To increase your cardiorespiratory fitness level, you will need to develop an exercise program that uses the FITT principle. We had discussed the FITT principle before in class. When applied to cardiorespiratory exercise (cardio for short) it includes:
Frequency
Minimum of 3 days (sessions) per week up to 6 days per week. More than 6 days (sessions) you are really not increasing fitness levels that much more, only burning more calories. And if you exercise more than 6 days per week, this could lead you to Overtrain ("Glossary") and/or become injured.
Intensity
The technical definition of how hard (intensity) you should exercise is based on your target heart rate (THR) wherein THR = 65 to 90% of your age predicted maximal heart rate. Let us break that down a little bit. Your age predicted maximal heart is equal to how many times a minute your heart CAN beat based on your age. This is calculated using the following equation:
Age predicted Maximal Heart Rate = 220 - age
Not so hard. Now, if you are 20 years old, your age predicted maximal would be 220-20 or 200 beats per minute.
Then you take 200 beats/min and multiply that number by both 0.65 (for 65%) and 0.90 (for 90%). It would look like:
200 x 0.65 = 130 beats/min
200 x 0.90 = 180 beats/min
So if you want to change your cardio fitness level, when you workout, your heart rate needs to be between 130 and 180 beats/min if you are 20 years old. As you age, those numbers will change. If the heart rate is below 130 beats/min, you are not working out hard enough. If above 180 beats/min, you may be working too hard and could be overtraining.
Time
Minimum of 20 minutes of continuous exercise for your body to adapt to the exercise stress and become more fit. Above 60 minutes and you won't improve cardio fitness much and could be on the path to overtraining.
Type
Any type of activity that is continuous (at least 20 minutes) and involves large muscle groups (walking, jogging, swimming, elliptical machine, stair master, etc.).
VIDEO
For a short explanation of the FITT principle for Cardiorespiratory Training, watch this video.