Aerobic exercise to enhance cardiopulmonary capacity

The importance of exercise to a person’s physical health is self-evident. Choosing a suitable sport is even more important. Aerobic exercise is a very good choice.

Because aerobic exercise can greatly improve a person’s cardiopulmonary function. If all physical indicators are normal, but if there is no strong cardiopulmonary function, well-developed muscles are just for show.

Strong cardiopulmonary function can provide nutrients and oxygen to countless cells in our body and eliminate waste produced after metabolism. Metabolism requires the participation of oxygen. Aerobic exercise can metabolize nutrients in the body thoroughly due to sufficient oxygen, that is, to achieve the final metabolism – nutrients are decomposed into carbon dioxide and water. Carbon dioxide is excreted from the body through breathing, while water “enters one and exits four”: entering from the mouth and excreted through four ways: breathing, sweat, urine, and defecation.

Cardiopulmonary capacity

The better the cardiovascular capacity, the stronger the heart’s pumping function, the faster the blood returns, and in fact, the faster our metabolism, the faster the metabolic waste is cleared, and the faster the body recovers. Fortunately, cardiopulmonary capacity can be changed through regular training accumulation.

Generally speaking, the fewer the heart beats per minute, the stronger the heart’s ability to pump blood, the longer the heart rests, and the longer the heart lives. And there is a direct relationship between the number of heartbeats and life expectancy. The total number of heartbeats in a person’s lifetime is about 2.5 billion to 3 billion times. If the resting heart rate is around 60 beats, the life expectancy can reach 93 years.

Therefore, people with a slow resting heart rate will have a longer lifespan, while people with a resting heart rate greater than 80 beats per minute will have a shorter lifespan. A large number of clinical studies have also confirmed that people with a fast resting heart rate have a significantly increased risk of various cardiovascular diseases and a high mortality rate. (Smoking and drinking can affect heart rate)

Lung capacity

Lung capacity is also an important factor. Weak lungs can only inhale very little oxygen at a time (oxygen uptake). If the breathing rate remains the same, the body will get less oxygen, and many cells will be in a state of hypoxia.

Usually, “mental depression, physical and mental fatigue, insomnia, back pain, etc. that occur for no apparent reason are mostly manifestations of our declining physical fitness. Doing some targeted aerobic exercise on a regular basis can restore and improve our physical fitness, and these symptoms will disappear.

Morning exercise time: It is recommended to do it half an hour after sunrise. At this time, the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has been almost consumed by plants through photosynthesis, and there is sufficient oxygen in the air, which is very helpful for aerobic exercise.

What is aerobic exercise?

In simple terms, aerobic exercise means that long-term endurance exercise consumes a large amount of oxygen, which effectively stimulates the heart’s blood circulation system and the lung’s respiratory system, improving heart and lung function. This allows all tissues and organs in the body to receive a good supply of oxygen and nutrients, thus maintaining the best functional state.

Aerobic exercise refers to physical exercise performed by the human body with sufficient oxygen supply. That is, during exercise, the oxygen inhaled by the human body is equal to the demand, achieving a physiological balance.

Simply put, aerobic exercise refers to low-intensity and rhythmic exercise that lasts for a long time (about 30 minutes or more) and has a moderate or high intensity (60% to 80% of the maximum heart rate).

Whether it is “aerobic exercise” is measured by heart rate.

Exercise with a heart rate of 140 to 150 beats per minute is considered aerobic exercise, because blood can supply enough oxygen to the myocardium at this time;

If the heart rate reaches 150-160 beats/minute, the blood is no longer able to supply sufficient oxygen to the myocardium and it becomes semi-aerobic exercise.

If the heart rate reaches 160 beats/minute or above, it is anaerobic exercise, which means that the oxygen in the blood is in short supply for the myocardium.

Therefore, the characteristics of aerobic exercise are low intensity, rhythmic, and long duration. Each exercise should be no less than 30 minutes, and should be performed 3 to 5 times a week. This kind of exercise can fully burn (oxidize) the sugar in the body, consume body fat, enhance and improve cardiopulmonary function, prevent osteoporosis, and regulate psychological and mental states. It is the main form of exercise for fitness.

Therefore, if you are overweight and want to lose weight through exercise, it is recommended to choose aerobic exercise, such as jogging and cycling. Aerobic exercise can achieve the effect of slimming and weight loss. Taking a half-hour walk after dinner can regulate and consume the fat and protein in dinner.

