Maximizing
Cardiorespiratory Fitness
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The number one reason people begin exercising is to improve
their physical appearance—to decrease body fat and develop
firm, well-toned muscles.
They find that these benefits are only the beginning.
Cardiorespiratory endurance plays an important role in
developing physical fitness and wellness.
There are a number of physiological (cardiorespiratory, body
composition, and metabolic) and psychological (mental and
emotional) health benefits that are yours in return for a small
investment of time and effort.
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A variety of exercise programs and recreational
activities can enhance health and fitness. Nearly
everyone can find one or two activities that are
satisfying and enjoyable.
We will focused on the many benefits that can
be gained from cardiorespiratory endurance, the
prescription factors for fitness, and information
about a variety of lifetime exercise activities to
get you started on the path to a richly enjoyable
health span.
CARDIORESPIRATORY ENDURANCE AND
MAXIMAL OXYGEN UPTAKE
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Cardiorespiratory endurance often is
expressed in terms of your maximal
oxygen uptake (VO2max or aerobic
capacity), the greatest amount of
oxygen that can be used by the body
during intense exercise.
Energy for physical activity and body
processes is produced by burning fuel
in the presence of oxygen.
During exercise, the ability of the
body to utilize oxygen and remove
waste products depends on the
efficient functioning of the
cardiorespiratory system, which
includes the heart, blood vessels,
lungs, and muscles.
When a person exercises, the working
muscles demand more oxygen and
nutrients and the heart must work
harder to keep up with the demand.
CARDIORESPIRATORY ENDURANCE
AND MAXIMAL OXYGEN UPTAKE
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The demand for oxygen increases in direct proportion to the
intensity of exercise. VO2max is determined partly by genetics and
partly by training.
As fitness improves, many factors contribute to greater VO2max.
The heart is a muscle and, like any muscle, grows stronger with
training.
A fit, trained heart can pump more oxygenated blood to exercising
muscles than an unfit heart can.
Cardiorespiratory training increases both stroke volume, the volume
of blood pumped per heartbeat, and cardiacoutput, the volume of
blood pumped per minute. Similarly, trained skeletal muscles can
utilize oxygen and nutrients delivered by the blood to produce energy
more efficiently than untrained muscles can.
Ventilation and blood flow to the lungs improve. Blood flow of the
muscles improves. Muscle cells become more efficient at extracting
oxygen and producing energy for muscular contraction.
Waste products are removed more efficiently. VO2max determines
how intensely and how long you can perform aerobic exercise and is
considered one of the best overall indicators of physiological wellbeing.
While natural cardiorespiratory endowment may vary among
individuals, with training, maximal oxygen uptake can improve 20 to
30 percent, depending on pretraining status and the frequency,
intensity, and duration of training.
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Beneficial physiological changes persist as long as
aerobic training continues, but inactivity produces
physical decline.
If training stops, VO2max returns to pretraining
levels within a few months.
With aging, aerobic capacity decreases about 1
percent per year after age 25.
This decline is related closely to decreasing levels of
activity rather than to simply growing older.
Declines in VO2max may be slowed dramatically by
those who exercise across the lifetime.
Benefits of Aerobic Exercise
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Cardiorespiratory Benefits:
1. Lower resting heart rate
2. Increased stroke volume (the amount of blood pumped out of the heart with each
beat), improving heart efficiency.
3. Increased rest for the heart between beats due to slower resting heart rate and
increased stroke volume
4. Increased oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood due to the greater supply of red
blood cells and hemoglobin; greater endurance in exercising muscles due to increased
energy and improved elimination of waste products
5. Improved exercise performance on timed tests due to more efficient use of oxygen
6. Possible reduction in blood pressure
7. Improved blood lipid profile by increasing the number of protective high-density
lipoproteins (HDLs)
8. Quicker recovery to resting heart rate after vigorous exercise due to improved
cardiac efficiency
9. Possible regression of atherosclerosis
10. Fewer illnesses and deaths due to coronary hear disease
Body Composition/Physical Appearance Benefits:
1. Reduced body fat percentage
2. Increased lean body mass
3. Firmer, more toned muscles
Psychological Benefits:
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1. Enhanced sense of well-being and self-esteem, resulting in
increased energy, alertness, and vitality
2. Increased sense of self-discipline due to the determination
needed to stick to an exercise program
3. Reduced state of anxiety and mental tension, thereby
increasing stress coping ability
4. Improved quality of sleep; sleep soundly and wake up
refreshed
5. Decreased level of mild to moderate depression
6. Improved mental acuity, learning, and memory
7. Feeling of relaxation
The psychological benefits are very rewarding and are often the
main reason people keep exercising. More detail on these and
other benefits of cardiorespiratory fitness follows.
