Design a Cardio Exercise Program

As we discussed in unit 1, your body adapts and improves when you work harder than you normally do. To improve your cardiovascular endurance, the best overload involves some kind of cardio exercise. Walking, jogging, swimming, and biking are common examples. Basically, cardio exercise is any activity that uses the large muscles of your body, gets your arms and legs swinging in rhythm, makes you work at a moderate-to-high intensity, and can be continued for a long time.

This part of the lesson goes over the FITT guidelines of cardio exercise—namely, the Frequency, Intensity, Time, and Type of exercise. Knowing this, along with what you’ll learn in the next section, will give you the information you need to design your own cardio exercise program.

Applying the FITT Guidelines

Frequency—How Often

The ACSM says to do at least three cardio workouts each week. You can still improve your cardiovascular endurance if you do less, but you probably won’t be as healthy or perform as well in athletics. The target for most people is to do three to five sessions of cardio exercise each week, while serious endurance athletes often go five or six times a week and those who want to lose extra body fat might exercise every day. Ultimately, how often you exercise depends on your goals and your overall physical condition.

To make sure you get enough rest, carefully space your workouts throughout the week. One option is to exercise every other day (on a Monday, Wednesday, and Friday or Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday schedule) or to fit in rest days when you need them the most. Table 1-7 highlights the FITT guidelines for cardio exercise (ACSM, 2006).

Table 1-7
Cardio Exercise Guidelines
F = Frequency (how often) at least 3 times a week
I = Intensity (how hard)

Intensity—How Hard

If good health is your main goal, you can choose to exercise at a medium or high intensity, depending on what you like to do. Working anywhere within this “training zone” is good, but you don’t necessarily have to exercise at a hard pace to improve your health. A medium intensity works just fine. That’s why many health-conscious people stick with a medium, “somewhat hard” pace that can be done for a long time and doesn’t cause too much fatigue.

On the other hand, if you’re an athlete you’ve got to exercise across the continuum—at a moderate, hard, and very hard pace. That means some of your workouts will be long and slow while other will be short and fast. As you train you’ll get to know exactly how hard to work and how to adjust your exercise intensity to give you the overload you want.

To get started, let’s go over three methods to fine-tune your intensity:

  1. Listen to your body. You can usually exercise at the right pace by noticing how you feel inside. In 1982, a fitness expert came up with a useful “difficulty rating” (see Table 1-8) that ranges from a resting score of 6 to a maximum score of 20 (Borg, 1982). The idea behind it is to exercise at a level (or number) that corresponds with how you feel inside. For example, a medium difficulty equals about 12 to 14, which feels “somewhat hard,” while a vigorous pace equals 15 or 16 or a “hard” intensity.
Table 1-8
Exercise Difficulty Rating
Difficulty Rating Difficulty Level
6 No effort at all
7 Extremely light
8
9 Very light
10
11 Light
12
13 Somewhat hard
14
15 Hard
16
17 Very hard
18
19 Extremely hard
20 Maximum effort
  1. Notice how fast you breathe. If you exercise at a medium pace, your breathing rate goes up but not drastically. You are in control and can easily talk with a friend if you want to. You don’t feel breathless or winded. Your pace is “somewhat hard” and you feel like you can go on indefinitely without getting overly tired. But, as you go faster and faster you get to a point when you begin to breathe really fast. It’s when you begin to “huff and puff” that you know you’re getting close to your max. You usually begin to breathe extra fast when your blood has too many waste products (carbon dioxide, lactic acid) and powerful hormones (adrenalin) in it. The fast breathing is a sign that you are working above what your cardiovascular system can handle. It also means you’ll have to slow down soon.
  2. Measure your heart rate. A third way to tell how hard you are working is to measure your heart rate during cardio exercise. A comfortable pace usually causes the heart to beat between 60 and 75 percent of your maximum heart rate (HRmax, see Table 1-91). For most young people this equals a heart rate between 120 and 150 beats per minute. A fast, hard pace usually causes the heart to beat between 75 and 90 percent of your HRmax, which corresponds to exercise heart rate somewhere between 150 and 185 beats per minute. An exercise difficulty rating of 12 to 16 usually matches up with an exercise heart rate of about 60 to 90 percent of your HRmax. The most convenient way to check your exercise heart rate is to use an electronic heart rate monitor, which includes a thin chest strap that goes around your lower chest and a wrist-watch that shows your heart rate. Heart rate monitors are a very accurate and an easy way to get a direct measurement of your heart rate during exercise.
Table 1-9
Cardio Exercise—Heart Rate Estimations
Age Maximal Heart Rate 2 60% 65% 70% 75% 80% 85% 90%
15 205 123 133 144 154 164 174 185
20 200 120 130 140 150 160 170 180
25 195 117 127 137 146 156 166 176
30 190 114 123 133 143 152 162 171
35 185 111 120 130 139 148 157 167
40 180 108 117 126 135 144 153 162
45 175 105 114 123 131 140 149 158
50 170 102 110 119 128 136 145 153
55 165 99 107 116 124 132 140 149
60 160 96 104 112 120 128 136 144

