Instagram December 19 2021
Cardiovascular training
If our heart and lungs undergo repeated periods of stress that we can recover from then, like our other muscles, our heart will adapt to the change. The adaptations we see are the heart being able to increase its rate of contractions without a noticeable fatigue and the heart getting better at increasing contractile pressure. This means it can squeeze a higher blood volume through its chambers per heart beat.
Training this also influences what the heart does at rest. If it can squeeze more blood through the body during resting contractions then it doesn’t have to squeeze as many times. We see this as a reduced resting heart rate. The whole system has become more efficient.
How much cardio training is needed to see a difference is dependent on the starting capabilities of the individual. The less trained the cardio system is, the less stimulus is needed to create some change. In my experience, to maintain a healthy cardio system takes less time and effort than the public thinks we need. We don’t have to train for a marathon for a healthy heart and lungs. The two factors to train would be how high your heart rate gets and for how long you keep it at that pace. I myself try to do a 20-30 minute walk twice, but sometimes once a week, where my heart rate is around 115 or 120 beats per minute (BPM). If you don’t have any method of reading your heart rate, a tool I use to find out if the cardio is challenging enough to stimulate an adaptation is below.
Level 6: You can maintain a conversation without difficulty (heart rate is up but not very much) Sometimes this is all a person can tolerate so start here if that is the case.
Level 7: You can talk to someone but not in full articulated sentences (Heart rate is high enough to challenge you.) Power walking can get most of us here.
Level 8: You cannot talk more than a word or two at a time. (High heart rate)
Level 9: No talking, just movement
Level 10: Maximum sprint
These levels are based on a scale trainers use called RPE. We will talk more about cardiovascular training later and stay tuned for a post in the future about tools of self monitoring. Thanks for reading and Stay Strong!
If our heart and lungs undergo repeated periods of stress that we can recover from then, like our other muscles, our heart will adapt to the change. The adaptations we see are the heart being able to increase its rate of contractions without a noticeable fatigue and the heart getting better at increasing contractile pressure. This means it can squeeze a higher blood volume through its chambers per heart beat.
Training this also influences what the heart does at rest. If it can squeeze more blood through the body during resting contractions then it doesn’t have to squeeze as many times. We see this as a reduced resting heart rate. The whole system has become more efficient.
How much cardio training is needed to see a difference is dependent on the starting capabilities of the individual. The less trained the cardio system is, the less stimulus is needed to create some change. In my experience, to maintain a healthy cardio system takes less time and effort than the public thinks we need. We don’t have to train for a marathon for a healthy heart and lungs. The two factors to train would be how high your heart rate gets and for how long you keep it at that pace. I myself try to do a 20-30 minute walk twice, but sometimes once a week, where my heart rate is around 115 or 120 beats per minute (BPM). If you don’t have any method of reading your heart rate, a tool I use to find out if the cardio is challenging enough to stimulate an adaptation is below.
Level 6: You can maintain a conversation without difficulty (heart rate is up but not very much) Sometimes this is all a person can tolerate so start here if that is the case.
Level 7: You can talk to someone but not in full articulated sentences (Heart rate is high enough to challenge you.) Power walking can get most of us here.
Level 8: You cannot talk more than a word or two at a time. (High heart rate)
Level 9: No talking, just movement
Level 10: Maximum sprint
These levels are based on a scale trainers use called RPE. We will talk more about cardiovascular training later and stay tuned for a post in the future about tools of self monitoring. Thanks for reading and Stay Strong!