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Aerobic Exercise Guidelines
The following aerobic exercise guidelines will help you safely and effectively incorporate aerobic
exercise into your fitness program.
Frequency and Duration - For general health benefits and weight maintenance, exercise aerobically
at least three times per week with each workout lasting at least 20 minutes. In order to lose body fat or
become very aerobically fit, exercise aerobically five or six times per week with each workout lasting 30-60
minutes. Beyond 60 minutes you tend to reach a point of diminishing returns and increase the likelihood of
injury or burnout.
You may need to adjust the above frequency and duration guidelines depending on your body type.
Some ectomorphic and mesomorphic body types with fast metabolisms may find that they only need to exercise
aerobically three times per week, 20 minutes per workout, in order to lose body fat. In fact, many ectomorphs
and mesomorphs will lose muscle if they do too much aerobic exercise. On the other hand, some endomorphic
body types with slow metabolisms may need to exercise aerobically seven days a week, 60 minutes per workout,
in order to lose body fat.
The bottom line is that how much aerobic exercise you do is largely dependent on your fitness goals and
your genetics. If you can get lean and healthy with a bare minimum of aerobic exercise then there's no point
in doing more. Do as much, or as little, aerobic exercise as is necessary to produce the results you want.
Intensity - The talk test is a simple and useful way to measure aerobic exercise intensity,
especially if you're just beginning an exercise program. Your workout should be intense enough to make you
breathe deeply and feel a little winded but you should be able to carry on a light conversation while you
exercise. If you're breathless and can't get words out, your working too hard and need to reduce the intensity.
If you don't feel winded at all, you're not working hard enough and need to increase the intensity.
Target heart rate is another way to measure aerobic exercise intensity. To insure that you're training
aerobically your target heart rate should be between 60% and 85% of your maximum heart rate. Generally,
60-69% is considered low intensity, 70-79% moderate intensity, and 80-85% moderately high intensity. Your
maximum heart rate is calculated by subtracting your age from 220. So if you're 40 years old, your maximum
heart rate would be 180 (220-40). If you decide to train at a moderate intensity level, say 70% of your
maximum heart rate, your target heart rate would be 126 (180 x .70).
In order to determine if you've reached your target heart rate you would need to take your pulse during
your exercise session. You would have to slow down or stop exercising while you placed your index and middle
fingers on your neck or wrist to find your pulse. You would then have to count how many beats you feel in
10 seconds and then multiply this number by six to get the number of beats per minute. A much easier and
more accurate way to determine your target heart rate is to wear a device called a heart rate monitor on
your wrist. At any given time you could find out your heart rate by glancing at your wrist.
High Intensity Interval Training - While the preceeding information pertaining to frequency,
duration, and intensity are commonly accepted aerobic exercise guidelines, many fitness experts are now also
recommending high intensity interval training (HIIT). HIIT consists of alternating very high intensity "work
intervals” with low to moderate intensity "recovery intervals." The work and recovery intervals can be as
short as 6-10 seconds or as long as two minutes. For example, you sprint for 10 seconds and then walk for
20 seconds and then continue to alternate the work and recovery intervals. Or you run for one minute and
then jog for one minute and then continue to alternate the work and recovery intervals. You can also perform
HIIT on almost any piece of aerobic exercise equipment by adjusting the speed, incline, or resistance levels
up and down during your workout. A HIIT workout should last 15-20 minutes.
HIIT burns a lot of calories during the workout and it also elevates your metabolism so you continue to
burn calories after the workout is over. The increase in metabolism from HIIT is much higher than the
increase from steady state aerobic exercise.
HIIT is an advanced technique that is not appropriate for beginners or those with cardiovascular problems.
You need to develop a solid aerobic base before attempting HIIT.
Changing Workout Routines - This is one of the aerobic exercise guidelines that many people
don't think about. Many people do the same aerobic exercise routine month after month, which can lead to burnout,
injury, or aerobic adaptation. Aerobic adaptation is where your body adapts to a particular routine, and it can
cause fat loss to come to a stop. You need to make periodic changes to your aerobic exercise routine. Two
effective ways to change your routine are to alternate between different types of aerobic exercise (e.g. treadmill
one day, elliptical machine another day) or alternate between steady state aerobic exercise and high intensity
interval training.
Warming Up and Cooling Down - You should always warm up before aerobic exercise and cool down after
aerobic exercise. Unfortunately, these two aerobic exercise guidelines are often ignored. Many people skip
their warm up and cool down because they're in a hurry, but this is a bad idea. Warming up your muscles prior
to your workout will help prevent injury. Cooling down after your workout will slowly lower your heart rate and
redirect blood flow back to normal. Both the warm up and cool down should be five minutes or so of light aerobic
exercise.
Stretching is not a good warm up. Several recent studies have shown that stretching cold muscles slightly
decreases muscle strength and power for up to an hour after stretching. Stretching cold muscles can also cause
injury. The best time to stretch is right after your cool down, when your muscles are still warm. Visit the
Benefits of Stretching page for more information on stretching and
flexibility.
Whether your goal is to control your weight, get very aerobically fit, or just feel healthier, use these
aerobic exercise guidelines to help you reach your goal.
Recommended Resource
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strength training, and healthy eating. Read My Review
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