|
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'll most likely need to adjust the above frequency and duration guidelines depending on your
body type, genetics and fitness goals. Many ectomorphic and mesomorphic
body types with fast metabolisms are able to stay lean and healthy while doing very little aerobic exercise.
Many endomorphic body types with slow metabolisms need to do a lot of aerobic exercise in order to get lean
and healthy. 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 way to measure aerobic exercise intensity. 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). The easiest and most accurate way to determine target heart rate is
to wear a heart rate monitor.
High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
While the preceding information pertaining to frequency, duration and intensity have been commonly accepted
aerobic exercise guidelines for quite some time, an increasing number of fitness experts are now recommending
high intensity interval training (HIIT) in addition to or instead of traditional aerobic exercise.
HIIT consists of alternating high intensity "work intervals" with low to moderate intensity "recovery intervals."
For example, you sprint 50 yards and then walk 50 yards, and then continue to alternate these work and recovery
intervals. Or you run for one minute and then jog for one minute, and then continue to alternate these work and
recovery intervals. Or you pedal at a fast pace on a stationary bike for 30 seconds and then pedal at a slow or
moderate pace for 60 seconds, and then continue to alternate these work and recovery intervals. There are many
different ways to structure a HIIT workout.
HIIT burns a lot of calories during the workout and it also causes your metabolism to be elevated for up to
24 hours after the workout is over. The higher your metabolism, the more calories your body continually burns.
The increase in metabolism from HIIT is much higher and lasts much longer than the increase from traditional
aerobic exercise. As a matter of fact, traditional aerobic exercise has very little effect on metabolism. In
addition to HIIT's calorie burning effect, many studies have shown that HIIT is more effective at improving
cardiovascular fitness than traditional aerobic exercise.
HIIT requires less time than traditional aerobic exercise because it's based on workout intensity, not workout
length. A typical HIIT workout should last between 10 and 20 minutes and should be performed two or three times
per week.
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, repetitive 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, such as alternating between different
types of aerobic exercise (e.g., treadmill one workout, elliptical machine another workout) or doing high
intensity interval training instead of traditional aerobic exercise.
Warming Up and Cooling Down
It's important to warm up before aerobic exercise and cool down after aerobic exercise, but 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 a few minutes of light aerobic exercise.
Stretching
Never stretch cold muscles. Stretching cold muscles can cause injury, and several studies have shown that
stretching cold muscles slightly decreases muscle strength and power for up to an hour after stretching. Warm
up first, then stretch. Or stretch after your workout. Visit the Benefits of Stretching
page for more information on stretching.
In conclusion, these aerobic exercise guidelines will help you develop an aerobic exercise program tailored
to your individual fitness needs and goals.
Recommended Resource
Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle shows you how to create a personalized fat loss
nutrition plan and how to use aerobic exercise and strength training in conjunction with it.
Read my review of Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle
Leave the Aerobic Exercise Guidelines page and return to the Benefits Of Aerobic Exercise page
Leave the Aerobic Exercise Guidelines page and return to the Home page
|