If you still need to lose fat

you can do 30 minutes of anaerobic training (strength training) first, and then do aerobic training. Because people consume glycogen in the body during anaerobic exercise first, and then aerobic exercise consumes body fat.

According to research in American sports medicine, glycogen is the main energy supply in the first 15 minutes of aerobic exercise, and fat energy supply only starts 15 to 20 minutes after exercise, so aerobic exercise is generally required to last more than 30 minutes.

Then a question arises, does everyone have the basic physical fitness to exercise easily for 30 minutes or more at a high intensity such as 65% of the target heart rate? Let’s first look at what it means to exercise for 30 minutes at a high intensity such as 65% of the target heart rate.

Adult women can generally reach the required heart rate by running 800 meters and men 1500 meters. Most people should have had this experience in physical education classes. The time to reach the standard is 4 to 5 minutes and 6 to 7 minutes respectively. In other words, running 6 to 8 kilometers at a moderate speed can achieve 65% MHR aerobic exercise for 30 minutes.

What are the benefits of aerobic exercise for the body?

What are the benefits of aerobic exercise to the body? After years of research on aerobic exercise, the founder, Dr. Cooper, found that aerobic exercise has the following benefits to the body:

1. Enhance the function of the heart, so that each time the heart beats, it can pump out more blood; at the same time, the heart rate is reduced, and the heart beats about 20 times less per minute than that of people with poor endurance, so that the heart can get enough rest;
2. Improve lung function, so that a large amount of air can be inhaled with a little effort. During intense activities, the lungs can inhale almost twice as much oxygen as people with poor endurance, thus fully supplying oxygen to various tissues and organs of the body.
3. Increase the number of open blood vessels and enlarge their caliber, so that oxygen can be adequately delivered to each tissue and organ and maintain their function at the best state;
4. Increase blood flow to make oxygen transportation smoother;
5. Improve the tension of muscles and blood vessels, make weak muscles and blood vessels tough, and thus help lower blood pressure;
6. It can reduce weight and make fat people become stronger. Sometimes the weight does not change much, but the physical fitness is enhanced.
7. Increase the maximum oxygen consumption, strengthen the whole body, especially the heart, lungs, blood vessels, etc., and improve disease resistance

Cardiopulmonary capacity training

Low-level cardiopulmonary capacity training standards: heart rate: 130~140 beats/minute (low intensity), continuous, long time (30~60 minutes).

Advanced cardiopulmonary training standards: heart rate: 160-180 beats/minute, high intensity, short intervals, high stimulation. And combined with low-level training.

Do aerobic exercise 2 to 4 times a week, gradually increasing the time.

The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends that exercise intensity should be close to 50% of the maximum oxygen uptake to improve cardiopulmonary function, so this intensity is often called the exercise threshold. The best exercise intensity range for increasing cardiopulmonary fitness is 50% to 85% of the maximum oxygen uptake. However, since the determination of maximum oxygen uptake is relatively complicated, heart rate indicators are often used in practice to indirectly indicate exercise intensity.

The heart rate values ​​corresponding to the exercise intensity of 50%~85% of the maximum oxygen uptake are 70%~90% of the maximum heart rate, and a person’s maximum heart rate = 220 – age. From the calculation, it can be known that the best exercise intensity heart rate range for a 20-year-old person to improve his cardiopulmonary function should be 140~180 beats/minute.

Target heart rate: refers to the effective and safe exercise heart rate when improving cardiovascular function (cardiopulmonary function) through aerobic exercise. Target heart rate = resting heart rate + (maximum heart rate – resting heart rate) * 50%-85%. If the heart rate is higher than the maximum heart rate during exercise, the body may be in danger. If it is lower than the target heart rate, the cardiopulmonary function cannot be well exercised. It is recommended to buy a heart rate belt for real-time monitoring, which is more accurate.

Cardiopulmonary training

Cardiopulmonary training focuses on patience and persistence. It is recommended that you choose a training plan according to your physical health, exercise foundation, and exercise purpose. For people with poor cardiopulmonary function and no foundation, it is best to control the training time within 30 minutes at the beginning. As the cardiopulmonary function improves, the time can be gradually extended to 30-60 minutes. You can arrange half of the time in the morning and half in the evening, and the effect is basically the same.

In addition, we should pay attention to the relationship between exercise intensity and exercise time. Low-intensity exercise time should be longer than high-intensity exercise time. For example, it takes 20 minutes to effectively improve cardiopulmonary function by exercising at 70% of the maximum heart rate.

