Rethinking Cardio Activities

Rethinking Cardio Activities

Are you getting enough cardio exercise each week? Standard exercise guidelines recommend at least 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise.

Sadly, many individuals don’t get the minimum suggested guidelines whether it is a time barrier, lack of motivation or other factors.

The first step to overcoming these obstacles is to break down the time commitment into manageable segments. For example, 150 minutes is 2.5 hours, which comes to 30 minutes, 5 days a week, or roughly 20 minutes daily. And you don’t have to do those 20 to 30 minutes all at once, says Dr. Apovian, Harvard Medical Report 2022. You can further divide into 2 or 3, 10-minute daily segments. Everyone has 10 minutes to devote to exercise.

Next, change your perception of aerobic exercise to doing an activity that you enjoy, like dancing, hiking, playing tennis or pickleball etc. Many people get stuck in the belief that you need to be doing attending a fitness class at the gym, running on a treadmill, or riding a stationary bike, and often that is not an exercise they enjoy.

If you are doing something with moderate intensity, that is breaking a sweat but where you can still hold a conversation, you should be meeting the recommendations. On a scale of 1 to 10, 1, being extremely easy &10 being very uncomfortable (heavy breathing, increased heart rate), moderate intensity would be a 5-6 rating.

Below are some suggestions that would count towards moderate exercise:

? Brisk walking Walking at a brisk pace is a simple moderate-intensity workout. If you swing your arms and take deep breaths, it will help increase the intensity.

? Climbing Stairs Set a timer for 5 to 10 minutes & go up & down stairs at a casual pace.

? Treadmill The trusty treadmill can be an excellent cardio tool, as you can adjust the incline & speed to reach the required intensity. To help pass the time, listen to your favourite podcast, or watch a movie/TV.

? Marching in place You don’t need a lot of space for cardio. For instance, try marching in place. Stand with your feet together & arms at your sides. Bend your elbows & swing your arms as you lift your knees, one at a time, bringing them as high as possible with each movement. March in place for 50 steps at a steady rhythm. Rest & repeat several times.

? Doing Housework Many household chores count as moderate-intensity exercises. Examples include mowing the lawn, raking leaves, digging, gardening, washing the car, & vacuuming.

? Weight training Guidelines also recommend doing weight training on at least 2 days of the week to help build & maintain muscle mass. But this also can be a way to add in some moderate-intensity aerobics. Doing weight training exercises in a circuit fashion, where you move from 1 exercise to the next with little to no rest, can elevate the heart rate enough to provide cardio benefits, says Dr. Apovian. Harvard Medical Report, 2022.

? Playing Golf?Walk 18 holes of golf instead of driving a cart.

Essentially, any movement can qualify if done with effort. What are you going to do to get moving?

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