- Exercise For Your Health
- Plan Three: Endurance
To improve your endurance, otherwise
known as cardiovascular fitness or exercise tolerance, exercise
must use oxygen or be "aerobic."
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Important Points:
- It must use the large muscles
of the arms or legs.
- It must feel like moderate work,
with faster breathing and more heartbeats each minute.* (see
last page)
- It must occur regularly at least
three times each week.
- It must be continuous for 20
minutes, not including warm-up and cool-down.
Endurance Exercise
Choose an exercise that is convenient
and enjoyable, and start now.
A good 6-week starter program
of aerobic exercise is described here that will work for dancing,
walking, biking, swimming, stepping, or whatever you choose.
Remember to warm up and cool down, and don't increase your level
more than once each week to allow the body to adapt to your new
level of activity. |
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Weeks 1 and 2
Exercise continuously for 15 minutes three times each week, not
focusing on distance or speed. Simply work on getting your time
in while maintaining a steady pace and breathing deeply.
Week 3
Exercise for 20 minutes, three times this week. The exercise
should feel like mild work, making you breathe deeply and feel
warm. After 10 minutes, check your pulse if you can.
It should be at about 60 percent
of your predicted maximum heart rate.* Speed up or slow down
if necessary to keep your heart rate at this level.
Week 4
Exercise for 25 minutes, three times this week. The exercise
should feel like moderate work and make you feel warm. You should
be able to carry on a conversation without becoming more than
slightly short of breath. Slow down if you cannot. Aim for 60-70
percent of your maximum predicted heart rate.*
Week 5
Exercise for 30 minutes, three times this week. The exercise
should feel like moderate work, as described previously. Aerobic
activity begins to burn fat and cholesterol after 20 minutes.
Week 6
Exercise for 35 minutes, three times this week. The exercise
should feel like moderately heavy work, and you can aim for 70-75
percent of your maximum predicted heart rate if it feels good.
If one of your goals of exercise is weight loss, 5 days of aerobic
exercise for 35 minutes or more is recommended. After 6 weeks,
you can either gradually increase exercise time to 45 or 60 minutes
or increase the pace within the 35-minute time frame.
* A target heart range is a guide
for some people to check the effect of endurance exercise. It
is 60-80 percent of the predicted (average, usual) maximum heart
rate of people in a certain age group. You can use a chart to
find a target heart range for your age group, unless you are
taking heart or blood pressure medication or have other health
problems. Remember, the best guide is how you feel!
To determine your heartbeats
per minute, you will have to find and count your pulse. Stop
exercise briefly, and quickly follow these instructions. It will
take some practice!
To find your heart rate (beats/minute):
- Immediately after exercising,
place the tip of your third finger lightly over the blood vessel
in your neck located to the left or right of your Adam's apple,
or place it on your wrist just below the base of your thumb.
- Count the beats you feel for
10 seconds.
- Multiply the number of beats
by 6 to determine beats per minute.
- If your pulse is below your
target heart range, exercise a little harder next time. If you
are above your target heart range, exercise a little less vigorously.
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Activity |
Calories Burned Per Hour |
Bicycling 6 mph
Bicycling 12 mph
Jogging 5.5 mph
Jogging 7 mph
Jumping rope
Running in place
Running 10 mph
Skiing (cross-country)
Swimming 25 yds/min
Swimming 50 yds/min
Tennis (singles)
Walking 2 mph
Walking 4 mph |
240
410
740
920
750
650
1,280
700
275
500
400
240
440 |
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Source: American Heart Association
and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
- 1 Plan One: Flexibility
- 2 Plan Two: Strength
- 3 Plan three: Endurance
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