LITTLE ROCK — If you’re an avid exerciser, you know that all cardiovascular exercise is not created equal.
Some forms are not weight bearing while others place great demands on the lower body musculature. Certain elliptical trainers seem easy, while others are incredibly intense.
This week, I’ll help you find the right cardiovascular exercise for your fitness profile, and I’ll introduce a fun in-home cardio move.
Matching your cardiovascular exercise to your specific fitness goals is an important part of ensuring you’ll stay with the program. Once you find an activity that excites you and also addresses your fitness objectives, you’ve got a recipe for success. But some people find some of these activities deadly dull, so the trick is finding which activity is right for you.
The first step in selecting an appropriate cardiovascular activity is to evaluate your health. Do you have hypertension? Do you have chronic knee pain? Has your doctor recommended lower-intensity activities due to your risk for heart disease?
Answering such questions will help you winnow out activities that would be too intense or inappropriate for your goals.
High impact activities such as running, stair climbing or step aerobics are really only appropriate for individuals who have no lower body joint problems. These activities can be fantastic methods of conditioning, but it’s important that you only engage in them in the absence of lower body injury.
In addition, these intense forms of cardiovascular exercise should be reserved for those with at least a few months of fitness experience under their belt. Think of them as advanced exercises: This will minimize your risk for injury.
If you’re a bit older or haven’t been on a regular exercise program in some time, start with something that’s not weight-bearing. Swimming or cycling are great alternatives for those who are looking to get the heart rate up without pounding your joints.
Whether you choose a weight-bearing activity or not, a heart rate monitor is a useful tool for evaluating your workout intensity. Most monitors will give you a target zone - a range of beats per minute - in which you’ll want to maintain your heart rate throughout the workout. Once you know your zone, you can choose any type of cardiovascular activity and monitor your beats per minute. This will give you a solid measure of intensity across activities.
This week’s exercise will increase the beats per minute without requiring a single piece of fitness equipment. The Fitness Cancan is a low intensity movement designed specifically for in-home exercisers, but it can be done almost anywhere.
1. Stand facing a wall with your arms outstretched and your hands on the wall in front of you at chest level. Step back with both feet a yard or more from the wall.
2. Lean forward against the wall with pressure on your arms. Place both feet in the center of your stance with both insteps touching.
3. Swing your right leg to the right while leaving the left foot in place.
4. Bring the right foot back to center and just as it reaches the starting position, swing the left leg out to the left.
5. Swing the left leg back and continue this pendulum style cancan for 30 seconds.
6. Both feet should never be on the floor at the same time.
This unique exercise may seem pretty easy, but you can really raise the intensity by moving more quickly from side to side. The key is to find which speed suits you best, and stick to it. The heart rate monitor is a great indicator of intensity, particularly for exercises like this that don’t involve a machine. In any case, keep it rocking!
Matt Parrott has a doctorate in education (sport studies), a master’s in kinesiology and is certified by the American College of Sports Medicine.
ActiveStyle, Pages 28 on 02/13/2012