DEVELOPING A CARDIO RESPIRATORY FITNESS PROGRAM

For people of all ages, cardio respiratory conditioning can be achieved through many activities.  As long as the activity you choose places sufficient demand on the heart and lungs, improved fitness is possible.  In addition to the familiar activities of swimming, running, cycling, and aerobic dance, many people today are participating in brisk walking, rollerblading, cross-country skiing, swimnastics, skating, rowing, and even weight training (often combined with some form of aerobic activity).  Regardless of age or physical limitations, you can select from a variety of enjoyable activities that will condition the cardio respiratory system.

Many people think that any kind of physical activity will produce cardio respiratory fitness. 

Golf, bowling, hunting, fishing, and archery are considered to be forms of exercise.  If performed regularly and sufficient periods of time, they may enhance your health.  However, they do not meet the requirements to be called exercise and would not necessarily lead to improved physical fitness.  The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), the nation’s premier professional organization of exercise physiologists and sport physicians has well-accepted guidelines for exercise training.

The ACSM’s most recent recommendations for achieving cardio respiratory fitness were released in 1998 and include four major areas: (1) mode of activity, (2) frequency of training, (3) intensity of training, and (4) duration of training.  ACSM has also made recommendations for muscular fitness and flexibility training.  These recommendations are summarized in the following sections.  You may wish to compare your existing fitness program with these standards.

Mode of Activity

The ACSM recommends that the mode of activity be any continuous physical activity that uses large muscle groups  and can be rhythmic and aerobic in nature.  Among the activities that generally meet this requirement are continuous swimming, cycling, aerobics, basketball, cross-country skiing, rollerblading, step training (bench aerobics), hiking, walking, rowing, stair climbing, dancing, and running.  Recently, water exercise (water or aqua aerobics) has become a popular fitness mode, since it is especially effective for pregnant women and elderly, injured, or disabled people.

Endurance games and activities, such as tennis, racquetball, and basketball, are fine as long as you and your partner are skilled enough to keep the ball in play; walking after the ball will do very little for you.  Riding a bicycle is a god activity if you keep pedaling.  Coasting will do little to improve fitness.  Softball and football are generally less than sufficient continuous activities – especially the way they are played by weekend athletes.

Regardless of which continuous activity you select, it should also be enjoyable.  Running, for example, is not for everyone – despite what some accomplished runners say! Find an activity you enjoy.  If you need others around you to have a good time, get a group of friends to join you.  Vary your activities to keep you from becoming bored.  You might cycle in the summer, run in the fall, swim in the winter, and play racquetball in the spring.  To help you maintain your fitness program.

Frequency of Training

Frequency of training refers to the number of times per week a person should exercise.  The ACSM recommends three to five times per week.  For most people, participation in fitness activities more than five times each week does not significantly further improve their level of conditioning.  Likewise, an average of only two workouts each week does not seem to produce a measurable improvement in cardio respiratory conditioning.  Thus, although you may have a lot of fun cycling twice each week, do not expect to see significant improvement in your cardio respiratory fitness level from doing so.

Intensity of Training

How much effort should you put into an activity? Should you run quickly, jog slowly, or swim at a comfortable pace? Must a person sweat profusely to become fit? These questions all refer to intensity of effort.

The ACSM recommends that healthy adults exercise at an intensity level of between 65% and 90% of their maximum heart rate (calculated by subtracting your age from 220).  This level of intensity is called the target heart rate (THR).  This rate refers to the minimum number of times your heart needs to contract (beat) each minute to have a positive effect on your heart, lungs, and blood vessels.  This improvement is called the training effect.  Intensity of activity below the THR will be insufficient to make a significant improvement in your fitness level.

Although intensity below the THR will still help you expend calories and thus lose weight, it will probably do little to make you more aerobically fit.  On other hand, intensity that is significantly above your THR will probably cause you to become so fatigue that you will probably cause you to become so fatigue that you will be forced to stop the activity before the training effect can be achieved.  For persons who are quite unfit, the 1998 ACSM recommendations permit intensity levels as low as 55%.

Choosing a particular THR between 65% and 90% of your maximum heart rate depends on your initial level of cardio respiratory fitness.  If you are already in relatively good physical shape, you might want to start exercising at 75% of your maximum heart rate.  A well-conditioned person needs select a higher THR for his or her intensity level, whereas a person with a low cardio respiratory fitness level will still be able to achieve a training effect at a lower THR of 65% of maximum.

In the accompanying Star box, the younger person would need to participate in a continuous activity for an extended period while working at a THR of 160 beats per minute.  The older person would need to function at a THR of 117 beats per minute to achieve a positive training effect.

Determining your heart rate is not a complicated procedure.  Find a location on your body where an artery passes near the surface of the skin.  Pulse rates are difficult to determine by touching veins, which are more superficial than arteries.  Two easily accessible sites for determining heart rate are the carotid artery (one on either side of the windpipe at the front of your neck) and the radial artery (on the inside of your wrist, just above the base of the thumb).

You should practice placing the front surface of your index and middle fingertips at either of these locations and feeling for a pulse.  Once you have found a regular pulse, look at the second hand of a watch.  Count the number of beats you feel in a 10-second period.  Multiply this number by 6.  This number is your heart rate.  With a little practice, you can become very proficient at determining your heart rate.

Duration of Training

The ACSM recommends that the duration of training be between 20 and 60 minutes of continuous or intermittent aerobic activity.  Intermittent activity can be accumulated in 10-minute segments throughout the day.  This is especially helpful for persons who cannot take a single large chunk of time during the day to devote to an exercise program.