Improved Mental Health
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People who exercise regularly
report improved mood, higher selfconfidence and self-esteem, and
less stress compared with
nonexercisers.
Research indicates that aerobic
exercise also can enhance
psychological well-being by
reducing depression and anxiety.
The best results were obtained
after several weeks of regular
exercise, with more vigorous
exercise, and in those who were
high in anxiety or depression to
begin with.
While it may not work for
everyone and we can't say exactly
how much exercise is
Improved Cognitive Function
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The human brain gradually loses tissue from age 30 onward, and
this is reflected in gradual declines in cognitive function.
Cardiorespiratory fitness has been associated with preservation
of cognitive function in healthy adults.
One study that followed subjects for 10 years indicated that
middle-aged aerobic exercisers compared with sedentary
individuals have a significantly slower rate of memory decline
and better memory performance. In subjects over 55, the
positive effect of exercise was greatest on the "executive control"
functions of judgment, planning, and the coordination of actions
to achieve a goal.
In elderly subjects age 60 to 76, 2 months of aerobic training
significantly improved cognitive test scores, and the effect was
equal to 2 months of mental training.
Improved Cognitive Function
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While we do not know exactly how this occurs,
exercise does increase blood flow to the brain,
which in turn can promote brain cell growth.
Studies from the Institute for Brain Aging and
Dementia suggest that exercise can increase
levels of brain growth factors, stimulate neuron
growth, and maintain brain function and
plasticity, thus improving learning and mental
performance.
Improved Sleep
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Many studies support the positive effects of
exercise on sleep. In studies of individuals who
exercised aerobically, exercisers went to sleep
more quickly, slept longer, and had a more
restful sleep than did those who did not exercise
Immune System Function
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Those who participate in regular moderate
exercise enjoy enhanced levels of well-being,
including fewer colds and minor respiratory
infections compared with sedentary peers.
Avoid overtraining, however, as exercising to
exhaustion can weaken immune system
function.
Improved Body Composition and
Weight Management
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Regular endurance exercise burns excess calories and can help
maintain muscle mass and reduce excess body fat.
Increasing levels of overweight and obesity in the world at all age
levels may be due as much to decreased physical activity as to
increased caloric intake.
For this reason, 60 minutes of vigorous physical activity daily is
recommended for weight management.
Even if exercise does not reduce body fat significantly, research
indicates that those who exercise regularly significantly reduce
the risk of chronic diseases compared with sedentary individuals.
Reduced Risk of Chronic Diseases
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Cardiorespiratory fitness can reduce the risk of developing several chronic
diseases. For those who already have one of these diseases, a carefully
monitored aerobic program is often recommended as a part of treatment to
improve health and physiological resilience.
Cardiovascular Disease Cardiorespiratory exercise reduces the risk of having
cardiovascular disease and the risk of dying from it.
Cardiovascular disease does not develop suddenly in middle age. It begins
much earlier, in the teens and twenties, and continues to progress silently for
many years.
Young adults can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease by developing a
habit of regular exercise and managing the other risk factors.
High Blood Pressure Exercise prevents or delays the development of high
blood pressure, which is associated with the risk of stroke, kidney failure, and
coronary heart disease.
Type 2 Diabetes
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Regular aerobic exercise is associated with a lower risk
of developing Type 2 diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes is associated with the risk of several
chronic diseases that can make one's life miserable and
shorten one's life span.
Exercise helps prevent obesity, which is related to the
onset of diabetes.
It burns excess blood sugar and increases cells'
sensitivity to insulin, which helps regulate blood sugar.
For those with diabetes, exercise is an important
adjunct to other treatments.
Cancer
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Exercise is associated with a lower risk of certain
types of cancer. This may be due to increased
intestinal motility, which decreases contact time
between potential carcinogens and the intestinal
wall. It also may be due in part to improved
immune system function.
Osteoarthritis.