You can also measure your heart rate by taking your pulse. To do this, exercise for about three to five minutes, slow down, and then gently feel your pulse along your wrist (below your thumb) or along your neck (just to the side your Adam’s apple). Count the number of beats you feel for ten seconds, and then multiply this number by six to convert it into beats per minute (see Table 1-10).

Table 1-10
Converting Pulse Counts to Heart Rates
10-Second Pulse Count Beats per Minute 10-Second Pulse Count Beats per Minute
10 60 21 126
11 66 22 132
12 72 23 138
13 78 24 144
14 84 25 150
15 90 26 156
16 96 27 162
17 102 28 168
18 108 29 172
19 114 30 180
20 120

Time—How Long

As a guide, the ACSM says cardio workouts should last twenty minutes or more. If you are just beginning and out of shape you should start easy and keep your exercise time to a minimum (depending on how often and how hard you go). As your body adapts and improves, you can increase the length of your exercise session.

You have some latitude in how you design your program. Cardiovascular endurance improves by either exercising at a medium intensity for a longer time or exercising at a high intensity for a shorter time. As one variable goes up, the other can come down. For example, running for twenty to thirty minutes at 80 percent of maximum gives you about the same results as jogging for forty to fifty minutes at 60 percent of maximum. So, it’s fine to adjust the time and intensity of your exercise based on what’s best for you.

If you’re an endurance athlete, the total amount of time and effort you put in has to be a lot more than what other people do. You have to push the upper limits. For you, doing several hours of cardio exercise each week is the norm. Also, because you are already in great shape, you’ve got to put in more effort than other people to see even small improvements in your endurance performance.

Type—Exercise Choices

There are all kinds of cardio exercises you can choose from (see Table 1-11). The ones that improve your endurance performance the most are those that use your large muscles, get your arms and legs to swing in rhythm, require you to work at a medium to hard intensity, and keep you moving with few rest periods. Here are some quick tips to help you choose the best ones for you:

  1. Pick fun stuff to do. Go for those activities and sports that appeal to you. If you like doing it, you’ll probably stick with it. When it’s fun, time flies; when it’s boring, everything seems to drag. Make your exercise program a blast!
  2. Keep things convenient. Choose activities that are accessible and easy for you to do. If you have to drive across town, buy a bunch of expensive equipment, or depend too much on others in order to exercise, you’ll probably have a hard time sticking with your program. Instead, keep your day-to-day exercise choices simple and convenient.
  3. See the advantages. Some cardio exercises are better than others at improving your cardiovascular endurance. Give preference to those that keep you moving and make you use your whole body (see Table 1-11). Remember, though, that any type of physical activity is beneficial and is better than doing nothing.
  4. Be careful. Choose activities that match up with you and your body. What might be safe for you might be unsafe for someone else. Be careful when doing high-impact exercise, like running and basketball, since these are harder on your knees or ankles. On the other hand, low-impact exercise, such as biking, swimming, or water aerobics are usually easier on your joints. Be smart and always choose the safest exercises for your body.
  5. Do what is best for you. If you are an athlete, you don’t have a lot of leeway in what cardio exercises you can choose from. The best way to really get good at your sport or activity is to do it over and over. This is the principle of specificity. You have to train like you are going to perform. But you should still have as much fun as you can, keep things convenient, be positive, and avoid injuries.
Table 1-11 Cardio Exercise Options
Great Choices
aerobic dance hiking rugby
backpacking hockey, ice or roller skating, ice or roller
badminton, competitive jogging soccer
basketball, full court karate, competitive squash, competitive
bicycling lacrosse swimming
cross-country skiing orienteering tennis, competitive
field hockey racquetball, competitive walking, brisk
frisbee, ultimate rope skipping wrestling
handball, competitive rowing
Good Choices
ballet (floor combinations) golf (without motorized cart) surfing (including swimming)
ballroom dancing horseback riding table tennis, competitive
canoeing and kayaking judo volleyball, competitive
fencing modern dance water-skiing
folk and square dancing rock climbing
football, touch skiing, alpine
Better than Nothing
baseball
bowling
golf (with motorized cart)
sailing
yoga

1 Source: Adapted from the American College of Sports Medicine, 2006.