However, for most healthy adults the ACSM recommends moderate-intensity activity levels with longer duration times, perhaps 30 minutes to an hour.  For healthy adults who train at higher intensity levels, the duration of training will likely be shorter, perhaps 20 minutes or more.  Adults who are unfit or have an existing medical condition should check with their fitness instructor or physician to determine an appropriate duration of training.

Resistance Training

Recognizing the important fact that overall body fitness includes muscular fitness, the ACSM recommends resistance training in its current standards.  The ACSM suggests participation in resistance training two or three times a week.  This training should help develop and maintain a healthy body composition-one with an emphasis on lean body mass.  The goal of resistance training is not to improve cardio respiratory endurance but to improve overall muscle strength and endurance.  For some people (individuals with Type II diabetes) resistance training with heavy weights is not recommended because it can induce a sudden and dangerous increase in blood pressure.

The resistance training recommended by the ACSM includes one set of 8 to 12 repetitions (10 to 15 for adults over age 50) of 8 to 10 different exercises.  These exercises should be geared to the body’s major muscle groups (legs, arms, shoulders, trunk, and back) and should not focus on just one or two body areas.  Isotonic (progressive resistance) or isokinetic exercises are recommended.  For the average person, resistance training activities should be done at a moderate-to-slow speed, use the full range of motion, and not impair normal breathing.  With just one set recommended for each exercise, resistance training is not very time-consuming.  The ACSM, however, indicates that multiple sets could provide greater benefits, if time is available.

Flexibility Training

To develop and maintain a healthy range of motion for the body’s joints, the ACSM suggests that flexibility exercises be included in one’s overall fitness program.  Stretching can be done in conjunction with other cardio respiratory or muscular fitness training or can be performed separately.  It is important to note that if flexibility training is done separately, a general warm-up should be performed prior to stretching.  For most individuals, static stretching is the best type.  Flexibility improvements can be obtained by training as little as two days per week; however, stretching is an activity that can be safely performed daily.  ACSM recommends that a flexibility program should include all the major muscle and/or tendon groups.  The intensity of each stretch should be at a position where you feel mild discomfort in the muscle.  Each stretch should be held for 10 to 30 seconds and should be repeated three to four times per training session.  Stretching should be done according to safe and appropriate techniques.

Warm-up, Conditioning, Cool down

Each training session consist of three basic parts: the warm-up, the conditioning, and the cool down.  The warm-up should last 10 to 15 minutes.  During this period, you should begin slow, gradual, comfortable movements related to the upcoming activity, such as walking or slow jogging.  All body segments and muscle groups should be exercised as you gradually increase your heart rate.  Near the end of the warm-up period, the major muscle groups should be stretched.  This preparation helps  protect you from muscle strains and joint sprains.

The warm-up is a fine time to socialize.  Furthermore, you can mentally prepare yourself for your activity or think about the beauty of the morning sky, the changing colors of the leaves, or the friends you will meet later in the day.  Mental warm-ups can be as beneficial for you psychologically as physical warm-ups are physiologically.

The second part of the training session is the conditioning phase, the part of the session that involves improving muscular fitness, cardio respiratory endurance, and flexibility.  Workouts can be tailor-made, but they should follow the ACSM guidelines.

The third important part of each fitness session, the cool down consists of a 5 to 10 minute session of relaxing exercises, such as slow jogging, walking, and stretching.  This activity allows your body to cool and return to a resting state.  A cool down period helps reduce muscle soreness.

Exercise for Older Adults

An exercise program designed for younger adults may be inappropriate for older people, particularly those over age fifty.  Special attention must be paid to matching the program to the interests and abilities of the participants.  Often, this is best achieved by having older individuals begin their exercise program under the supervision of a certified exercise professional.  The goals of the program should include both social interaction and physical conditioning.

Older adults, especially those with a personal or family history of heart problems, should have physical examination before starting a fitness program.  This examination should include a stress cardiogram, a blood pressure check, and an evaluation of joint functioning.  Participants should learn how to monitor their own cardio respiratory status during exercise.

Well-designed fitness program for older adults will include activities that begin slowly, are monitored frequently, and are geared to the enjoyment of the participants.  The professional staff coordinating the program should be familiar with the signs of the distress (excessively elevated heart rate, nausea, breathing difficulty, pallor, and pain) and must be able to perform CPR.  Warm-up and cool down periods should be included.  Activities to increase flexibility are beneficial in the beginning and ending segments of the program.  Participants should wear comfortable clothing and appropriate shoes and should be mentally prepared to enjoy the activities.

A program designed for older adults will largely conform to the ACSM criteria.  Certainly, specific modifications or restrictions to the exercise program may be required due to health concerns that are more frequent in older adults.  Also, because of possible joint, muscular, or skeletal problems, certain activities may have to be done in a sitting position.  Pain or discomfort should be reported immediately to the fitness instructor.

Fortunately, properly screened older adults will rarely have health emergencies during a well-monitored fitness program.  Of course, for some older adults, individual fitness activities may be more enjoyable than supervised group activities.  Either choice offers important benefits.

Low Back Pain

A common occurrence among adults is the sudden onset of low back pain.  Four out of five adults develop this condition, at least once in their lifetime which can be so uncomfortable that they miss work, lose sleep, and generally feel incapable of engaging in daily activities.  Many of the adults who have this condition will experience these effects two to three times per year.

Although low back pain can reflect serious health problems, most low back pain is caused by mechanical (postural) problems.  As unpleasant as low back pain is, the symptoms and functional limitations usually subside within a week or two.  The services of a physician, physical therapist, or chiropractor are not generally required.

By engaging in regular exercise, such as swimming, walking, and bicycling, and paying attention to your back during bending, lifting, and sitting, you can minimize the occurrence of this uncomfortable and campus recreational programs are starting to offer specific exercise classes geared to muscular improvement in the lower back and abdominal areas.