Advice on how to train aerobic fitness ?

[Deins Drengers]

Maybe some of you can help me out ?

 

I think that I may have a weak heart

[Joshua Slocum]

Working cardio is thankfully pretty simple. Do steady-state cardio for 20-30 minute sessions a few times a week: e.g. running, biking, swimming, etc. Or, do HIIT a few times a week.

[Guest]

Easy jogging 5x a week for 30-45 minutes. Any goals you have?

[Deins Drengers]

Easy jogging 5x a week for 30-45 minutes. Any goals you have?

I was reading about Aerobic fitness and it said that the way to check it is to have your rest heart rate RHR at about 60-70, mine is 75-80.

Pro athletes have 40-60. I would want to come near this, because Having a weak heart often bothers me that I may have problems in the future.

 

And i know that this will improve my health in general and my GST performance. 

[Deins Drengers]

Working cardio is thankfully pretty simple. Do steady-state cardio for 20-30 minute sessions a few times a week: e.g. running, biking, swimming, etc. Or, do HIIT a few times a week.

I read an article that said that there 2 types of cardio ( aerobic and anaerobic). Aerobic is slow pace ( jogging, biking, swimming, walking) and anaerobic is the fast pace ( sprints, HIIT, crossfit ). And that Anaerobic fitness doesnt increase aerobic fitness but it is the other way around that If you have a stronger aerobic system then you will perform better anaerobically. Think of aerobic fitness as a foundation. So my cardio foundation is weak and needs to be trained. 

[Douglas Wadle]

That is a little bit simplistic, but i see what you're getting at. First off, to address the notion of the resting HR. So many variables go into this that it is not a good measure of your aerobic fitness. yes, elite athletes often have RHR in the 40's, but there are many with RHR in the 60's as well. It is a good measure of recovery and stress, but not a good measure of fitness. Just because your RHR is 70 doesn't mean you are in worse aerobic fitness than someone who's RHR is 50. You could be dehydrated, under stress, sleep deprived. You may have elevated thyroid or adrenal hormones, or you may just be training a lot and not adequately recovered. If you're young you may be growing.

To improve aerobic fitness you need lots of easy distance. I'm talking level 1-2 HR zones. easy talking full sentences. Anything higher will be also building your anaerobic fitness. Which isn't a bad thing. Again, depends what you want. As Josh stated, if you are just wanting to have a certain level of fitness to be healthy and allow you to do your GST, his recommendations are great. If you want to be an endurance athlete well then that's a whole different arena. For most guys focusing on strength training and general fitness I would echo a few easy workouts (30-60 mins) a week and 2-3 HIIT sessions (20-30 mins) per week would be great.

[Rob Frase]

My brother is a retired National Team Rower...even being a few years retired, he still has a resting heart rate of about 38. It's disgusting.

My solution to health-oriented aerobic fitness is a treadmill desk. I get to walk miles every day while working. Then at night I head to the home gym for strength training- and the occasional HIIT on the erg. I love that I never have to leave my home to train.

[Craig Mallett]

My mother has a rhr low enough that it constantly sets off all the alarms whenever she has been in hospital hooked up to a machine (about 30 I think). My rhr is about 60 or sometimes a little below. While she casually exercises a reasonable amount for her age, she is not anywhere close to being an athlete. Rhr isn't really a good indicator of fitness.

[Joshua Slocum]

I read an article that said that there 2 types of cardio ( aerobic and anaerobic). Aerobic is slow pace ( jogging, biking, swimming, walking) and anaerobic is the fast pace ( sprints, HIIT, crossfit ). And that Anaerobic fitness doesnt increase aerobic fitness but it is the other way around that If you have a stronger aerobic system then you will perform better anaerobically. Think of aerobic fitness as a foundation. So my cardio foundation is weak and needs to be trained. 

You are misinformed. HIIT is an effective way to improve your aerobic fitness and cardiovascular endurance. 

[Jon Douglas]

My solution to health-oriented aerobic fitness is a treadmill desk.

 

 

That I like! Sometime I will try this.

[FREDERIC DUPONT]

(...) I think that I may have a weak heart

 

 

Go do an ECG to assess what is.

Stop worrying.

Start on a conservative training program like C25K

Purchase a blood pressure monitor and start recording your blood pressure and HR 3 times a day.

Plot the results on a graph & after 6 months post them here.

 

[Rob Frase]

That I like! Sometime I will try this.

I recommend checking out TreadDesk. That's the tread I have (just the tread...I built my own desk).

http://www.treaddesk.com/

[Connor Davies]

I read an article that said that there 2 types of cardio ( aerobic and anaerobic). Aerobic is slow pace ( jogging, biking, swimming, walking) and anaerobic is the fast pace ( sprints, HIIT, crossfit ). And that Anaerobic fitness doesnt increase aerobic fitness but it is the other way around that If you have a stronger aerobic system then you will perform better anaerobically. Think of aerobic fitness as a foundation. So my cardio foundation is weak and needs to be trained. 

