Cardiovascular Exercises

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Hello world! How are you all doing at your various parts of the earth? I hope you're doing great. Speaking of which, today I would be talking about feeling great. Specifically, I want to share with us the deal about cardio exercises; what they are, why they are important and some exercises that fit into this category. I'm sure many of us have heard a lot about cardiovascular exercises, but it hit me recently that we may not know what it really is or why we should be doing it. Many will connect it with the heart from the name and think it is for people with heart issues or history of heart issues, I'm sorry to burst your bubble if you fall in that category. Cardiovascular exercises are very important for us all. I'll tell you why.

Definition

First, let me give a simple explanation of what cardiovascular exercises are - Cardiovascular exercises are activities that raise your heart rate to your target heart rate zone - safely put as; a level where you're working but can still talk. The intensity levels for cardio exercises differ and there are calculators to help you figure out your target heart rate zone. When you're carrying out cardio exercises, you should be able to still talk so if you can't make a sentence you're probably going to fast and need to slow down and if you have no difficulty at all in talking then you probably need to step it up. Cardio exercises increase the work of your heart and lungs so if your exercises are not doing this, you know you're not there.

Benefits  of Cardiovascular Exercises

There are various benefits of cardiovascular exercises, and after this "lecture", you all should better be doing some and staying healthy, as now, you know why you should. So, a little biology people; the heart is a muscle responsible for pumping blood, right? First key point here is MUSCLE. How do we get our muscles to be stronger? That's right, we exercise them! Cardiovascular exercises make our hearts stronger and when they are stronger, they are able to PUMP BLOOD (2nd key point) easily without stress (tautology?) . A strong cardiovascular system means more capillaries transporting more oxygen to cells in your body which in turn means your cells can burn more fat during exercise or even rest. Other benefits include:

• It increases your lung capacity
• It helps to reduce stress hence makes you sleep better
• It reduces the risk of heart attack
• It reduces  risk of high cholesterol level
• It reduces risk of high blood pressure
• It reduces risk of diabetes
• It burns calories and helps you lose weight
• It energizes your body
• It increases your bone density hence reducing risk of osteoporosis
• It brings relief from mood swings and depression
• It reduces risk of some type of cancers (breast cancer, colon cancer etc). Yes, it is this important.

You know you need at least one of these benefits, so just get on with it, will ya?

Cardiovascular Exercises

There are several exercises to strengthen your heart and get you feeling great but for the purpose of this post, I'll narrow it down to a few of them. If you need more, ask your gym instructor or do some research too :D. Please please please and please, remember to always start from low intensity before gradually increasing it and CHECK WITH YOUR DOCTOR to be certain you're healthy enough to handle the routines. 20-30 minutes of moderate physical cardio exercises most days of the week is recommended to stay healthy, however, if you want to lose weight as well, you may need to increase the intensity or the session (time).

• Using Gym Equipment (Treadmill, Elliptical trainer, Rowing machine, Cycling machine) - These are great work out equipment that will help raise your heart rate. Increasing intensity from time to time will help you achieve more, faster. Working on this for just a few minutes, will be as good as useless, your heart rate needs to be raised to about 50% of its maximum level, so get working and sweat some. The elliptical trainer is great as it involves both your lower and upper body parts, you'll get an all round effect and feel great.
• Running, Walking, Jogging- All of these are kind of in the same category, varying mostly in intensity. So, I suggest if you're just starting you could start from walking then jogging before you increase to running. Let your body get accustomed to the training before increasing intensity.
• Swimming- This is also a great choice as it involves your entire body doing some work
• Home Exercises- Skipping, Jumping Jacks, Jogging on a spot, Walking the stairs, Kick boxing, Bear crawls, Jump squats, Burpees, Mountain climber etc.

There are lots and lots of them, feel free to search for more and find out which best suits you. I know many have that idea that you don't need exercises because you look good already, I hope with serious strength that this post has made you realize otherwise and not just that, will push you to stay healthy so you look good and feel good for a long long time. I will be taking this as a challenge myself. If only I had more people to join me, it would be totally fun. Let's do this together please?  Don't forget to share your struggles, experiences, suggestions and all below. Love always.