It only takes 20 to 30 minutes to exercise at 80% of your maximum heart rate. If you exercise for about 30 minutes a day, you will see a significant increase in your aerobic endurance after a few weeks.

Aerobic endurance training:

1. Running (brisk walking, long-distance walking, jogging, long-distance running) [strongly recommended]

Heart rate is 130-140 beats/minute (heart rate reaches 70% of maximum heart rate), run at a constant speed for 30-60 minutes, or 3000 meters. 30 minutes can stimulate cardiopulmonary resuscitation (slow and long training) for beginners.

Advantages of exercise: Improve sleep quality. Running can increase the blood and oxygen supply to the brain by 20%, which will improve sleep quality at night. “Ventilation” effect. During running, the average lung capacity increases from 5.8L to 6.2L. At the same time, the amount of oxygen carried in the blood will also increase significantly.

Improve heart function: long-term jogging can slow down the resting heart rate and increase the elasticity of blood vessel walls; relieve stress: jogging can relieve tension and anxiety and is good for health.

2. Swimming

Swimming can be said to be more effective than running, but the venue is limited and not everyone has the conditions. In addition to helping cardiopulmonary capacity, the pressure of water on the body, especially on the lungs, can better enhance cardiopulmonary function. If you have the conditions, go swimming more often.

3. Skipping rope

This project has a great stimulation on the heart and lungs, and is also a good tool for burning fat. It has a relatively small impact on the knee joints and is very effective in training the heart and lung function and body coordination. It exercises the intensity of the heart and lung beating.

After three to five minutes of continuous fast beating, you can hear your heartbeat becoming thumping and sweat starts to appear on your face. The strength and coordination of the whole body are reflected in a short time. If you stick to this exercise for ten minutes every day, you can achieve the training effect.

4. Biking

The main exercise is for lower limb muscles. If you want to exercise your cardiopulmonary function, you should ride fast. You can adjust the rhythm by fast, slow, and fast.

5. Blow up a balloon

This is a bit like abdominal breathing. Deep breathing exercises are to choose a place with good air quality, let the air inhaled into the lungs stay for a few seconds before exhaling, which is conducive to the expansion and contraction of the lungs, and then exercise the lung muscles to increase lung capacity. Blowing balloons is particularly effective in training lung capacity. Blowing 50 balloons continuously every day is equivalent to jogging for 10-15 minutes. And you can practice it anytime and anywhere. In fact, if you want to practice lung capacity, you can also blow more balloons to exercise when you have free time. To improve cardiopulmonary function, as long as you persist in exercising, you will see results in 2-3 months.

6. Mountain climbing/stair climbing

It is best to do it once a week. It is best if you can climb mountains. If you can’t climb mountains, you can climb stairs, but friends with bad knees should be careful.

7. Tai Chi

It can stretch your muscles and bones, and it exercises your leg muscles more, because there are many squatting movements, and the muscles of the whole body are in a tense state. Middle-aged and elderly friends can practice it in the morning and evening.

8. Aerobics/Yoga/

You can download a piece of aerobics from the Internet or TV, which is very interesting and can also exercise your body well. That is, it is a fitness exercise that can exercise the whole body with the accompaniment of music, and the exercise time is at least 12 minutes, not counting radio gymnastics.

9. Squat

This can be said to be the best way to exercise the lower limb muscles, but you must learn how to squat, because the wrong squatting posture will hurt your knees.

10. Ball sports (football, basketball, badminton, volleyball, etc.)

11. Burpees

Aerobic exercise + strength training. Combining squats, push-ups and jumping, a series of movements can train more than 70% of the body’s muscle groups, including core muscles, feet, arms, abdomen, buttocks and back. In addition to training muscle endurance, elasticity and mobility, it is also very helpful for cardiopulmonary fitness training.

The intensity of burpee exercise is much higher than jogging. In fat loss training, burpee is a bodyweight training exercise with extremely high fat loss efficiency. Medium and low intensity exercise can consume more fat.

Beginners can do 10/5 burpees in a row, then rest for 10 seconds, and then do it again, repeating this 10 times or until exhaustion. Burpees have different levels of difficulty. The normal level does not require push-ups, the enhanced level requires one push-up each time you fall down, and the devil level requires not only push-ups but also pushing up with both hands.

