Cardiovascular endurance exercise offers significant health benefits to those who are consistent with their workouts. Cardiovascular activities, which include exercises like jogging, swimming, biking and riding an elliptical machine, increase the demand of your heart, lungs and circulatory system. Eventually, as long as sessions are completed at an appropriate frequency and duration, your body adapts to this stress and becomes more efficient. The recommended duration of cardiovascular exercise depends on your health and fitness goals.
Benefits
According to MayoClinic.com, completing an adequate amount of cardiovascular exercise causes your body to adapt to the exercise, which stimulates numerous health benefits. Benefits include an increase in heart strength, a decrease in bad cholesterol, less susceptibility of minor viral illnesses, an increase in stamina and a decrease in body fat. These benefits equate to a decreased risk of heart disease, hypertension, obesity and type II diabetes.
Cardiorespiratory Health
According to Dr. Edward R. Laskowski of MayoClinic.com, the Department of Health and Human Services recommends that adults perform at least 150 minutes of moderate cardiovascular exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous cardiovascular exercise per week. This equates to 30 minutes of moderate activity or 11 minutes of vigorous activity per day, however the total time can be spread across fewer days per week. Moderate activity includes less intense exercise such as brisk walking, leisure biking and swimming, while vigorous activity includes more intense exercise such as running and jumping rope.
Weight Loss
Losing body fat requires the creation of a caloric deficit, meaning you have to burn more calories than you consume during a period of time. Every 3,500 deficit equates to a loss of about a pound. The American College of Sports Medicine states that in order to burn enough calories to create a caloric deficit, 60 to 90 minutes of cardiovascular activity completed on most days per week is likely to be necessary.
Considerations
If you're unable to complete an entire 30- to 90-minute cardiovascular session, it is okay to split the overall workout time into multiple, shorter bouts of exercise. For example, if your goal is to get an hour of exercise time to support body fat loss, you can complete 30 minutes of jogging in the morning and 30 minutes of riding an elliptical machine in the evening. According to Dr. Edward R. Laskowski of MayoClinic.com, there is no advantage of completing one long bout of exercise over multiple shorter bouts.
References
- MayoClinic.com: Aerobic Exercise: What's the best frequency for workouts?; Dr. Edward R. Laskowski; October 2010
- MayoClinic.com: Aerobic exercise: Top 10 Reasons to Get Physical; February 2011
- American Heart Association: Circulation: Exercise and Cardiovascular Health; Dr. Jonathan Myers, 2003
- American College of Sports Medicine: Physical Activity & Public Health Guidelines
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