Aerobic Exercise / Introduction to the Aerobic Exercise Program

Getting Started

Welcome to the Aerobic Exercise Program!
A successful exercise program involves frequent physical activity that is rhythmic, repetitive, challenges the circulatory system, and uses large muscles. The exercise program must significantly increase the blood flow to the muscles for an extended period of time, promoting cardiovascular fitness. Such exercises are called isotonic, dynamic, or aerobic. If you want to have a healthy heart, you need to perform aerobic exercise.

Aerobic activities really "get the blood pumping." As the heart beats faster, the blood circulates more quickly, delivering extra oxygen to the muscles. This builds strength, or cardiovascular fitness. Some recommended aerobic activities are walking, hiking, jogging, bicycling, swimming, jumping rope, and roller skating. Some forms of exercise, like weightlifting, can build muscle strength without building cardiovascular fitness.

All of the guess work has been taken out of exercise program and specific weekly exercise goals have been developed just for you. You can pick from a variety of exercises such as: walking, jogging, swimming, cycling, stationary bicycling, and cross training in a gym. Based on your level of fitness and exercise preference you can then pick the program best suited for you. Not only do we provide specific recommendations for duration and frequency of exercise but you can also find distance goals in our program. We also include numerous exercise tools such as the target heart rate calculator, activity calculator, and more. Don't wait another day to start the 12-week exercise program!

Before beginning any of our training programs please take a few minutes to read the following information. Before beginning any exercise program please consult with your physician.

What is aerobic or cardiovascular exercise?
One of the main components of a fitness program is aerobic or cardiovascular exercise. Aerobic and cardiovascular will be used interchangebly throughout the program. Aerobic exercise means with air. Your body needs more oxygen when you exercise which your lungs get through the air that you breathe.

Think of oxygen as the gas that you put in your car. You do not need nearly as much gas when your car is sitting at a stoplight compared to driving a car in the Indianapolis 500. Aerobic exercise is important in weight maintenance because you burn calories through continuously exercising at a moderate pace. Aerobic exercise generally involves using your big muscles including your back, chest, legs, and butt. Walking, jogging, running, swimming, bicycling, rowing, and stair climbing count as aerobic exercise. Movements that use smaller muscle groups like the wrists do no not count as aerobic exercise do not count.

What are the benefits of regular cardiovascular exercise?
The main benefit of cardiovascular training is that it strengthens your heart muscle and improves the efficiency of the heart, lungs, and circulatory system. However, there are numerous benefits to aerobic training. For example, if you regularly engage in aerobic exercise you can:

Warm-up
The warm-up functions to slowly increase your heart rate while warming up your muscles for the exercise that you are about to perform. If you do not warm-up you will fatigue more easily. It's a good idea to choose a warm-up that utilizes the same muscles that you will be using during your workout. If you are new to exercise make sure that you warm up a little longer. Often time's people skip their warm-up but this is setting you up for an injury. A proper warm-up helps to prevent injuries since it makes your muscles and joints more pliable and less likely to tear. A good rule of thumb is warming up for about 5-15 minutes of easy aerobic exercise.

Cool-down
Keep moving! The cool-down functions to slowly decrease your heart rate while redirecting blood flow back to normal. Your cool-down should last between 5 to 10 minutes. If you are jogging, just walk for another 5 minutes. If you are cycling, cycle slowly for about 5 minutes. Ultimately, the goal of the cool-down is to continue moving after your aerobic conditioning to prevent the blood from pooling in your lower extremities. Stopping too quickly can also place undue stress on your heart.

Stretching
Stretching is another key component for fitness; however, the best time to stretch is after you have warmed your muscles up. Stretching is very important in maintaining flexibility. As we age, our tendons begin to get tighter and shorter so stretching helps you to move about more easily.

Return to How to Have a Healthy Heart.

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