I go for a walk……

The Science of Cardio< How It Works
Forget everything you currently believe about cardio work. Forget keeping your heart rate in some ‘fat burning zone’. Forget plodding along with the vague goal of increasing the distance you can plod. Instead of training like a plow-horse, start training like a thoroughbred.
You’ll only work at the same effort level for an extended period of time, as you would with traditional cardio exercise on recovery days. But you’re going to take the time you typically spend on cardio and develop the ability to perform at a more intense level. You’ll improve your energy levels, gaining physical strength and stamina without investing additional time.

You don’t have to head to the track and train like a middle-distance runner, (although it’s not a bad place to do your work.) For convenience, you’ll probably want to work on a stationary bike, cross trainer, or treadmill at the gym. An outdoor alternative would be to find a hill or stairwell somewhere nearby. If you’re city bound, parking garages are perfect for uphill running; sprint up the ramps and walk down.

The bottom line: Instead of slow, plodding workouts, effective cardio workouts will have your muscles, nervous system, and hormones acting together into efficient movement patterns that help your body work as efficiently as possible.

Building Your Energy Systems

There are three different energy systems that are important for you to understand and know how they work:

1. Lactate threshold

– This is your capacity to do high-intensity work for up to 3 minutes. The part of your training program is a form of interval training in which you will alternate between periods of intense exercise with less strenuous periods.

2. Lactate power

– This is your body’s ability to do high-level work for periods of up to 12 seconds.

3. Aerobic system

– The ability to work beyond 3 minutes and help you recover from your bouts with the lactate threshold. For instance, if you’re sprinting up hills and walking down, you’re using the lactate system on the way up and the aerobic system on the way down. In this case, the aerobic system enhances your recovery from these intense bursts of energy.

The 3 Heart Rate Zones

You’ll work within three heart-rate “zones.” To calculate your maximum heart rate, begin by subtracting your age from 220 (this isn’t exact but will give you a good measure of where you’re working). For example, if you are 40 years old, your maximum heart rate is 180. (It may actually be higher than that, but this is a close enough estimate to allow for productive workouts.) Multiply that rate by 60 and 70 percent for zone 1. Multiply it by 71 and 80 percent to determine zone 2, and multiply by 81 and 90 percent to determine zone 3.

Zone 1 Lower Limit = (220 – Your Age) × 60%

Zone 1 Upper Limit = (220 – Your Age) × 70%

Zone 2 Lower Limit = (220 – Your Age) × 71%

Zone 2 Upper Limit = (220 – Your Age) × 80%

Zone 3 Lower Limit = (220 – Your Age) × 81%

Zone 3 Upper Limit = (220 – Your Age) × 90%

These are general guidelines that will tie in with the three training zones.

Age Zone 1 Zone 2 Zone 3

20 120 to 140 142 to 160 162 to 180

25 117 to 137 138 to 156 158 to 176

30 114 to 133 135 to 152 154 to 171

35 111 to 129 131 to 148 149 to 167

40 108 to 126 127 to 144 145 to 162

45 105 to 122 124 to 140 141 to 158

50 102 to 119 121 to 136 138 to 153

55 99 to 116 117 to 132 134 to 150

60 96 to 112 114 to 128 130 to 146

Workout Phases:

Zone 1

Zone 1 focuses on steady-state aerobic work. Aerobic simply means that your body will use oxygen to provide a steady and consistent, low level of energy for a long time, without building up any waste products in the body that hinder performance. Think of it as a low-horsepower, highly fuel-efficient, four-cylinder engine that can run all day but does not generate a whole lot of power. A good rule of thumb for Zone 1 is that you should be able to carry on a conversation when you are in the aerobic zone. Some of the best activities for this are:

Outdoors: Brisk walking, walking up hills, biking, swimming, rowing

Indoors: Biking, treadmill climbing/walking, elliptical trainer

Using the aerobic zone during this level will improve your cardiovascular system and prepare your muscles for the greater speeds of Zones 2 & 3. This lower-level work will let your movement patterns, muscles and joints adapt and prepare for the more intense training coming in these next phases.

When you get into Zones 2 & 3, you’ll perform interval training, where there will be bouts of harder effort mixed with easier-effort periods to give your body time to recover. You’ll use the lower-intensity Zone 1 aerobic work in these higher Zones as a recovery tool.

Interval training increases your body’s release of positive hormones, which builds lean body mass and signals your body to dump fat. At the same time, it keeps your heart rate from dropping out of the aerobic zone.

Zone 2

Zone 2 will introduce interval training by mixing moderate intensity with bouts of easy-intensity aerobic work to allow you to catch your breath and recover from the slightly more intense intervals.
You will normally find that this work is a mixture of work and rest activities; we call this the work-to-rest ratio. The greater the rest, the higher quality the work should be. The lower the ratio—for instance, 1 second of rest per 1 second of work (1:1)—the bigger the challenge, since the body has less time to recover. That increases your capacity to do work.

You’ll know you’ve reached Zone 2 moderate intensity if you would find it difficult to carry on a conversation. You could, but you wouldn’t be able to say much more than a couple of words at a time. Some of the best activities for this level are:

Outdoors: Running-to-jogging/walking, jogging-to-walking

Indoors: Bike, elliptical trainer. treadmill, stair climbers

Level 3