Professional bodybuilders usually schedule burpee exercises in the afternoon, because the afternoon is the time when the body’s hormones, strength, and various reactions are at their best. Therefore, it is recommended to do burpee exercises around 4-7 pm. It is recommended to leave 1-2 days between exercises to give the muscles time to recover.

[Action 1] Preparatory squat position

Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart, knees bent, waist forward naturally, and hands on the ground in front of the sides of your feet.

[Action 2] Push-up posture

Push-up position In push-up position, support your body with your hands, then use the strength of your hips to jump your feet back to form a push-up position.

[Movement 3] Push-up downward

Just like a normal push-up, bring your body closer to the ground. (If you have enough muscle strength, steps 2 and 3 can be done at the same time, jumping your feet back while doing the push-up)

[Action 4] Preparatory squat position

Prepare to squat. In the prepare squat position, bounce your feet forward and return to a position similar to the prepare squat position. Make sure the soles of your feet are flat on the ground, your weight is on the arch of your foot, and your center of gravity is between your feet.

[Move 5] Vertical jump

Continue from step 4, stand up and move into a squat position, use your hips and torso, and use your hands to lead the vertical jump upwards.

[Action 6] Landing cushioning

You may be able to run for an hour, but you may only be able to do the continuous movement of the burpee exercise for 1 to 2 minutes at a time. Combining the movement of the burpee exercise with your running will help train your aerobic and anaerobic energy systems. However, the burpee exercise, like running, has an impact on the knee joints.

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13. Tabata training 5 action circuits:

Basic 4-minute fat-burning Tabata training with five basic movements​

Tabata is a high-intensity interval training method created by Japanese scientist Dr. Izumi Tabata and developed in 1996. The original purpose was to train speed skaters in the Winter Olympics. The method is: 20 seconds of ultra-high-intensity extreme training (usually 170% of the maximum oxygen uptake – this oxygen uptake, most people would collapse long ago), then rest for 10 seconds; then another 20 seconds of ultra-high intensity, cycle in sequence, and continue for 4 minutes.

Black man: 15 minutes of tabata 30 simple movements to sweat and train your abdominal

HIIT is a subset of cardiopulmonary function training (cardiovascular exercise). HIIT training time varies, ranging from 4 to 40 minutes; the strategy is to alternate a variety of anaerobic training content with only short rest in between.

For example, running four 400-meter runs with a one-minute break between each 400 meters is a HIIT plan.

Tabata exercises suitable for beginners:

jumping jacks for 20 seconds → rest for 10 seconds → burpees for 20 seconds → rest for 10 seconds → running with high legs raised in place for 20 seconds → rest for 10 seconds → push-ups for 20 seconds → rest for 10 seconds (repeat two rounds)

Of course, tabata is an intermittent anaerobic exercise and an aerobic exercise.

14. Hiit (High-intensity Interval Training)

Since its introduction, HIIT has become popular in Europe and America. Burning fat and calories in a short time with high quality. The movements are customized, but the main requirement is insufficient rest. The most efficient movement for weight loss: HIIT (anaerobic intermittent training)!

Traditional aerobic HIIT form suitable for beginners:
– Run 200 meters on the sports field, walk 100 meters, repeat several times
– Pedal fast for 30 seconds, pedal slowly for 30 seconds on the cycling machine, repeat several times
– Accelerate on the treadmill for 45 seconds, jog on the flat road for 45 seconds, repeat several times
Friends with a fitness foundation and fitness veterans can directly perform the following 10 HIIT movements!

The core of HIIT exercise method:

1 minute of non-stop high-intensity exercise, 20 seconds of rest, at least 6 cycles, dare to challenge? Anyway, I have tried it.
1. Squat opening and closing
2. Flat opening and closing
3. High-legged running in place
4. Mountain running
5. Squat jump
6. Side jump
7. Obstacle side jump
8. Tuck knee jump
9. Star jump
10. Frog jump (not frog jump)

Tabata (and HIIT) training both offer benefits to those who want to maintain muscle mass. Unlike traditional cardio, high-intensity interval training is better for building and maintaining muscle mass because they work fast-twitch muscle fibers, which are the type that grow easily.

This article is just a rough introduction. You can choose one or more suitable ones after careful study. After studying the above content, I believe you have some understanding of the importance of aerobic exercise for physical health.

What we need to do next is to stick to it 2 to 4 times a week, 30 to 60 minutes a day. Make exercise a habit. I believe that after you benefit from the balance between exercise and rest, you will enjoy this wonderful life!