Cardiorespiratory Fitness

The Five Components of Fitness: Cardio

1. Muscular Strength
2. Muscular Endurance
3. Cardiorespiratory Fitness
4. Body Composition
5. Flexibility

How did everyone do with their goal setting? This week we will be covering the cardiorespiratory component of fitness. Cardiorespiratory fitness is related to the ability to perform large muscle, moderate-to-high intensity exercise for prolonged periods. We have all heard that cardio is good for our health, but why? There are three main reasons why cardio fitness is considered health-related. This article will focus on one of these reasons; the increase of cardio fitness is associated with physiologic, metabolic, and psychological health benefits.

Studies have definitively proven the benefits of cardiovascular training include the prevention and treatment of many diseased states, including:

Coronary artery disease
Hypertension
Obesity
Stroke
Many cancers:
Colon
Breast
Prostate
Lung
Type 2 diabetes mellitus

This list only begins to touch the benefits of this fitness component. It also helps with decreased anxiety and depression, enhanced feelings of well-being, enhanced performance throughout the day, osteoporosis, + many more benefits.

What is enough and how much is too much? According to the American College of Sports Medicine significant health benefits can be obtained by including a moderate amount of physical activity (e.g., 30 minutes of brisk walking or raking leaves, 15 minutes of running, or 45 minutes of playing volleyball) on most, if not all, days of the week. On the other end of the spectrum you will be hard pressed to do too much cardio training (e.g., distance runners train 50-80 miles a week, bicyclists can train 30+ hours a week). For most reading this, a good goal to work towards would be 220 minutes a week. The challenge for this week is to make specific realistic goals for your cardiovascular fitness level. How much will you do? What will you do? How hard or fast will you go? When will you exercise? All these questions should be answered in your goal setting.

I hope you see through reading this article that God blesses us through our hard work, not our laziness, don’t be afraid to push yourself and work harder!