When speaking of cardiovascular training or cardio we tend to think in terms of steady state cardio where you get on treadmill, bike or elliptical or 20+ minutes. Although that is one of the methods to the cardiovascular training, however, there are few others that can help improve your cardiovascular system.
As much as we want to push ourselves hard at every training session, we need to think about recovery from session to session just as with strength training. Training without proper recovery can results in overtraining and may lead to injuries and other complications. Therefore, by understanding different methods, you can vary the intensity level according to your condition.
It is also good to think of what energy system you are training. When it comes to strength training, there are maximum effort, tempo lifting, explosive repeat, repetition methods and so on. In cardiovascular training there are 3 different energy systems that you can train.
Understanding Aerobic Energy System
Focus of this article is exercising by utilizing the aerobic energy system. Energy source of this energy system is fat, muscle glycogen, and lactic acid. Depending on the workload of the exercise, which energy source would dominate will be different.
With this energy system the body can perform exercise for more than 2 minutes. Intensity level of the training need to be moderate where trainee can have conversation while exercising. Some of the exercise examples can be hiking, running, biking, jump rope, sled drag, basic calisthenics, and so on. Choice of exercise and workload can be varied based on your fitness level.
Training in Aerobic Energy System
This energy system training can be used for warm up as well as moderate level of cardiovascular training to improve usage of fat, muscle glycogen, and lactic acids. Aerobic energy system training can be divided into 2 major training methods.
First is steady state cardio where you perform exercise at certain pace for extended period. Steady state cardio has been spoke negatively, however, for recovery training, steady state cardio can be useful. One of the benefits is the body can learn how to use fat as energy source. Another benefit is because it is low impact and moderate intensity exercise, chance of injury is minimal. Type of exercises can be hike, walk, run, bike, row and so on. Workload should be moderate intensity and steady for 30-60 minutes. During the exercise you should be able to strike a conversation. If you are monitoring your heartrate, it should be around 70-80% of your maximum heartrate.
Second training method is the intervals. In this method you would increase intensity for 10-30 seconds followed by 30-60 seconds recovery. If you are monitoring your heartrate, target 80% of your maximum heartrate for 10-30 seconds and 70% of your maximum heartrate will be the 30-60 seconds recovery. You may repeat the intervals for 2-5 sets depending on your capabilities. Exercise you can use are walk, run, bike, rower, medicine ball exercises, calisthenics, kettlebell, battle rope and so on. When the body is at beyond limit, you’ll find your heartrate recovery to be slower. If this happens you may increase recovery time or reduce the intensity level of the exercise.
Aerobic energy system training can be done 1-3 times per week. Frequency can vary from fitness and recovery level of the individual.
Kota Shimada
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