‘fat burning zone'. The ‘fat burning zone' is so called because when you exercise at a lower intensity you burn more fat calories compared to carbohydrate calories.
Even though, relatively speaking you're burning more fat calories compared to carbohydrate calories when training in the ‘fat burning zone'; the total number of calories expended is not very high unless you exercise for a long period of time. This resulted in people doing lengthy cardio training sessions to expend a greater number of calories per training session, only to result in the repetitive strain on joints, ligaments, tendons, and muscles and can cause injuries through increased wear and tear from the impact of many aerobic exercises.
If you would like more information on cardiovascular exercise at BodyTech, please contact us and we will be happy to answer any questions.
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