Cardio Workouts
How Hard Do I Work Out?
It's important to find the right balance between working out too hard and not hard enough. For maximum efficiency when trying to burn fat or increase your cardiovascular ability, you should workout while maintaining a percentage of your maximum heart rate (number of beats per minute).
Your optimum target heart rate for exercise - which is like the speed you drive your car at for optimum fuel economy - can be found with this formula:
- 220 minus your age
- Then exercise at 60 - 75% of this number
A lot of fitness machines have this feature built-in. This is also about the level of exertion where you can still talk half-decently well.
Your heart rate is constantly reset by your body depending upon how in shape you are. The less in shape you are, the less you have to do to hit this target. The more in shape you get, the more you have to do to hit this target. Your body will always be moving this target to keep you motivated.
Why Indoor Cardio?
Why would you want to do an indoor cardio workout? There are obvious reasons like avoiding inclement weather, being able to watch the children and/or TV at the same time, having a convenient location and privacy.
There are also the results you can get versus running or walking outside:
- You get precise measurements of distance, speed and effort
- You can measure progress more accurately
- You reduce chances of injury and falls
Plus, cardio machines offer some more benefits than working out outside:
- Can have uphill and downhill sections like outside
- Can have more cushion than a road
- The treadmill helps move your feet, while the road does not. But that means there's less effort on a treadmill at the same speed, so you need to increase the treadmill speed by about 5% to match the effort required when running on the ground
Category: Your Fitness Resource
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cardio
Workouts