Pretty much the opposite is the case.  When you train anaerobically (like sprint intervals) you are going to be needing to breath quite heavily, which also trains your aerobic system.

 

Doing incredibly large quantities of aerobic conditioning can cause an adaptation called ventricular hypertrophy which basically means your heart is getting bigger, leading to a lower heart rate.  Doing more anaerobic training hardens the walls of the heart, which makes this adaptation more difficult to achieve in the future. 

 

So yes, if you want to lower your resting heart rate doing a lot of aerobic conditioning will definitely help, and it would be better to do it before you get much stronger.  I've heard top trainers recommend building a good aerobic base specifically  because of the reasons outlined above.

 

Beware though: for the most part conditioning (both aerobic and anaerobic) causes adaptations on the cellular level, rather than the structural level.  Most people don't get bigger hearts, they just get ephemeral mitochondrial adaptation.  Strength training should always remain your top priority, because stronger tendons and increased neuromuscular activation take much longer to fade away.  Unless you're really training for marathons or triathlons ect you are probably not going to cause significant long term structural changes to your body.

 

I could go on about the dangers of catabolic stress, but in general doing some cardio is much better than doing none.  Couch to 5k is a great place to start, but really just get out there and move.

[Tristan Curtis]

Doing incredibly large quantities of aerobic conditioning can cause an adaptation called ventricular hypertrophy which basically means your heart is getting bigger, leading to a lower heart rate.  Doing more anaerobic training hardens the walls of the heart, which makes this adaptation more difficult to achieve in the future.

 

I agree. The world's fittest runners spend most of their time jogging at half the speed they could for good reason.

 

Your body has finite resources. Aerobic easy pace (1-2 minutes slower than your marathon pace) is considered the sweet spot by many coaches. It's enough to create adaption over time, but not so much that your body creates micro-tears that requires resources to repair. Most people spend their "easy pace" time going too fast.

 

A week of 2-3 HIIT sessions broken up with 4-5 easy pace sessions (for aerobic building and repair) compliment each other well.

[Deins Drengers]

As a side question what does it mean to have a strong heart  ( in terms of function ) ?

 

For example : Do you guys start to breathe heavy when going up the stairs? 

Or do you breathe heavy after doing Sls PE1 ? ( this one defeats me quite well ) 

 

My point is : If an athlete is running at a mid pace and doesnt get out of breath will he be able to ride a bike at a mid pace and maintain about the same heart rate and breaths per minute ?

[Briac Roquet]

It's not just the strong heart, there are other factors, but yes, a good long-distance runner will be able to engage in other aerobic activities relatively well. 

Efficiency plays a great role though. I used to a lot of long-distance running and running remains very easy, cycling is relatively easy, but that's not the case for swimming for instance. Not because I don't have good aerobic abilities (I don't breathe heavily after going up the stairs or after SLS/PE1), but because my swimming technique is lacking, I can't breathe at the right time with certain strokes, etc.

[Connor Davies]

If an athlete is running at a mid pace and doesnt get out of breath will he be able to ride a bike at a mid pace and maintain about the same heart rate and breaths per minute ?

Lance Armstrong ran a marathon once.  They measured his (I dunno, VO2 max or something) and concluded that he had better cardiovascular health THAN ANYONE EVER and he was predicted to set a new world record for the marathon.  It took him nearly an hour longer than it should have to finish.  The point being that efficiency of movement is a very important variable.  Some people recommend changing your cardio exercises up on a regular basis so that you can't adapt and you will continue to get the most benefit possible from them.  I don't agree with this.

[Craig Mallett]

I would not recommend distance running unless you have an extremely clean and efficient technique. You're better off spending your time practicing drills and very short distance running (under 100m) until your form is good. Otherwise you'll spend a lot of time practicing rubbish forms and you will ingrain bad habits and they will be very difficult to undo.

Pick up a copy of either chi running or POSE running for some really nice drills to get you started

[Keilani Gutierrez]

agreed on the efficiency of movement. i could ride circles around most of my friends and once i got off my bike to run, id be sweating mad bullets and my lungs would beg me to stop.

[Connor Davies]

Jump rope your heart out. That is all

Just not on concrete with bad technique.  Shin splints aren't fun

[GoldenEagle]

Adding to Craig's post....

 

RHR is indicator of how strong the heart actually is. Endurance and relative muscle strength are good indicators of overall fitness.

My mother has a rhr low enough that it constantly sets off all the alarms whenever she has been in hospital hooked up to a machine (about 30 I think). My rhr is about 60 or sometimes a little below. While she casually exercises a reasonable amount for her age, she is not anywhere close to being an athlete. Rhr isn't really a good indicator of fitness.