Cardiovascular Fitness is basically your body's ability to bring fuel to the fire of life. Your body is much like an internal combustion engine. You too need fuel and oxygen to run. Your body stays a warm 98.6 degrees under most circumstances and burns the food you eat with oxygen to perform it's many functions. The degree to which you train and condition this system determines weather or not you get winded when you walk up a flight of stairs. It can also affect your ability to lift weights and resist certain diseases.
Your cardiovascular system consists of your heart, lungs and blood vessels. There are some other complicated anatomy terms that we won't discuss here, but the most important thing to know is...
Using specific training and exercise, you can improve the functioning of your Cardiovascular System - your heart, lungs and blood vessels.
The benefits of cardiovascular fitness include:
- maintaining a lower healthier body weight
- higher ability to do intense exercise
- lower resting heart rate
- larger stroke volume (your heart pumps more blood per beat!)
- increase in the number of capillaries i.e. blood flow to ones extremities
- greater capacity for your body to take in and absorb oxygen
- improved mood and feeling a sense of accomplishment
To have a decent or above average level of cardiovascular fitness one has to engage in activities that stress this system. Hence the term "cardio" or the phrase "today I'm doin' cardio". There are so many ways to improve this system's functioning I can only begin to list them here. The classic triathlon three would be swimming, biking and running. Most cardiovascular training activities involve large multi-joint movements and must be performed two and a half hours per week to see benefits.
Now for an example. Watch this video: A great routine for adding cardio to a strength training workout. Then give it a try!
