The health of your heart and blood vessels is vital for a person’s well-being, and to reduce the risk of heart disease. The majority of forms of exercise will improve your heart health directly or indirectly, but there are a few guidelines you can follow to make sure that your activity has a positive impact on your cardiovascular system. Cardiovascular fitness, or the body’s ability to take in and distribute oxygen during exercise, is an important part of any training program.
Start by establishing a baseline. You can then perform a few simple and easy tests to monitor your progress. Cooper’s 2.4km run/walk test is an easy test. You can do this before starting your training program, to determine where you are at. Then you can repeat it every 4 to 6 weeks to check if your results have improved.
Coopers Walk/Run 2.4 km Test: You can do this test on a treadmill, or outside. You can complete the 2.4 km either by running, walking or jogging. The goal is to complete the 2.4 km in the fastest time possible.
- You can then run, race or walk if you get tired.
- You shouldn’t push yourself 100% during this test, but instead maintain an intensity of about 80%. Check your time to complete 2.4 km. This is your benchmark.
- If you run 2.4 kms in 25 minutes, and then repeat the test six weeks later, you complete the 2.4kms within 20 minutes, this is a sign that your cardiovascular fitness has improved.
It is important to consider all aspects of fitness when starting your fitness journey and not just focus on one specific result. This will help you prepare for your next phases of fitness.
A great way to begin is to combine three days of full-body strength training (30-45 minutes) per week with 2-3 sessions (30-minutes each). You can do this on different days or mix it up.
It is important to select the exercises that are the most basic and simple, rather than the more advanced variations seen on social media. You can learn the correct movement while still making it compelling.
Three days a weeks, you can start by doing 4-5 exercises a day, with three sets each of upper body, lower-body and core movements. You could also do two 30-minute moderate intensity cardio exercises like jogging, swimming or brisk walking.
This plan will develop your cardiovascular system, while ensuring that you are able to move and become robust and functional.
