Endurance Building Aerobic Exercise
Aerobic exercise increases your endurance, or cardiovascular conditioning, and is of long duration. Aerobic exercise will increase your fitness, which provides for maximum energy in your life.
An aerobic exercise, like jogging, gets rid of that run down feeling while improving your cardiovascular fitness.
Aerobics is, also, the form of physical exercise that most people should concentrate on first. A good aerobics workout will leave you feeling that you have labored with your heart beating faster and your breathing stimulated.
When first building up your endurance, everyone should always start out very slowly. Go for very low intensity workouts, which last for no longer than 20 minutes. Of course, for the older adult, 40-years-old or older, endurance building should NOT be tackled at all unless you already have been walking for ten minutes a day for at least three months.
You can measure exercise intensity with your heart rate. Aerobic exercise ideally is performed at 60-80% of your targeted maximum heart rate (i.e., your age subtracted from 220). As you start making progress, you should either occasionally take your own pulse, or wear a pulse rate wristwatch while working out. METS read outs on aerobic gym equipment, like treadmills, can also be used in lieu of pulse rate as a good measure of workout intensity. A 4 METS workout is a good place to start, with a maximum of 6 METS, for beginners.
As you start to progress, on the road to improved fitness, the question of how much is enough will eventually come up. The Natural Health Perspective recommends against running or jogging more than 4 miles a day. Forty-five minutes of aerobic exercise in one setting should be more than enough for anyone. Competing in marathon races is never recommended. You should only be competing against yourself while remembering our call for moderation in all things, including aerobics.
Low Impact Aerobic Workout
Common examples of aerobic activities include: aerobic dancing, basketball, bicycling, brisk walking, calisthenics, cross-country skiing, dancing, downhill skiing, hiking uphill, jogging, jumping rope, racquetball, roller skating, rowing, running in place, tennis, squash, stair climbing, stationary cycling, step exercise classes, swimming, and volleyball.
Aerobic dancing is very popular in the wellness movement, today. There are many different kinds of aerobic dance classes available to choose from that range from floor aerobics, step aerobics, dance workouts, muscle toning, to kick boxing. Simply find a style of aerobic dancing that agrees with you.
Please read our Exercise Disclaimer.
