What constitutes as being the recommendation for “cardio exercise”?

Discussion in 'Health and Fitness' started by Greetings!, Feb 28, 2015.

  1. Greetings!

    Greetings! Valued Member

    Greetings friends,

    I think that it has been conveyed to me throughout the years that in order to maintain a healthy life style, that we as human beings are to periodically engage in “cardio exercise”. (?)

    If what I have just written in the preceding sentence above is not totally correct, then please feel free to correct me. :)

    Please allow me to confess up front that I am perhaps going on antiquated information. I therefore wish to “update myself”. Thus, if someone has the patience or diligence to respond to my 4 different questions below, I would be elated.

    1. In my somewhat limited knowledge regarding health and exercise, I recall several years ago how it always seemed to be conveyed to me, something along the lines, that one is to engage in a continuous or constant activity, be it jogging, running, or swimming, for at least 15 to 20 contiguous minutes (without any pause or rest during this 15 to 20 minutes), for 3 times per week. Is this still considered as being correct? Or, is this now considered antiquated information?

    2. If the above is correct, may I substitute, for instance, roller blading or bicycling, as one of the activities (instead of, for instance, jogging, running, or swimming) to be engaged in for 15 to 20 contiguous minutes?

    3. I enjoy swimming. However, I should qualify that statement. I am not crazy about, what I consider, somewhat boring, lap swimming. That is, I am not crazy about, for instance, where one is swimming, continuously or contiguously back and forth within the pool with absolutely no pause between laps, at a moderate to moderately slow pace, for several continuous minutes. Rather, I prefer, instead, to do interval swimming. For instance, I prefer to swim fast for a couple of lengths, where I am then subsequently extremely out of breath, and to then rest for a good minute or two until I have somewhat caught my breath again, and then to swim fast again for a couple of lengths. I’ll do this for, say, about 10 intervals, which will take me between 15 to 20 minutes to complete. Therefore, does this qualify as “15 to 20 minutes” of cardio as I have previously described in no. 1 above? I am not sure because what I have just described is not a contiguous or continuous 15 minutes of running without a pause, as I originally described in no. 1 above.

    4. If the answer to no. 3 above is “Yes”, then, likewise, can I employ this same thinking toward running? That is, rather than running for 15 to 20 continuous minutes at a moderate to moderately slow pace, I would, instead, run fast for a, say, ¼ mile, then rest a good minute or 2, and then run fast again for another ¼ mile. Then, after resting another minute or 2, run fast again for another ¼ mile, etc. If I were to keep up this interval training for running ¼ mile intervals (with 1 to 2 minutes of rest between each ¼ mile interval) for 15 to 20 minutes, does this then satisfy the requirement for cardio, even though it is not a contiguous or continuous 15 to 20 minutes of running without a pause?


    Thank you very much for any responses.

    The best to all,
    Greetings!
     
  2. Simon

    Simon Administrator Admin Supporter MAP 2017 Koyo Award

    I'm 50 this year and am now of the opinion that "activity" is what's required.

    In my 20s I trained very seriously. My food was weighed and calculated, periods of rest we adhered to, stretching was like a religion and now my mind has been changed.

    "What are you training for" ?

    If you're training for a fight your needs are going to be different for your 10K charity run needs.

    If you are looking to maintain health long term then I'd consider doing what kids do, but as adults we don't.

    Twist, squat, roll, jump, run, twist and so on.

    I'd argue an elderly gardener is in better shape than a martial artist who stopped training two years ago.

    Regular activity is what we need, so yes, running, swimming, cycling as are all good, but I would be cutting down on the rest periods.

    This thread has some information of fartlek running.

    I like to warm up for a mile, then sprint, walk, jog as follows:

    On the road chose lamp or sign posts. Jog as normal between the first two, then spring between the next two, then walk, then sprint and repeat.

    Off road I'd be running the same but choosing trees or bushes and marker points.
     
  3. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

    20minutes of constant activity that leads you to be slightly out of breath three times a week is uk government advice as the minimum you should do.

    I wouldn't base too much emphasis on it as the advice is geared towards avoiding cardiovascular issues in sendadary workers.
     
  4. narcsarge

    narcsarge Masticated Whey

    Here in the States our NFL is advising kids to "Play 60". Meaning 60 minutes of activity a day. I believe Simon gives a great summation for the OP's query. My belief is that effective "cardio" has something to do with heart rate over a given length of time. ;)
     
  5. Johnno

    Johnno Valued Member

    To address point 4, I think that any running will improve your cardio if you aren't already doing an equivalent amount of excercise. However, our bodies adapt fairly quickly, and so we need to keep 'pushing the boundaries' in order to improve our cardio fitness. That is where interval training is very good, because we should be pushing ourselves to exhaustion... and then doing it again... and again... etc.

    The intervals that you are suggesting sound a bit odd to me though, to be honest. I would try something like sprinting flat out for about thirty seconds (ideally running to a fixed point, because that's a lot easier than looking at your watch whil eyou are sprinting!) Then walk or jog slowly to get your breath back, but not for longer than a minute. Then run at a steady pace for about thirty seconds before breaking into another lung-bursting sprint. Repeat the process for at least forty minutes total duration.
     
    Last edited: Mar 1, 2015
  6. Tom bayley

    Tom bayley Valued Member


    He said fart. Ha Ha. :)
     
    Last edited: Mar 1, 2015
  7. Tom bayley

    Tom bayley Valued Member

    The general idea is to get the heart rate mildly elevated and to keep it elevated by exercise for a reasonable period of time. So 20 minutes continues light exercise. walking etc will help.

    For actual heart rates and such like it depends on age and initial level of fitness. The key to Cardio for good health is regularly raising the heart beat above the baseline, peak performance and maximum heart rate are not so important. Don't kill yourself doing it - because you can literally kill yourself by pushing too hard.
     
    Last edited: Mar 1, 2015
  8. icefield

    icefield Valued Member

    To answer question
    1) 20minutes three times a week is probably the minimum an active adult should do, aerobic training isn’t particularly taxing and wont distract too much from other activities so can really be done daily if you want to really depends on your goals
    2)the heart and lungs are dumb muscles in that they don’t care what you do to raise your heart rate and get yourself breathing harder, they just care you are doing it , so running, jogging, cycling, roller blading, band work, bodyweight stuff, or hell even a mix of all the above is fine
    3 and 4 )Yes that’s fine, Charlie Francis had his athletes do something similar to keep them aerobically fit, he had them run 15 sec intervals only going at 75% of their maximum, then rest a minute then go again, the key is to not go too hard
    Although the movement isn’t continues your heart rate will be elevated enough over the course of the workout to get the desired effect
     
  9. Greetings!

    Greetings! Valued Member

    Dear Simon, Fusen, Narcsarge, Johnno, Tom Bayley,

    Thank you very much for the information!

    Dear Icefield,

    I greatly appreciate you actually taking the time to nicely address each of my specific questions.

    The best to all,

    Greetings!
     

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