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Osteoarthritis is most common at weight bearing joints such as
the hips, knees, and ankles and is exacerbated by increased
weight on those joints.
Exercise maintains the strength of the muscles that surround and
support the joints and helps maintain normal joint function.
For those who have osteoarthritis, regular exercise such as
walking is recommended for maintenance of normal joint
function and reduction of excess body fat.
Osteoporosis is another disease that has its beginning in the
teens and twenties with inadequate exercise and eating habits.
Weight-bearing exercise such as running, walking, and aerobics
can decrease the risk of osteoporosis by building optimal bone
mass in young adults and in slowing its loss with age.
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The benefits of aerobic fitness can enhance
health and well-being across the life span. They
can be gained by following the FITT
prescription for cardiorespiratory fitness.
THE FITT PRESCRIPTION FOR
CARDIORESPIRATORY FITNESS
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Cardiorespiratory fitness development involves
four FITT factors:
Frequency,
Intensity,
Time,
Type of exercise
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Intensity of effort is
directly reflected by
exercise pulse rate and is
perhaps the most
important factor in
gaining training effect
benefits from your
exercise program.
You must put in enough
effort to force the body
to adapt and produce
fitness improvements.
There are three ways to judge intensity: target heart
rate, rate of perceived exertion, and the talk test.
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Target Heart Rate: Karvonen Equation
To determine your target heart rate (THR) range
for cardiorespiratory exercise, we will use the
Karvonen equation, which takes into account your
age and resting heart rate (RHR)
Karvonen, a Finnish researcher, discovered that the
heart rate during exercise must be raised by at least 60
percent of the difference between resting and maximal
heart rates (called the heart rate reserve, HRR) to gain
cardiorespiratory fitness. An adequate upper intensity is
80 percent of HRR.
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Exercise heart rates
differ by age. For most
young adults, a THR is in
the range of 140 to 170
beats per minute, but for
older adults, a rate of 120
to 140 beats per minute
may be adequate.
Estimated target heart rate range (based on RHR of 70 bpm)
How Long Before Results Become
Apparent?
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This varies with the individual. Within the first few exercise
sessions, many people report that they feel better.
Measurable differences such as decreased heart rate and
improved aerobic fitness can occur within 8 to 12 weeks.
The key is staying with the exercise program. Studies indicate
that over 50 percent of adults who start an exercise program quit
within the fits 3 to 6 months.
Regular exercisers focus on the positive benefits of exercise,
reminding themselves how good they feel after exercise, and pat
themselves on the back for making progress.
So how do you stay with an exercise program long enough to
experience the benefits of the training effect?
Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE)
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This method uses a scale developed by Gunnar Borg.
Borg discovered that exercisers are able to "sense" their exercise intensity
levels.
He found that the RPE scale correlated with heart rate. Borg found that the
descriptive words in the right column closely paralleled the heart rate of the
exerciser, which is illustrated by the numbers in the left column.
To develop fitness, exercisers should feel the effort is "Somewhat hard" to
"Hard," or 12 to 16 on the Borg Scale.
It is helpful to cross-check your heart rate with your perceived rating when
you first begin to use this method.
Experienced exercisers can use RPE to determine if they are in their target
HR zone and adjust the exercise intensity accordingly.
This is a safe and accurate way to monitor exercise intensity anywhere,
anytime without using a stopwatch.
Target Heart Rate: Percentage of
Maximal Heart Rate
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An old method of determining the target heart rate
used a straight percentage of the maximal heart rate.
The ACSM recommends using 70 to 90 percent of an
individual's maximal heart rate to set exercise intensity.
For example, if a person's estimated maximal pulse was
200, the target heart rate range would be 140 (200 X .7)
to 180 (200 X .90) beats per minute. Its advantage is
that it is simple to compute. The drawback of this
method is that is does not take resting pulse into
account.
LIFETIME EXERCISE ACTIVITIES
TOP LIST
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Aerobic dance
(Including Step Aerobics, Slide
Training,and Spinning)
Slide Training
Spinning (or Fit Ride)
Fitness swimming
Fitness walking
indoor exercise equipment
(Including Stationary Bikes,
Steppers, Treadmills, Ski
Machines, Rowing Machines,
and Elliptical Trainers)
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Step Aerobics
Bicycling
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IN-LINE SKATING
JOGGING
WATER
EXERCISE/AQUA
AEROBICS
Thank you for attention